Azolla the little fern that could

I've been growing this azolla (Azolla pinnata) since at least 2016.  It has been growing with us through drought, flood, snow, frosts, dust storms, and utter neglect.  

Remember that children's story of 'the little engine that could'?  It was a little train that kept going and going and going and when the hill got too steep it just kept going.  Azolla is like the plant version of this.  Very few plants have as many uses as azolla, and very few things are as simple to grow without posing a weed threat.

Azolla is simple to grow, incredibly productive (hence its ability to survive neglect), and I use it for a surprising number of things.  Very few plants have as many uses as azolla, very few plants are as simple to grow as azolla, an added bonus is this species is native to my area. 

While a few containers of azolla tucked under things around the yard can be surprisingly productive, each year I wish I had more azolla.  I consider increasing the amount I grow, but the reality of space and water constraints hits me and I only find space for a few more small containers of azolla. 

Azolla covering the water surface and forming a mat

Even though it doesn't look like a typical fern, azolla is a fern.  This little fern tends to float on the water surface with short thin roots dangling freely in the water, and does not ever need to touch soil.  Unlike many water plants, azolla can thrive in low nutrient water.  It is surprisingly resilient.  This species of azolla is native to Australia (and parts of Africa, and parts of Asia), and is the most common species of Azolla that can be found in my area.  

Azolla has a myriad of uses including animal feed, human food, mosquito control, fertiliser, mulch and compost, clearing water, providing honey bees somewhere to safely collect water, and plenty of other things.  I have eaten azolla, it isn't my favourite but in a pinch I guess I could eat it, that being said I would prefer to feed it to my chickens and then eat their eggs.  

If you ever have time to kill, look up the 'Azolla event'.  This is a time in the Eocene era were it is hypothesized that azolla growing in the arctic grew so much that it took so much carbon from the atmosphere that it changed the climate and caused an ice age.  Given that azolla can easily drawdown over 1.5 kg/m2/yr of carbon (some sources state it draws down 6.2 to 7.8kg per square meter), and the basin it was growing in covered around 4 million square kilometers, this hypothesis is plausible.  Sadly azolla will never be able to do this again, as the conditions that lead to this were rather unique, but it is fascinating nonetheless. 

Azolla and a rice plant

Azolla has a mutually beneficial symbiotic relationship with a blue green algae (cyanobacteria) called Anabaena azollae.  This is one of the few instances of symbiosis in nature being beneficial to both species.  To simplify what happens, the Azolla grows special little pockets to house the cyanobacterium and feeds it carbon, in return the blue green algae collects nitrogen from the air and turns it into a form that is usable by the fern.  Collecting nitrogen from the atmosphere like this is what makes azolla so useful. 

Not only is it rather rare to see mutually beneficial symbiosis, but this symbiosis is passed on from generation to generation and does not require re-inoculation.  To quote the Azolla foundation "we know of no other symbiotic relationship in which a cyanobacterium and plant pass down together during reproduction from generation to generation".  

Azolla also has a few other species of symbionts.  At this stage we don't really understand the purpose of those other species, or how they each interact, or if each is passed on or needs to be re-inoculated each generation.  It doesn't really matter too much, what matters is the azolla has various symbionts, and together they do a great job.  

Azolla and Chinese water chestnuts

I tend to grow azolla with aquatic vegetables such as Chinese water chestnuts.  I add some azolla when I plant them, and ignore it while it does its own thing.  Within a short amount of time the azolla covers the surface of the water.  From there it doesn't take too long to make a dense mat, which prevents mosquito larvae from being able to emerge and turn into adults.  

The azolla on top of the water surface also helps shade and cool the water, and somehow prevents the water from becoming too acidic.  Small containers can overheat in summer due to their small size, shading the water and shading the submerged soil helps keep the roots cooler which helps things grow better in the heat of summer.  

Azolla with watercress and brahmi

The mat of azolla also effectively blocks light.  This prevents algae from being a problem, and tends to prevent weed seeds from germinating.  

After the azolla turns into a thick mat, it starts to self compost.  New azolla grows on top, while the ferns underneath get smothered, and die.  This releases nitrogen and other nutrients that can be used by the water vegetables.  This works well as a natural organic biofertiliser.  This beneficial relationship between azolla and water plants was noticed hundreds of years ago, and azolla was introduced into rice paddies to increase rice yields and feed countless people long before the invent of chemical fertilisers.

