Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Root Vegetables
In the winter months, when the snow is deep and the birds are bored and anxiously wait-
ing for the first hints of green spring grass, root vegetables are healthy, nutritious indul-
gences.
Poultry usually don't eat raw potatoes, but they enjoy them cooked. Mangel beets
are an excellent feed and can be placed in the pen where they will peck at them. Hard
raw carrots are not as easily consumed, but when softened by cooking, the flock will eat
them. Poultry enjoy rutabagas, turnips, and winter radishes, but all of these will flavor
the eggs; use them selectively.
Other Vegetables and Fruits
There is likely no end to what you can grow for poultry to consume. Just pitch tomatoes
and cucumbers into the pen and they'll eat them. I have never had my birds eat onions,
though, and it's a good thing; onions probably wouldn't enhance the flavor of the egg.
Don't be afraid to offer your birds all kinds of fruits and vegetables. Plop down into
the pen that new vegetable you're trying out for the first time. They love fruit of all vari-
eties. Try them on the fruits of your area, when in season. Pick a wormy apple, a mucky
pear. See how they feel about it. You never know what they might enjoy.
Squash and Pumpkins
Squash and pumpkins are easy to grow and easy to store, and all you have to do is take
the fruit to the pen, smash it, and let them have their snack. They love the seeds and
flesh and will eventually consume most of the rind. These vegetables provide exercise
and nutrition during a time of the year when foraging for goodies is not possible, at least
for those of us who live where the snow piles up.
There are many varieties of squash and pumpkins you may choose. The most efficient
are the ones that get large; they make it easy for you to cut down on feeding frequency.
Poultry are particularly fond of the large seeds in the heavily seeded, low-flesh varieties
such as Thick Margin Silver Seed, Campeche, and others from the species
Cucurbita
mixta
. Don't forget to give the poultry old zucchini and any other summer squash you
can't eat. They like them all, even those that have mold or rot on them. Generally mold
and rot on fruits and veggies won't hurt birds; they pick and choose what they want.
However, try to avoid moldy grains and never feed moldy commercially prepared pel-
lets or crumbles.
