being in the mid south your birds could cover their own feed costs by free ranging 8- 10 months of the year. i you planted some patches of kale and hardy grains like barely and buckwheat they could forage off of that. you wouldnt even need to harvest it. mulberry and siberian pea shrub also give alot of protein and micronutrients that would help as well. i have both growing around and in my run. check out the book, tree crops. its amazing how folks used to feed their livestock before big ag took over in the 50’s. it just takes planning and planting the right things.
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Thanks for the tips! I’ll check out that book.
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‘Hicks Everbearing’ mulberry was historically significant as a source of soft mast for hogs/chickens in the pre-Industrial South.
I have what I supposedly the true Hicks, but it pales, in production, length of season, berry size, and flavor, in comparison to almost any other M.rubraXalba hybrid I grow.
If Popcorn Disease is not an issue, I would think that ‘Illinois Everbearing’ mulberry would be hard to beat for a poultry yard, and fruit quality is top-notch, in the event that you wanted to avail yourself of some of the berries.
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i have 2 s. pea shrub, and 2 elderberry planted against my run fence with a common red mulberry planted in the middle of my 15’ x 20’ run. the Russians saved their chickens during ww2 winters by collecting and feeding s. pea shrub seed to their birds. they are 30% protein. the wild birds like them also and they are n. fixing as well.
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