The below container was partly filled with leaf litter, planted with a duck potato, topped up with water, and azolla added.  The soil level is too high, so there was not much space for water, but the azolla didn't mind, it grew well and covered the surface.  You can see the duck potatoes grew into large plants even though they were growing in small containers.  

Azolla and duck potatoes

The roots of azolla hang down in the water, and a myriad of life swims among them.  I don't know how these tiny things find their way into my containers, but I know if I look closely (or use a microscope) the roots are absolutely teeming with life.  

Tremendous amounts of research have been conducted into azolla.  All of this research points to azolla's productivity and ability to reduce the need for both chemical fertilisers and herbicides.  

While azolla is widely used as a biofertiliser in China and various other countries, it has not gained popularity in the Western countries where it is preferred to apply chemical fertilisers.  For backyard growers, azolla creates free organic fertiliser and free chicken feed.

Chinese water chestnuts growing in buckets with azolla

I start small aquatic vegetables in small pots of soil, then I transplant them into larger pots.  The ones in the photo below are in 10cm pots of soil submerged in a 4 liter ice cream container.  The azolla shades the water, which helps with temperature regulation and prevents algae from growing. 

Sometimes I place cuttings between these submerged pots.  The pots help hold the cuttings upright, keeping the base of the cutting under water, while the leaves remain in the air.  The azolla shades the water, prevents algae growth, and keeps the water cooler.  

Azolla with aquatic vegetables and cuttings

Recently I started to grow black forbidden rice (Oryza sativa).  I have some of the rice plants growing in pots of soil and being watered like any other vegetable plant, and some plants are in pots of soil submerged in shallow water.  I am curious to see which will perform better for me. 

In many countries azolla is intentionally added to flooded rice paddies.  Adding azolla is said to increase rice yields anywhere from 6.2% to 112% depending on which paper you read and what they are comparing.  All the research indicates that azolla helps rice plants grow larger, tiller more, and produce more grain (both in terms of weight as well as number of grains) per plant.  

I added azolla to most of the submerged rice I am growing.  It doesn't take long before the entire surface is covered.  Once the surface is covered it doesn't take long until the azolla forms a dense mat and starts to break down.  This should fertilise my plants, and provide food for numerous tiny water critters.  If nothing else, azolla will prevent mosquitoes from successfully breeding in these containers of still water.  

Newly planted Black forbidden rice with azolla

Azolla and rice - a few days later

The growth rate of azolla is pretty extraordinary.  

I took the photo below not long after adding azolla to the surface of the water.  You can see, the azolla is dividing and growing well. 

Black forbidden rice growing with azolla

I took the next photo of the same plants just six days later.  At this point the azolla had almost covered the surface of the water.  

This was towards the end of spring, over summer when the temperature is a little warmer the growth rate of azolla can be even faster.  

The rice plants seem to be doing well with azolla on the surface.  I am also growing a few rice plants in shallow water with no azolla to see if there is any noticeable difference.  I am taking photos and plan to write another blog post on this towards the end of the season.  While it is too early to make a call, at this stage the rice with azolla appears to be larger and more lush.

Six days of azolla growth

Azolla grows best floating on the surface of water, where it can double its biomass every few days.  Strangely enough, azolla can also grow long term on soil.  

Once I watered a pot using water that had a small piece of azolla in it.  The azolla sat on the surface of the soil and didn't die, and I decided to leave it and see what happened.  It stayed green and looked healthy enough.  

Over time the azolla grew, and slowly covered much of the soil surface.  This has not grown anywhere near as fast as when it is in water, but it has survived spring, summer, autumn, winter, another spring and is heading into its second summer.  This is long term survival.  

The azolla on top is growing, while the lower levels are mulching down.  The photos below are of the same pot of azolla, taken several months apart.  The first photo was taken after the azolla had been growing on soil for several months, the second photo was taken a few months after that. 

Azolla growing on soil long term

The same azolla still growing on just soil

From what I have seen, if growing on soil long term the azolla is a little tricky to get started, but once it gets established it is relatively hardy.  

