We plant rosemary just outside the fence. They love to pick what grows through. And rosemary becomes an unstable bush here in the high desert within a couple years even with little or no tlc. Plus, it keeps pests away from your birds and more sensitive crops. --- I'd like to try more things that need very little attention as "Grow-Through" feed but that will have to wait on the new ranch. --- Can't go wrong with cow peas. They thrive on abusive conditions.

Ive never seen chicken tractors run over such barren ground. Fascinating to see how the area recovers over time, I'd highly recommend seeding behind the tractors.

I’m in west Texas! This is just what I needed for my chickens, cuz feed has doubled in price! Thank you, sincerely an new subscriber!

Loving seeing arizona examples! It’s been hard finding examples in such a harsh environment, but I have appreciated all your videos!

I'm learning so much from your channel. I'm a recent transplant from Phili and want to grow fruit trees, crops and chickens on my one acre lot in N. Scottsdale. Thank you for your videos.

Sunflower idea is great definitely going to incorporate that in the future!! These Arizona summers are brutal!

I’m in Ontario Canada but seeing all the dryness makes me want to bring permaculture methods to build topsoil and ecosystem oasis!

Thanks! First year with chicken and looking to feed them and our kids. Thank you

Great work. You guys are real food pioneers. Keep up the good work.

Look into the Chaya Spinach Tree. Fully edible, fast growing and drough resistant. It takes our desert heat great, it just can't handle frost. It takes heavy pruning.

Your chickens might like some broken tree branches inside, pushed through the wire fencing and tied up. It makes great fin for them and security when predators are around. Having a worm farm to feed them is awesome too!😇

Great Video. Drone shot at the end a Bonus. Thanks

I've grown black sun flower seeds for years My chickens and pigs love them

Maybe i am just weird but i find it soothing to put t-posts in

Nowhere near you, but I have some squash and pumpkins for my birds in the winter. They appreciate the variety. I free range so I also throw the feed into areas I want scratched up like my blackberries. All the best to you. Looks nice!

Thank you for sharing.

Amazing, inspiring. I also use woodchips to keep soil moisture in and birds off during germination. It's a big help. Your setup is very clean and well planned. Kudos!

Great job, thank you for sharing.

Thanks for another great video. This is such a great concept and anyone with a small flock should be doing this. So Many Benefits beyond just the free food. Growing sunflower seed for chickens is cheap, its easy to process and store, and offers great nutrition. But when it comes to the peas, there are two important misconceptions that show up on this subject again and again. 1. Almost all legumes (cowpeas, soybeans, peas, horticultural beans, chickpeas) contain anti-nutritional factors (ANF). Basically, enzymes in the legume interfere with the assimilation of protein and other nutrients by the animal. We all look at the analysis on say, field peas, and think, "24% protein, that's going to be great for my animals". The reality is that the birds excrete a significant portion of that protein. To inactivate ANFs legumes must be heated to high temperatures. This is why packaged feeds contain roasted soybean meal as the primary protein source. 2. When legumes are allowed to complete their life cycle, ie set seed, they consume the majority of the nitrogen they fix. Sure there may be some benefit, but if you really want enough nitrogen for heavy feeders (like a subsequent batch of sunflower) better to undersow the patch with red clover or alfalfa which fix significantly more N, can be fed to the chickens, or chopped and dropped for a high value mulch. Hope this is useful. Cheers

Amaranth. Worm bins buried in the ground and kept moist, shaded. Soldier fly larvae. Lettuce in beds next to the run. Amaranth needs some work, but it has stellar yields in sunny places. Close the circle by spreading the used chicken bedding on them. Sunflowers! 100%. :-) might want to use alfalfa too! Champion nitrogen fixer.

G'day guys. What a great idea. That drone is such a good investment too. Good on you guys, Daz.

I can definitely see how making the row run from east to west can make a big difference, especially when you plants get taller; since the sun will rise in the east and set in the west and will be more directly over top of the rows as it makes its rotation, but that angle will vary from spring to fall considerable, and it will make more of a difference toward the fall. look at your shadow cast behind you towards the chicken coup, and it's spring time, and it's going to change a bit as you get into October. It makes sense to run the rows perpendicular to the chicken coup, since it will give a more even sun broadcast to your plants! I noticed someone made a comment on it, but just because some professor says something, without reason, shouldn't be the reason we do something, so I thought I would speak a little bit of logic behind it. Some plants need full sun while some do okay with partial sun, but will thrive in full sun. thanks for sharing the video.

THANK U FOR THE INFO

Great idea

Nice ! farmers always work hard

New subscriber from UK. This year I’m planting sweetcorn, purple sprouting broccoli, flax , peas, sunflower to feed my hens ducks and geese as they eat the grass so quickly so this year I can reduce the area and give it time to rest while feeding them what I’ve grown Mandy in Devon 🇬🇧

Have you tried using some thing like drip tape to plants? Or maybe some times sprinklers- on timers. To save time and maybe some evaporation over hand watering, especially when it's done multiple times a day. You have such great videos! I have learned so much! ,am in inland No.Calif. where the climate is becoming more arid,we get more winter rain but rarely any summer rain and many more 100 plus days. Ground water is also limited. Have done quite a bit of rain harvest with berms and some roof catchment, but it's costly. Again thanks for all the ideas you share.

Dude your whole joint reminds me of Egypt. And other places in the world that they are turning desert into real viable land and soil. Great job!!!❤

Try looking into tepary beans. I live in south central Texas and they do great here planted with the monsoon seasons. They thrive in the heat and make a quick crop. I got my start from Native Seed Search.

