FOOD

Sprouting grain and pulses for your flock, where, why, how, what and when?

I'm not a great fan of cultivated grain, we like to limit it in our own diet so why not in our poultry's. If you read the average bag of even organic pelleted food...read more

Providing Forage for Organic Poultry Part 1

Going backwards to go forward - If you are setting up a forest garden  to run your poultry through it, you are probably going to be short of certain wild pasture elements...read more

Providing Forage for Organic Poultry Part 2

Continuing an in-depth look into forage and discussing the what, when, where from and why...read more
 
 

Food for Free. Fabulous Forage Part 1 Grass

For centuries farmers and homesteaders raised poultry on a forage-based diet supplemented only by a handful of grain and the occasional..read more

Food for Free. Fabulous Forage Part 2 Chickweed

Stellaria media an incredible food and medicinal for poultry, an in-depth look at this ubiquitous weed..read more

Food for Free. Fabulous Forage Part 3 Tree Fodder & Tree Hay

The idea of tree fodder is inextricably linked with the changing landscape, the full domestication of animals, the concept of farming and the clearance of the forests... read more
 

Food for Free. Fabulous Forage Part 4 Roses for Food & Forest

For me the rose is the quintessential forest garden plant, from canopy to ground cover there are so many to choose from ... read more

Food for Free. Fabulous Forage Part 5 Rose Petals

One of the main roses I use for both cooking, medicinals and which my hens very much enjoy is, not surprisingly, rosa gallica Officinalis, or The Apothecary Rose... read more

Food for Free Fabulous Forage Part 6 Rose Leaves and Hips

For thousands of years the rose, hips, leaves and blossoms have been used as medicinals for both physical and nervous system ailments. .....read more

Food for Free Fabulous Forage Part 7 Hips/Leaves Why?

Part 6 dealt in detail with the nutrient value and here we look in depth at why these are crucial for optimal physical and nervous system health...read more

Food For Free Fabulous Forage Part 8 Air Meadows for Poultry & Livestock

'Air meadows' is the beautiful description for a multi millennial old tradition of feeding European livestock. The standard way of growing trees for...read more

Food For Free Fabulous Forage Part 9 Tree Choices Poultry & Livestock

Depending on your climate and native (or well-established) species of trees there are so many options to choose from when planning to grow these valuable forage crops...read more

 

Quail, Chickens & Watercress - A winning combination

So what is it that makes watercress so special? It's not just the quantity of individual vitamins and minerals but the...read more

Quail, Chickens  & Watercress Part 2 - Cultivation & Harvest

Contrary to its common name nasturtium officianale does not need to be grown in water, moist soil is fine. However,  it does give the watercress...read more

Nutrient from the Sun - How Poultry Obtain and Make Vitamin D₃

The full potential of D₃ in the maintenance of the physical and nervous systems of humans, animals and birds is still not fully understood today...read more

Perfectly Horrid Halloween Pain Surprise - 

I've been raising organic mealworms for some years, mainly for our quail. This year I have had a bumper amount of mealworms hatching and pupating due to the continuous hot Summer weather, so they need of a new home...read more

Common Nutritional Deficiencies in Quail, Game-birds & Poultry

Many nutritional deficiencies in chicks are in fact due to gaps in parental diet, which impact directly upon the quality of the embryo's nutrition and therefore start within the..read more 

Raising Mealworms Organically for Optimum Poultry Protein - Part One 

I've always been concerned about the level of protein in the diet of my quail. This is not only from the point of view of egg laying but also and more importantly because..read more 

Raising Mealworms Organically for Optimum Poultry Protein -- Part Two

As with all my work both writing and films, my intention is to share that observation is key in the understanding of how we can best raise our poultry. This also holds good for how we raise...read more