It’s winter and, since I knew we were moving, I have haven’t planted much. That combination means the garden is looking decidedly lacking – to humans anyway. Now that the movers are just about here (in 2 days they cart our worldly possessions to the farm) we figured it was time to let the girls have a go at the vegetable beds. Afterall, they’ve been staring through that chicken wire for most of their lives, just wishing they could spend 5 minutes in Paradise (except for Bronwyn who manages to break in at least once a week).
A good percentage of what’s growing in my veggie beds are volunteer plants and we’ve got a really nice crop of chickweed spreading through the beds. After removing one of the bits of fencing my suspicions were confirmed, the girls absolutely approve of this bounty.
There is nothing more like heaven for a chicken than a rich bed of chickweed growing from soft, bug-rich soil. I wonder if I created a bit of stress for my hens, they had to choose between eating the leaves or scratching and hunting for grubs. Choices, choices. But they didn’t complain, they were too busy filling their gullet!
Laura Rittenhouse's Gardening Journal 
They look so lovely and happy surrounded by all of that green!
I have a really hard time “weeding” chickweed from my veggie beds, but it really is a bit too prolific for its own good. But not for the girls – there’s no such thing as too prolific when it’s that tasty!
I guess it is called chickweed for a reason. Hope your moving went well.
I have wondered how it got its name – I guess some crazy chicken lady observed the way her chooks went mad for those pesky weeds.
Moving is going well. Movers gone, boxes everywhere, the worst is behind us but there’s so much to do I shouldn’t be typing this now! 😉