Thanks for sharing

Try planting Buckwheat as a Cover crop it also is a Nitrogen fixer when you till it back in

I love this idea, will the chicken also eat the leaves of the sunflower? You know what, you can do the same on another part of the pasture, not to plant crops but to isolate the area so the weeds can recuperate and become nice and green again.

I'm in zone 10b (South Florida), so different challenges than you. I'm a complete noob when it comes to raising chickens. I want to learn to eliminate the need for store bought feed.

Lombardy Poplar are the fastest shade trees as well as Sycamore for extreme heat.

My late grandmother had hearing aids because she was pretty deaf without them, and they gave her constant grief with chafing and pressing on the delicate skin inside her ears. You can reduce the likelihood this will happen to you as you get older by wearing earmuffs while using power machinery or other loud tools such as a post driver.

Just got 6 leghorns. Here we gooooo

You need a landscape rake. I have just about destroyed mine from constant use over three new properties. They are worth it though for smoothing out ground and kicking out rocks.

Wood planting some small trees in the pasture help with the ability to retain moisture in the soil due to more shade? It seems like it’s still very dry.

One way I've seen to help germinate seeds After watering Cover it up with plastic sheets Basically a mini green house

Good work. Looking for how it looks now a year on.

Nice music...sfunny cuz am not into country. Good video

I live in AZ and I can not get a tpost in the ground that easy. Nice

Black eyed peas are a good source of protein for the chickens.

Have yall started a worm farm? If so, the worm casings work as anotjer source of feed for yalls chickens

We grow sun flowers and feed them full heads before we dry them

You are going to need more land soon. ;0) I grew up on an 8 Acre, Orchard half Horse Stud and 13 Dogs. 40 Horses Like the way you are going about, what you are doing. Painted Double Plank Fences. ;0)

I applaud the efforts , however I think the underlying issue with sustainability in this scenario is water

I'm guessing that the sunflower seed hulls are safe...? Easily digested?

Is there an update video as to how this worked for you and the chickens?

Chickens eat acorns in spring when the tannines are removed in autumn and winter by the weather.

I'm growing feed corn for mine that I got to grow from scratch feed.

Can I ask why you have 2 different types of chicken? I know broilers are bred for eating but what is the purpose of the others?

0:32 look at his shadow lol

Mallow? Nasty invasive, but it's funny they're not digging up the roots, which were once used to make candy. Again, being nosy, but if you ran a fence down the middle, you could have them a week on one side and week the other. Mom had an acre for 500 layers, and a second acre for garden for canning. Each year they got switched. Come fall, Dad planted cereal rye, then undersowed clover for them, which is good feed for poultry. When rye blooms, if clipped high it dies. No weed seed survived long, and the chickens loved it. That's a sod hook, a tool I am far too familiar with... 'Way too much :) 10:18, perfect scene, the mountains in the background. and man, I love welded wire for fencing, but that chain link beats it by a mile. Beautiful! Sunflower leaves are like ice cream to animals! Cowpeas, great! But with all that manure, aren't you worried about nitrogen burn? the husband of a cousin had just a little too much beer before fertilizing 20 acres of sweet corn. Yeah. A few months later, the corn was only waist high and dying. Donno what happened to him, but her kids claimed she had to buy a new war stick, a Louisville slugger :) Hasta!

Hey there, nice video 👍 Is there a follow-up on this?

I'm curious about the economics. How much it costs to grow chicken feed vs buying it.

Do the chickens eat the Sunflower microgreens or the grown plant?

have you considered a fodder feed system?

Comfrey grows fast cut tops off and keep it watered to feed animals

My 1st intro to your channel. ❤️ the sustainability and use of the cowpeas and sunflower seeds. How will you water?

Did you put that chainlink in yourself? What's the cost look like for something that massive? I have tons of coyotes.

Did you do a follow up video to show the results??

Is there an update somewhere on how this adventure went on?

Wouldn't you want to plant in the same row for nitrogen fixation?

Just curious have you considered sorghum?

Rows should be starting from east to west and spaces should be a little bit more for more sunlight exposure

Do you get rats? I lived in the same place many years and I only got rats when I had a neighbour with chickens.

Low key wondered if this was Tony Hawk for a minute.

Would the chickens eat those weeds?

Putting a light over the pile at night will attract millions of BUGS. Chickens love them, and their FREE

Actual info starts at 9:00 ...you're welcome.

I wouldn't call that little electric tiller a "tiller" lol

soldier fly larva .

Not sure I could call that pasture

You should really look into building up your top soil with organic matter and completely eliminating tilling all together. It destroys the life of your soil

Have you considered raising insect feeders? Probably the absolute lowest cost/space for the nutrition. Dubia roaches and mealworms are incredibly easy. They require very little care. I've raised them for reptiles but I'm sure chickens would love them. They'd readily eat that fruit you didn't want to ripen. Incredibly low risk as far as them escaping and causing a problem since they need humidity to breed which we obviously lack here.

Thanks for this info, it gives me some ideas on how to prepare for my chickens. ? Have you ever read John 3:16 in the Bible, God's Word. Here's what it says: For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. You can have this life by believing in Jesus Christ, God's Son. Go ahead and invite Him into your life, He'll come in and change it, so you can live with Him in heaven. 🙏💞

Cow peas and sunflower seeds there now you don't have to listen to this guy ramble on for 20 minutes

I don't buy anything from Tractor Supply anymore since they went woke with the transexual events dancing in front of kids.

Ahh, permaculture people.and the conundrum of maintaining microorganisms vs tilling