We grew some sorghum this year to see if our chickens
would eat it.
They gave it the old sniff
and scratch, but didn’t seem even remotely interested.
On a plus note our new goats
seem to enjoy eating the leaves.
Growing sorghum for chickens
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Anna & Mark
Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton are a pair of back-to-the-landers who have been homesteading for over a decade.
Even if they don’t like the grains themselves, I wonder if the sorghum might be more appealing later in winter, or maybe if it were sprouted first. Haven’t tried it myself, just wondered.
Emma — Good idea! That’s definitely worth trying!
Looks like sprouting sorghum is not recommended. Sprouted seedlings have a very high cyanide content, and are therefore poisonous for both human and animal consumption.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2621.1984.tb13212.x/abstract
(Although I haven’t looked for other sources to confirm this research.)
Emma — Thanks so much for looking that up! Definitely sounds like less of a good idea now. :-/ I’ll have to research further and see if the slightly green seeds I have are a risk even pre-sprouting. Maybe that’s why no one wanted to eat them….