As I mentioned in The Illusion of Nutrient-Dense Food, pastured animals should be on, well, pasture and not a bare patch of ground. During the winter this is not always possible; however with the warmth of spring and summer, there really isn’t a good excuse.
And with that warmth, many of my early season crops like lettuce, spinach and arugula have rebelled and are attempting to “bolt” or go to seed. This makes the greens very bitter, but to a chicken they are divine. So rather than waste this good green forage, I have recently moved my portable chicken netting to encompass the greens.
Before
After
I am also trying some experiments with black soldier flies (BSF) as supplemental food for the chickens. BSF larvae are insatiable eaters and will consume/convert large quantities of organic material into wiggly protein that chickens love. Here is a short time-lapse video of what BSF larva can do to a hamburger in only 5 hours.
um, thanks? for that BSF video? I know what I’ll be dreaming about tonight
how does one “experiment” with them…can you buy them in a catalog? then what do you do with them?
Gary,
You are welcome
Yes, you can buy them, but they are already well populated on my farm. What I have done is created a compost area that is covered/contained but with plenty of ventilation. The adult female flies will climb in and lay thousands of eggs (that’s how you end up with the critters from the video). When they have matured, they will crawl away (up to 300 feet) and finish maturing and live a short life as an adult. You can actually purchase self-harvesting composter bins that have a way for the larva to crawl out and fall into a collection bin (so you can feed the chickens every day). My idea is to have a 5 gallon bucket with holes in the bottom that I fill with tasty treats and place it on the compost area. A few hours later I should have a bunch of chicken food in the bucket.
…Tim
Love the soldier fly video–reminds me of my two boys attacking our refrigerator back in the day. I gotta head on up there and check out your larva catching contraption!
Just read on the back of a package of lettuce seeds that if you harvest the bitter leaves during the hotter months and refrigerate for couple of day that the bitterness goes away. I have not tried this yet but thought it was worth mentioning.
Thanks for the tip – definitely worth trying.