The critters need their greens too. Green Forage for your Chickens

Happy New Year!  January is a time when most people are considering what to do to past the time.  Seed catalogs are arriving in the mail and garden planning should be in the forefront of your thinking.  Your chickens and poultry have probably stopped laying (unless you use supplemental light) and the rabbits have slowed down their natural reproduction cycles.  It is easy to forget about green forage as winter really starts to set in to the Puget Sound area.  If you were capable to plant cover crops at the time, your green manure cover crops are in their full thick glory.  Time to clip them down a bit to stimulate growth and feed the resulting greens to the chickens, ducks and other poultry. 

Even though modern feeds boast a complete diet, forage is and always will be a recommended part of a complete livestock diet.  Green forage grasses and legumes are unsurpassed at providing antioxidants, vitamins and minerals that are easily processed by poultry.  It also can reduce your feed bill by as much as 15% ifyou stay on top of it.  Adult rabbits benefit as well, but only in small quantities (juniors and kits are never allowed to consume so much moisture rich greens as it can lead to moisture loss through manure and even death).  If you have rabbits, consider drying them in a sunny location in the garage or shed.  Fresh dried grass and legume hays are very good for your rabbits. 

Didn’t plant any cover crops this year?  Look for other greens; UNTREATED and UNFERTILIZED lawn grasses are fine, comfrey, dandelion greens, wilting or molting garden greens are all acceptable.  While cleaning up the garden, remember the brussel sprout stocks and winter pea vines are great for the rabbits to gnaw on.   It is a great opportunity to keep the blood flowing, get you into the yard to identify last minute forgotten products, and give your animals a nutritious boost as they adjust to the cold months ahead. 

Shoreline Farm Supply carries a large selection of pasture grazing grass seed blends and single seed cover crops starting in early summer.  You can follow us on Facebook (http://facebook.com/shorelinefarmsupply), follow this blog or sign up for alerts on the website to be reminded of what and when items are stocked.