While there ’s no such matter as “ grassfed chicken , ” there is such a thing as chicken that feed on grass . More specifically , chickens feed on the seeds , grubs and insect they find in the grass , but they do consume a bit of the grass itself , too . ( A quick crybaby flesh lesson : These razz are glandular fever - gastric , mean they have one stomach that is not designed to sour and compilation forages the wayruminants , like cattle and sheep , are able-bodied to . ) “ Poultry will consume up to 30 percent of their body weight in grass when it is usable , ” according to the Kerr Center for Sustainable Agriculture , based in Oklahoma . Knowing what the chickens are really after in their forages helps you to set forage types that are most good to them .
taste out some of these grasses and legumes for yourpasture - raised poultry flock .
1. Kentucky Bluegrass
What It Is
A cool - time of year , recurrent grass that grows well in the central and northerly U.S.
Why It’s Good For Chickens
“ Kentucky blue grass has a large balance of its leaves close to the soil surface and below the graze height in managed ley , ” fit in to the PennState Extension , meaning it ’s at premier chicken height .
How To Grow It
flora 1 Akko with 10 to 14 pound of seed in previous summer or early autumn , when temperature begin to come back down and rains are more frequent . It study about two weeks to germinate but establishes promptly , as it spreads by rhizomes underground . Bluegrass grows well in a diverse pastureland with white clover , red clover or birdsfoot trefoil .
2. Perennial Ryegrass
A nerveless - time of year , recurrent grass found across the U.S.
Perennial ryegrass produces seedheads in the late spring and may also flower again in mid - summer , depending on your climate , grant to the PennState Extension , pop the question chicken seed for their dieting .
Fifteen to 20 pound of seed per acre is recommended when seed alone or 4 to 8 pound sign per acre when sow with a legume , according to PennState . Plant seed with a grain drill or by programme seeding and following with a cultipacker . University of Kentucky researchers Ray Smith , PhD , and Jacquie Jacob , PhD , caution against implant turf - character perennial rye grass , as it ’s “ been developed to have gamy level of toxin to reduce insect and chow damage . This is with child for yards and sport study , but not good for grazing poultry . ”
3. White Clover
A cool - season , repeated legume found across the U.S.
White clover is the legume of choice for fowl , as its hempen radical arrangement give it the corking tolerance to grazing , say Smith and Jacob .
The USDA National Resources Conservation Service say white clover like coolheaded , moist - mood clay and silt soils with rich calcium oxide , phosphate and potash . Seed at 2 pounds per Akko using a germ practice .
Whatever foraging you select to develop for your chickens , the University of Maryland Extension recommend 1 acre of quality pasture for every 400 chickens in your flock . And make those forages divers , both to provide a range of food to your chickens and dirt and to pull in a range of insects that your crybaby will chance more enticing than the eatage . A diverse diet like this could very well reduce your feed bills and assist keep your chicken healthy .
