# Rotational Pastures & Appropriate Plants



## WeeLittleChicken (Aug 31, 2012)

OK, so we have decided to do rotational pastures now we have more land to do so... The idea is we have 4-6 pastures per group of chickens so that every week we put them in a different one allowing them to eat what they want before moving onto the next and leaving the others to regrow. There's not a heck of a lot of information out there but I want to try this anyway. Our pasture is bald, worn down by what I can only assume was way too many alpacas the previous owners had. It's almost Spring (I say almost because we still have 6 inches of snow out there - UGH.) I am ready to start buying seeds to replant the pasture with chicken friendly plants, weeds are fine. So here's the big question - are there any plants your chickens just love that might grow in a New England climate? 

So far we've got these possibilities (and do say something if my information was wrong and any of these are toxic or horrible ideas.)
Alfalfa
Amaranth 
bee balm
bermuda grass
Chia
chickweed
chicory
comfrey
dandelions
echinacea
hen bit
Impatiens
Jerusalem artichoke
Jewel Weed
kale
lambsquarters
millet
mint
mustard greens
Nasturtiums (climbing)
Oregano
pansy
phlox
pigweed
plantain
pumpkin
red clover
sorghum 
tubers 
violets
white clover
wild strawberries
wheat grass (pesticide free)

blueberries
black berries
mulberries

elder berry trees
apple trees
pear trees


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Greens would have to be a Fall plant, they don't do well in the heat of Summer. Alfalfa is OK but probably more work than its worth. You can do just about any inexpensive seed that will regenerate. What you might end up dealing with though is that the birds will denude the property to the point that plants won't come back without reseeding. Its all going to depend on how many birds in how much space.


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## WeeLittleChicken (Aug 31, 2012)

Yeah the alfalfa is one of those things... initially when I started looking this all up everyone raves about alfalfa and how great it is to improve soil quality so you can grow other things in that dirt patch in the future. It sounded good for a bit... then the more I look into it seems more like a pain than anything. I was also considering using a couple alpacas to keep the plants at the right height for the chickens to eat but alpacas are apparently dumber than chickens and will eat plants they like until they become toxic - alfalfa being the one mentioned the most. UGH. So probably not. 

It will take a lot of trial and error I am sure but the whole point of rotating the chickens to a different pasture every week is so they don't eat down what they like until it's bald leaving only the things they won't eat and creating an environment not ideal for bugs. It's been surprisingly hard to get good information on this. A lot of people say it can't be done (which is obviously not true or else people wouldn't have been able to raise chickens before the advent of grain feed!), others say their system is working just fine, but the numbers just aren't there. The only hard and fast number I could find was that the French consider 27 feet per chicken to be what's needed but they were raising Bresse, a chicken that's larger than a Brabanter (and if that makes a difference I do not know.) Even so I am excited to try. Worse comes to worse I'll just have a pretty patch of sunflowers to stare at and a nice apple tree or two.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

How many are you going to have out there? If the birds are not a really high count, and the space is there, just open the whole thing to them. 

Yes, they raised them before grain feed was available but the birds more often than not had full ranging capabilities. Acres and acres. The numbers of birds did not range in the hundreds but just enough for the family to have for eggs and meat. They also received scraps that were not suitable for meals. Got to clean out the gardens in fall. And they didn't live as long as we expect ours to.

Pesticides were a minimum in use, no weed killers, no rodenticides. 

In trying to compare the two time periods its apples and oranges.


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## WeeLittleChicken (Aug 31, 2012)

In some sense sure, in others not so much. I mean I know there are feral populations of chickens all over the states, there's even been at least one neighborhood inundated with peacocks. They must be eating something. 

Opening the whole pasture was my initial plan but people who have been working this system had a few complaints.... mainly that the chickens stayed close to the coop and ate everything near it bare and didn't really go too far out into the pasture, especially allowing the weeds to grow high where they weren't focused, maintaining they'd continue not to explore that area. It makes sense I guess. I don't think the dual purpose breeds most people have these days are as good at foraging and exploring as the chickens our ancestors had. I know some people have free range chicks that go pretty far but this seems to be a hit or miss sort of thing. Trying to remedy this as well by trying to breed for this trait. It'll be an interesting thing to do. At the end of the day I just really enjoy finding ways to make things work in an unexpected way. Puzzling gives me joy. So does watching the chickens participate in natural behaviors like hunting down bugs and foraging. The bugs seem to be a big thing. SOme people seem to think they might be eating just as many bugs as they're eating plants. I find it all fascinating.


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## powderhogg01 (Jun 4, 2013)

If I understand the research I have done, its good to have goats or cows in one pasture for a week, then turn the chickens loose for a week while your choosen herd animal works the other pasture. The Idea is the grasses are more palatable at that size, and the ungulate poop attracted grubs and such, which the chicken will gladly spread for you in order to get at. That is at least the method I hope to get to at some point. if you keep 4 pastures, then you can leave 2 pastures to regrow for 2 weeks before the goats or whatever hit it next.


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## WeeLittleChicken (Aug 31, 2012)

That's what we hope to do with a couple alpacas. Their feet are easier on the land than a goat and most certainly a cow. If that doesn't work goats are still on the table as an option though cows just aren't. I don't have _that_ much land! Maybe someday.


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