Oilseed radish as a winter vegetable for chickens

The woods are now solid
brown and gray, so I thought it would be nice to give our free-ranging
flock a winter pick-me-up.  Okay, I’ll be honest — a chicken
broke into the oilseed
radish pasture, so I
figured everyone should get a shot at it. 



The cover crop grew slowly
during the summer due to partial tree cover, but the same trees seem to
have mitigated winter’s cold, so the radishes are still vibrantly green
while the ones in my garden are dying or dead.  Our rooster and
hens were quite happy to chow down on the radish leaves, just like our
last round of broilers were this fall.



With the whole world
(except the garden) open to them, our flock has been spending perhaps a
third of its time enjoying vegetables in the radish pasture and two
thirds of its time hunting invertebrates in the woods.  Sounds
like a well-rounded chicken diet.