The azolla needs damp soil and some shade to get started.  If I start by using free floating azolla and place it on soil it struggles.  If I get azolla that has started to form a dense mat, this seems hardier and tends to adapt to soil faster.  Once the azolla has been on soil for a while it changes slightly, it gets thicker and the roots change, and it seems to survive drier conditions and more sun.  

Interestingly, if I float some soil grown azolla on water, it seems to take some time to revert back to aquatic life.  For some time it just floats, it gets thinner, and does not divide.  Once it gets used to living on water, it then grows and divides like normal. 

Azolla growing on soil underneath dryland rice

As well as being excellent fertiliser, and great animal feed, azolla has a few other uses.  Honey bees and other small things need water in summer, but they can't always access water without drowning.  The bees can safely walk on azolla, and reach the water between the plants.  

Every summer I see a lot of bees on the azolla collecting water.  I also see butterflies standing on the azolla collecting water in the heat of summer.  

Dragonflies and other beneficial insects are also commonly seen around my azolla.  I am not sure if they are breeding in the water under the azolla, or if they are attracted due to the other insects, or if they are there for some other reason.  

Dragonflies are pretty, plus they are useful to have in my yard as they eat a lot of mosquitoes.  Whatever the correlation is between dragonflies and azolla, I am glad they are here.

Honey bee collecting water from azolla

Honey bee collecting water from azolla

For me, azolla performs best in part shade.  It certainly survives in full sun, but I find it grows faster when it has some shade.  Not surprisingly, being a plant means having too much shade will stop azolla from growing well. 

Azolla turns red when it is stressed.  This stress can be from too much sun, or from extreme temperatures.  When azolla is red, it grows slower, and is meant to be less nutritious.  While a pond covered in bright red azolla is a pretty amazing thing to see, I prefer to keep mine green and growing fast so I can use more of it for various things.  This normally means giving it a little shade.

Azolla starting to turn red from stress

Azolla and duckweed

Azolla spreads and divides fast.  It can double every day or so under good conditions.  

While azolla also reproduces sexually and produces spores like other ferns, the main way it reproduces is asexually.  Any part of azolla that breaks off has the potential to produce more azolla.  

While azolla prefers not to be frozen over winter, my azolla survives heavy frost, and has survived being frozen for days on end.  If it ever died from the cold, I have little doubt that either a tiny part was still alive, or sporocarps could be present in the water, and it could recolonise pretty quickly once the weather warmed.  

Azolla makes great chicken feed

I use azolla to supplement chicken feed, this helps the chickens stay healthy, and it lowers the feed bill.  

Azolla is surprisingly nutritious, and it is readily eaten by my hens.  As mentioned earlier the roots of azolla are teeming with tiny life, when my chickens eat azolla they also eat these tiny invertebrates.  

Studies indicate that azolla can replace up to 20% of bought food for layer hens without seeing a decline in eggs, but I can't grow that much azolla here.  I give them as much as I can as it replaces some bought food, and lowers the cost of eggs a little bit.  

Azolla is appreciated by hens over summer when there isn't much grass or other greenery available.  I can either float azolla on water, or I can scoop it into a dish, either way my hens eat it pretty quickly.  

Azolla and rice plants

While I am a little disappointed that azolla will never again be responsible for creating an ice age, I still like azolla.  I tend to find a lot of uses for azolla, and could use it a whole lot more if I had more of it.  I have to be content only growing a little bit as I don't have a lot of extra space.  

If you grow any animal feed, or have a garden, or grow water plants, or want to provide somewhere safe for honey bees to collect water, then azolla is for you.  Once you get azolla, you never need to buy it again as you can keep it going forever.  You may be able to find some azolla locally, or you may need to buy it.  You only need a little to get started as it divides fast.  Very few places other than dedicated water garden nurseries seem to sell azolla.  If you can't find any locally, I sell azolla through my for sale page.  

Azolla and Chinese water chestnuts growing in a bucket

Perennial vegetables for sale October 2025

For sale in Australia perennial vegetables, heirloom vegetable seeds, edible herbs, organic berry plants, and a few non-edible plants and things.  Everything has been grown organically by me.  

Maintaining my old for sale page wasn't working for me, so each month I will write a new blog post with an updated list of what I have for sale that month and include a link on my old for sale page. 

