Feeding the weed purslane to chickens to get omega 3 enriched eggs.

[almendro]

A prolific weed on our vegetable garden is Purslane. I was told by the neighbour that chickens love eating it. After looking it up on the internet I discovered that it has a very high omega 3 content. After further research I found out that if you feed Purslane to chickens it increases the omega 3 content of the eggs.

The omega 3 enriched eggs from the supermarket taste fishy because they add fish oils.

If any of you have a lot of purslane on your plot it might be a good idea to feed it to your chickens.

There is a little more info on my blog here.

Feeding Purslane to Chickens to increase the Omega-3 in the eggs. | Cortijo de la Plata

[petal]

pigweed? doesn't grow here but every other weed imaginable does- these are dug up and chucked in to various pens in the afternoon for 'playtime!(except bindweed and belladonna of course...)

[almendro]

Lot's of sources say that Purslane has been grown in England for over 1000 years. Purslane is killed by frost but can be grown as a half-hardy annual in the UK.

According to may websites it does exist in the UK but is not common.
It does not like the shade.

I used to grow the flowering ornamental portulaca in window boxes pots because there is no problem if you forget to water it.

[chris]

Oooh, that's what that is. That is all in my garden at home, wondered what it was. My chickens always are eating at it until it's just little stumpy bits - as soon as there's any green growth they're at it again.

I've also found out that they LOVE horsetail. I have a bad infection in the garden they're always on top of it. Handy things to have. Oh and the eggs are a bonus too

[petal]

I always thought horsetail was poisonous?

[chris]

I thought I'd read that here too, but my old lot ate it, and my new lot are too.. That said, they also ate potato and tomato leaves too. It's either a welsh strain of chook with iron guts, or they really ARE that stupid

[petal]

mine got in to the veg plot once and ate the rhubarb- all of it! and that is supposed to be deadly!!!!

[almendro]

Our horses eat horsetail and the chickens eat horsetail. It seems to do them no harm.
Maybe it is a case of all things in moderation.

In this blog post I found, the chickens seem to eat a large quantity of horsetail with no ill effects.
Mucky Boots Farm: Horsetail patrol