[Trillium]

Just found this excellent article on winter care for poultry. Our winter weather here is more frigid than the UK gets, but there's still some great advice for all poultry growers. Progressively more poultry friends of mine are growing winter sprouts for their chickens, partly for nourishment, partly to beat boredom. I have an organic grain source that I'll be buying 'floor sweepings' from to use as sprouts and scratch.

ARTICLE

[BabbyAnn]

Interesting article with some good ideas - I got my chickens in late September and didn't give winter greens much thought at the time (chicken keeping being a new venture for me so on a steep learning curve) but definitely planned for next year - it makes a lot of sense to offer greens which not only make for tasty eggs but also full of vitamins and minerals essential for good health during the dark winter months.

Currently I just have a few brussel sprouts with some leaves to offer and any sprouts that have blown.  Meanwhile I have been playing around with growing sprouts on the windowsill from cheap supermarket sources such as dried marrow fat peas (tried a few myself and they are lovely and sweet to add to salads), as well as quinoa, mustard and alfalfa seed.  I was wondering where to get grain such as rye and wheat for sprouts (I even considered trying to see if anything from the mixed corn feed which has different grains might germinate ... might even give wild bird seed a try too)  In the garden I piled up leaves and some other garden rubbish for a make shift compost heap and now and again I turn over to find earthworms which the chooks gobble up in seconds, as well as woodlice under wood piles.  And then there are weeds to offer from the allotment - I still need to learn which are safe for them though so would love to know more.

[Trillium]

I've been able to get small quantities of rye, buckwheat and wheat seed from my local farm supply source. They'd much rather sell it by the ton or whatever, but if you ask nicely, they'll bag up 10 lbs or so for a modest price.

Can't remember if it's this article or another I read where the person strongly recommends avoiding GMO seed, of which the unpleasant effects will pass onto us. If at all possible, organic sources are recommended. I have an organic seed grower I buy my own food seeds from and plan to ask him if he has any 'floor sweepings' for animal feed that he sells or would sell.

Here's another idea I plan to try called the Boredom Buster Brick. BRICK