Good morning. I live in SW Florida, USA and am looking for crops I can grow to feed my chickens. My ultimate goal is to be self-sufficient rather than reliant on purchasing feed for the animals. The more neglect tolerant the plant is, the better. I’m open to any suggestions though. Currently I’m growing:
Pigeon peas
Cranberry hibiscus
Cowpeas
My lot is just over 2 acres with very good drainage, full sun, part shade, and shade areas available for planting.
I’ve attempted corn, however that did not go well. I think the soil will need significant remediation in order to support corn effectively, but that’s just a guess.
Hi Warren, I live in Thailand so a bit different climate than there. For my own experience, you can try to plant Israeli grass, which you will use the stem to feed the chichen, but you have to chopped it down to let them eat it.
Other tips for chicken feed: A very good weed to feed your chicken is Azolla ( there are various types), which grows in the water. You may search for which one can grow there in case you have a pond or a water resource.
Or you should try to raise Black soldier flies, which are full of protein for the chickens.
I guess those solutions are easier than being dependent on a crop such as corn or sunflower seed/sprout.
Thank you Angelo. We do have BSF production underway, they are wonderful. I will look into your plant suggestions and see which will work best for my climate. Updates will follow.
I trust this message finds you in good spirits. Your work on the chicken agriculture project has caught my attention, and I’m truly impressed with your dedication to this endeavor. It’s clear that we share a common passion for making a meaningful impact in the poultry farming sector.
Given the nature of our projects focusing on chicken agriculture, I believe there’s a strong potential for collaboration that could yield remarkable results. Our efforts appear to be highly complementary, and I’m excited about the prospect of joining forces.
I’m curious to know if you’d be open to a conversation about the possibility of forming a partnership. With our combined expertise, I’m confident we can introduce even more innovation and effectiveness to our initiatives.
Looking forward to your response and the chance to discuss this further.
You can make the most of kitchen waste, weeds, and spoiled fruits and vegetables by feeding them to your chickens. Just watch out for too many tomato and avocado skins, as they might not agree with them. Growing food outside their run like amaranth, Brazilian spinach, comfrey, pigeon pea, and mulberry can be a smart move. Even some trees grown as living fences can double as chicken food such as Gliricidia.
Seaweed, if you can get it, is a nice weekly treat for vitamins and minerals. Dried fish bones are also good for sodium, calcium, and phosphorus. Also, purslane is a superfood for chickens.
Chickens love grains like sorghum. Soaking them for a day makes them even more nutritious. Sorghum is much easier to grow in SWFL than corn. During the dry season, my chickens tend to get spoiled with “crop waste” for our annual garden and are less likely to go for the various support plants mentioned above that they eat throughout the rest of the year. I hope this helps!
My chickens love Chaya leaves. Very easy, neglect tolerant plant! 2 years after introducing a community to Chaya and Moringa leaves I heard a report they were excited because their chickens were doing so much better by adding these to their diet. Chickens love picking through weeds pulled from the garden too. I also keep a compost pile in their run to attract insects for them. I can raise or drop boards on it to give them more or less access to the compost pile.
Thankyou everyone for your input. I have purchased some seeds, and plants that you’ve mentioned and am working on developing some feed plots for the chickens. Once they get established I’ll post some pictures.