Since we live in the suburbs and cannot allow our chickens to wander all over the neighborhood, we have a large chicken yard that is surrounded by wire fencing. The chickens have long since stripped out any plant life except prolific Rose of Sharon, monster catnip that has gone wild, and the odd weed that they don't like. While our four ladies live the good life, roaming where they like, dust bathing under the shed, eating their own eggs for breakfast (and lunch) and getting a steady supply of garden and kitchen scraps, I felt bad that they didn't have more live vegetation. I decided to fence off half of the chicken yard and try growing buckwheat. I read that buckwheat grows quickly, loosens up soil, and chickens love it, so it sounded like a good crop to try.
We raked out several years worth of sticks, stones, pinecones, and other detritus from the chicken yard. I have no idea where all of the stones came from. I watered the soil to cut down on the dust, then I used a garden rake to loosen the top half inch of dirt. (I won't call if soil, because it is really just hard rocky clay dirt.) Then the little babe and I broadcast the seed pretty thickly and I went over it with the rake again and watered. Then I waited, watched, watered, and finally...
it sprouted! And it grew really quickly.
Some plants seem to be at the same stage forever and then all of a sudden, bam! They're in bloom. But with buckwheat, I could see a noticeable change each day.
Soon it was almost knee-high and then I started waiting on the flowers. A couple of plants started flowering and then the whole crop was covered in tiny white flowers, packed in tight behind the fence, doing a great job of hiding the ugly dirt down below.
Once all of the flowers were in bloom, I decided to open up the fence and let the ladies go to town. At first, they didn't even cross the boundary where the fence had been. I don't really blame them though, because the buckwheat and catnip were taller than they were. But they slowly started venturing into the buckwheat and one day I realized that it was really trampled down and they had even started scratching down to the bare ground again in their quest for insects. They loved the buckwheat!
To add to the mix, we also have the two ducklings living in a third part of the chicken yard. When we moved them out of the garage, we gave them their own space so that the chickens could see the new strangers in town through a fence before we let the ducklings loose in the chicken yard. Chicken beaks are much sharper than duck bills and I didn't want the babies getting picked on.
The introduction went well. The chickens came through the buckwheat and helped themselves right to the ducklings' food. Lou and Lily definitely gave the ladies the hairy eyeball when the chickens were in their space, but since the chickens didn't mess with their water, all was good.
For now, the ducklings will still sleep in their own hut at night so that they have some privacy. The long term plan is keep everybody - 4 chickens and 2 ducks - in the chicken coop at night. In the meantime, everybody is enjoying the new space and the tasty buckwheat. I have to decide when I'll till it into the soil and if I am going to plant a cover crop for Fall.
If you have chickens and have the space to plant buckwheat, I would definitely try it. Apparently it is also a great food source for honey bees, so it plays a useful role on a small homestead.
Shared on the Our Simple Homestead Blog Hop.