Green manures & chickens

[tlck9]

Hi has anyone used green manures with chickens and are ther any to avoid?

I have a new run & thinking of setting their old on to grass and green manur for them next year

[kathyd]

I think you can use some type of grass as a green manure can't you? Maybe you could kill 2 birds (but not chickens obviously ) with that? Alternatively I've just sown red clover, not specifically for the chickens but knowing they'll grub on there in the autumn - and I'm sure it'll be fine - there's clover all over the place and they haven't come to any harm from it yet! Are you planning on digging in your green manure at some point?

[tlck9]

Are you planning on digging in your green manure at some point?

i'm pretty new to "green manure" so I wasnt sure - the area I was going to use, I wanted to sow greenmanure and a grass - so in that sense, no I was going to let it grow...I thought being clover ish it would root quickly and it could continue to grow and give the chucks a good winter harvest and reseed for next spring

Any opinions on this?

[kathyd]

I'm new to green manures too - started last year for the first time - but the point of them seems to be you let them grow for a certain length of time and then you either chop them off at ground level and leave the foliage to rot down on the surface and be pulled down by worms, or you compost it; or you dig the whole lot in. It's mainly the nutrients which the green manures gather which are good for the soil and the next crops, so you need to dig them in (or compost them) to release the nutrients. If you just leave them growing, I'm guessing they won't do any harm and may do some good, but you're not really getting the full benefit from them for your soil. My green manure last year was phacelia, which I left for ages to flower because it's a soil conditioner rather than nutrient-providing, and it encourages bees to the plot. If you're after nutrients rather than organic matter, I think you generally cut them/compost them before they start to flower, when the plant uses the nutrients itself and you lose the advantages from it. Not sure there's any special mileage in planting them purely for chickens.. Why don't you post something about Green Manures in the vegging out forum so you get input from more experienced gardeners who may not use the chicken forum?

[tlck9]

Why don't you post something about Green Manures in the vegging out forum so you get input from more experienced gardeners who may not use the chicken forum?

good point.

[themadcatlady]

or look for a specific chicken grass mix from grass seed supplier with a good balance of herbs and plants that will be really good for them

[darkbrowneggs]

I think I read somewhere they won't eat Hungarian Grazing Rye as they can't digest it properly, but tares and clover are supposed to be good. I keep meaning to give it a try. but haven't yet