Grow chicken food?

Winter is coming. green grass and clover and weeds to feed the chickens are getting scarce. I already have a little bed of spinach and arugula growing in the green house; slow in this oh so wet fall but nevertheless,  if it has good sized leaves by December I usually get nice salads into January. I don;t restart that project until March or so.

Chicken run thoroughly covered with leaves; more loads of leaves to go in. a foot deep would be perfect.( we try for 18 inches in the front area of the goat pen every fall-keeps them dry and they love it too.) Despite all efforts to maintain mulch, the rain just did us in for about 6 weeks. they LOVE the leaves. inside the house; wood shavings and straw. need one more layer before truly cold weather; aiming for that 12 inches. kitchen garbage ( peelings, lettuce, and apple cores and the like) can go on this mulch for amusement and a little food. Potatoes and sweet potatoes, etc can be cooked and fed.I also feed a little wild bird seed- they love the millet and sunflowers.

thus; instead of buying expensive "chicken cover crop seed" I'm going to start flats-just the old seed flats- with compost as the base- with some of the wild bird seed. I think they will love it. I can start flats inside under lights once it is too cold.Rotating in ( yup just chuck the compost in too) is also adding to what we hope to remove and use next spring as fertilizer for the garden.

We also have a mealworm project going as it's getting too cold to find the earthworms. Jethro, the rooster, is nuts for earthworms- the guineas too!I spent about $2 at petsmart for small mealworms; put them in a box of oatmeal with the top slashed a few times for air; put in a piece of potato or apple for their moisture-add oatmeal as needed.

the family was not happy when they found my little project. oh well.I think I see adults and so I can start feeding the worms to the birds in a  few more days.

Next spring we hope to have everyone moved to a chicken tractor. they can till, fertilize and eat bugs right on site. no more hauling stuff. sounds like a plan to me!