I find that it's useful to provide, especially to young birds needing high
protein, what is sold here as 'pigeon mix', which should have about 27%
protein, double that of wheat or corn, etc. (But be careful with high
protein for mature birds - Isa Brown hens, for example, respond to high
protein with dangerously [for the mother] large eggs.
If you toss the pigeon mix on the ground, the chooks select what they want,
leaving or losing a mixture, but especially larger seeds, e.g. dun peas,
which then can sprout. You can get them a nice sprouted crop if you withhold
them from the area in wet weather for a week, or less. We also give ours
some of the rice/veg/mince mix we give the dog. We also keep our black
plastic compost bin in the chook run, which means one trip with two buckets
from the kitchen - chook scraps and compost - and with two compost bins, you
wait until the second is almost full, then give the birds the contents of
the first, over a few days. they will do a great job of spreading and
integrating the compost, in their pursuit of worms and other macrobiota in
the compost. You can work that kind of pattern into a rotating system of
gardens/chook runs. Beware of having too much fresh manure in the garden. If
there seems a lot, adjust your rotation, or remove fresh droppings (also
those from hen house) to the compost, rather than directly to the garden.
I would not worry too much about removing plants where the birds are going
to go. They will dig into most roots, and insects will visit those weeds,
etc left standing and the birds will have something to jump for.
Dennis
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