Soy beans as chook food????

Discussion in 'Planting, growing, nurturing Plants' started by mad rabbit woman, Jul 5, 2006.

  1. mad rabbit woman

    mad rabbit woman Junior Member

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    I'm planning on growing corn mainly for the chooks. Just wondering about something high protein like soy beans. I was thinking about planting some stuff where the pens are going to be, let it go to seed and chuck some chooks in at a later date. Would soy be suitable? Any thing else that might be suitable?
     
  2. FREE Permaculture

    FREE Permaculture Junior Member

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    Grain amaranth would be a good one.
    looks beautiful and grows massive seed heads, self seeds readily,
    can also use it on your cereal and chooks would like them lots.

    I don't know about soy beans.

    corn is ok i guess, it's a warming food so don't over do it in summer which is when you'll have it in supply, store for winter is good.
    but corn really isn't the bestest thing to grow, to get enough you need to grow a lot as there's like 2 or 3 cobs per plant, they need to grow all together in a block 'cos they wind pollenate sort of, so if you plant in a row the cobs will be ratty and maybe 40% corny.

    They much prefer sunflower seeds, very easy to grow like maybe giant sunflowers, then for a mad treat you cut the flower off and let them pick at the seeds all day, they are also fantastic to attract bees to your garden
    and look great towering up, maybe use them as living stakes for the soy beans, they'd be good together too.

    Sunflowers are so easy 'cos you can put them anywhere and everywhere, out front they look great and in little spots everywhere.
    the bed where you would have corn could be used for something more productive, corn needs quite a bit of water too.
     
  3. christopher

    christopher Junior Member

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    We feed our chooks corn, plus many other things. We get tofu residue (okara) from a soy dairy near us.

    Soybeans are a LOT of work to grow, they are a lot of post harvest work (a huge amount of work to shell, needs processing to render edible to yumans), too, and in my experience, any other bean is a better investment of labour if you are not a mechanized farmer.

    Cow pea is a good option. High protein, and indeterminate, which means it flowers and fruits as long as the conditions are right. The green beans are edible as a vegetable, the dry beans are edible as a protein. Cow pea is also a good ground cover.

    As Ben pointed out, sunflower is a good chook food, and fun to grow.....
     
  4. soldierturnedfarmer

    soldierturnedfarmer Junior Member

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    what about pumpkin seeds are these any good for chooks?

    STF
     
  5. soldierturnedfarmer

    soldierturnedfarmer Junior Member

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    what about pumpkin seeds are these any good for chooks?

    STF
     
  6. FREE Permaculture

    FREE Permaculture Junior Member

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    Traditionally raw pumpkin seeds are used as a chook wormer, so yep you can crush the seeds up a bit in a pestal and mortar and away you go.

    you could also toast some in the oven, crush and add it to your grain.
     
  7. soldierturnedfarmer

    soldierturnedfarmer Junior Member

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    cheers mate
    thanks

    stf
     
  8. Tezza

    Tezza Junior Member

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    Ive never heard Of pumpkin seeds being used as a wormer for chooks raw or cooked

    I only knew of the other kinds like Wormwood,garlic,onion just giving chooks accsess to "dirt" acts as a fumigant as the dirt it self must help make life sort of uncomforble for intestinal worms.If allowed to browse on say Wormwood,they only nibble on the stuff, they dont eat it, they seem to know or sense how much to nibble on..its a really exellent shrubby bush,with more beifits than most others..Its prenial so lasts for years and is available 24/7 to the chook...Id rather that then crushing pumpkin seeds for a living

    Tezza
     

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