Patches, The Silver-laced Wyandotte, helps herself to the fresh patch of chicken forage blend.

Give your home fresh eggs a boost of Omega-3 by growing and feeding your backyard flock a Chicken Forage Blend that ;achieves ;the result right in the egg. Not only will you be fortifying your eggs with heart-healthy Omega-3 fatty acids, but your chickens will love grazing on the fresh blend of alfalfa, clover, and flax in their chicken run.

If you plan to keep your chickens cooped up for a day or two, it’s a good idea to place something in their run to entertain themselves, because when they get bored, bad behaviors can surface. The Chicken Forage Blend is perfect for our little backyard flock, since we take our teardrop ;trailer (The Cozy Cruiser) ;on long weekend camping trips during the summer.

ENTER TO WIN: Theresa Loe, over at Living Homegrown, and I are giving away four 1-pound bags of Chicken Forage Blend from Peaceful Valley. Click to enter the giveaway

Congratulations Chicken Forage Giveaway Winners!

Sorry, this giveaway has ended. Congratulations to Jason and Ronda Perkins for winning a 1-pound bag of Peaceful Valley’s Chicken Forage Blend. I’m sure your chickens will love you for growing their own fresh foraging greens. Have fun! Don’t forget to check out Theresa’s website Living Homegrown to see if you’re a winner.

BONUS: You all posted so many great suggestions for keeping your chickens entertained that I’ve decided to create a special blog post listing all of your helpful answers. I also have two short videos to share with you! Stay in the loop by subscribing to Nest In Style (see form in the footer of this website).

Growing Your Own Forage Blend is Easy

You don’t have to be a Master Gardener to grow your own Chicken Forage Blend. All it takes is a little know-how and a short list of supplies. My instructions will only show you how to grow one 17 inch flat of the seed blend, but if you understand the concept of successive gardening, you can schedule multiple sowings two weeks apart for a continuous supply throughout the growing season.

Supply List

1. One bag of organic potting soil
2. One 1-pound bag of Omega-3 Chicken Forage Blend
3. One 17″ Square Seed Flat
4. One Soil Scoop
5. Fine mesh screen

Peaceful Valley sells the Chicken Forage Blend in one pound bags, perfect for making small batches. ;A 1-pound bag of Chicken Forage Blend sows about 20 of the 17 inch seed flats; or if your backyard allows for more space, you can buy the seed blend in bulk and plant an Omega-3 lawn for your chickens to graze on.

Good-to-know Tip #1: ;Use a sterile blend of organic potting soil when starting seeds in containers. The soil from your garden is too heavy for the little sprouts to break through the surface and most likely has bacteria that will keep your seeds from germinating.

Let’s Get Sowing!

STEP 1: ;Cut the fine mesh screen – same stuff used for sliding screen doors – the same size as the bottom of your container. This will keep the soil from spilling out the bottom when you water. I’ve used leftover landscape plastic before, but you’ll have to remember to poke holes for drainage.

STEP 2: Use your Soil Scoop to fill up the 17″ Seed Starting Tray with the organic potting soil – I like Gardner & Bloome’s Eden Valley Blend – leaving about a 1/4 inch from the top. Since good potting soil is light and airy, the soil will settle once you start watering.

STEP 3: Sow the seed thickly. How thick? I don’t have a “formula” or anything, but you can refer to the photo below.

Sow the Chicken Forage Blend Seed thickly.

Grow-to-know Tip #3: ;If you don’t know the proper planting depth for your seeds, plant the seed no deeper than 3 times the thickness of the seed.

STEP 4: Evenly sprinkle more organic potting soil on top of the seed about 1/4 inch thick and lightly tamp down the surface with your hand.

A top-dressing of potting soil will help to keep the seeds moist while they germinate.

Good-to-know Tip #4: ;All seeds need constant moisture to germinate, so plan on watering everyday until the seeds germinate. In other words, DO NOT wait until the soil is dry to water.

STEP 4: ;Place in a sunny part of your yard that get’s at least 4-6 hours of sun. All you need to do now is water and wait!

Find a safe place – away from pets – for your seed containers while the seeds germinate and grow.

From Seed to Chicken Run

You won’t have to wait long before the Chicken Forage Blend is ready to serve. The sprouts are usually ready in about 3 weeks. For small space gardeners, the tricky part is finding a sunny place high enough so your chickens don’t help themselves to an afternoon snack. Click thumbnails to see larger photos

Win a 1-Pound Bag of Chicken Forage Blend!

Our friends over at Peaceful Valley have generously offered four 1-pound bags of their Chicken Forage Blend for Theresa and I to give away to our readers. You have two chances to win. All you have to do is give your answer to one or both of the following questions in the comments section below, then click on over to Theresa Loe’s Living Homegrown website to give your answer to her question. Pretty simple, right?

Giveaway ends midnight on Wednesday, July 18. Good luck!

;

1. What are some ways you keep your flock from getting bored in their chicken run?
2. If you don’t have chickens yet, what made you decide to start raising backyard chickens?

Disclosure: I was not paid to write this post. I received free bags of seed from Peaceful Valley to giveaway to my readers, and a free bag of potting soil from Kellogg Garden Products. My words and opinions are my own.