Various organic tomatoes

For Sale: October 2025 

Bare Rooted Plants $5 each (unless otherwise stated): 

Skirret offsets 
Everlasting onions 
Babington leek 
Pineberry strawberry 
Virginian strawberry
Atilla alpine strawberry 
Jekkas thyme 
Spearmint 
100 yr old mint
Lavender mint 
Willow herb
Vietnamese fish mint
Vietnamese coriander
Variegated water parsley
Green water parsley (more vigorous stronger tasting version of the variegated form)
Asparagus (Variety: Purple) 
Asparagus (Variety: Precoce D'Argenteuil) 
Sweet Violet 
Water cress - well rooted cuttings
Hops (Variety: Target)
Brahmi/water hyssop (Bacopa monnieri) 
Tiger nut/chufas (Cyperus esculentus) $5 for 5 tubers
Jerusalem artichoke tubers $3 each
Duck potato $3 each
Chinese water chestnuts $3 
Spider plant (variegated, green, or reverse variegated)  $3 each
Azolla  ($3 per scoop)  

Ancient Cultures: 

Milk kefir grains  $5 

Heirloom Vegetable Seeds:  $4 packet (unless otherwise stated) 

Immali corn
Superior coriander
Giant parsley
Purple hot mustard
Purple asparagus
Tomato Zolotoe Serdtse
Tomato Tommy Toe
Tomato Reisetoimate 
Tomato Woolly Kate 
Senposai
Huacatay

Non edible things:

Aloe vera $5
String of pearls succulent - plant $5, cuttings $2
String of beans succulent (from Coober Pedy) - plant $5, cuttings  $2
Red jelly bean succulent  $5 
African violet leaf cutting (Variety: New Hampshire) $3 each
African violet leaf cutting (Variety: unnamed double light blue) $3 each

Candle mold 'skep' $10 each
Candle mold 'owl' $10 each 

Postage Prices: 

$12 for plants etc, or 
$3.50 if only buying seeds.  

I post the Monday after payment has cleared.

Jerusalem artichoke tubers

To order anything from the above list: 

Please send me an email saying what plants/seeds you would like and I will reply with prices/payment methods.  My email address will need to remove the the spaces, put @ instead of the word 'at' and . in place of the word 'dot': 

damien_beaumont at yahoo dot com dot au 

Photographs, binomial names, and descriptions of plants, and notes on how I grow them, can be found on my old for sale page.  Please note my old page has a lot of things not currently in season/not currently for sale.  The only things I have for sale this month are listed in this blog post above. 

Silverbeet

Silverbeet (Beta vulgaris) is an easy to grow leaf vegetable.  Silverbeet is also called chard, swiss chard, rainbow chard, leaf beet, perpetual spinach, and beet spinach.   

When I was a child (and in some parts of Australia today) this vegetable was mostly called 'spinach'.  Silver beet is not closely related to true spinach (Spinacia oleracea).  They are used in similar ways, but they are very different plants, they grow, taste, and look different. 

Coloured silverbeet mix

Like many leaf vegetables, silverbeet is reasonably nutritious.  It is particularly high in vitamin K.  Ten grams of raw silverbeet leaf contains the recommended daily intake of vitamin K.  

Like many vegetables, silverbeet contains some anti-nutrients, in this case it is oxalic acid.  It is not overly high in oxalic acid, and it is usually eaten cooked (heat somewhat degrades oxalic acid), so this is not a big issue.  Some people eat raw leaves in salads, given the relatively low amount of oxalic acid present in the leaves and the small amount of leaves generally eaten, this isn't an issue for most people. 

Much genetic diversity among my silverbeet

Many years ago we bought a pack of silverbeet seeds.  It was a coloured mix and the seedlings grew various coloured petioles (leaf stems).  I liked the look of the yellow ones.  For some reason the yellow ones were always less vigorous in my garden, but I like the looks of them. 

I allowed them to self seed indiscriminately, and we always had some silverbeet of various colours.  We moved house and I took some seeds with us, then I forgot about them.  A few years later I thought about growing silverbeet again and had plenty of seeds that were about ten years old.  I planted a bunch to see if they would work, figuring I could buy more seed if needed.  

Most of the seeds did nothing as they were too old, but some grew, and we have had silverbeet growing ever since.  

Not a great photo: white stem on left, green stem on right

Each year there are different colours in the garden.  A few years ago most had light green stems, I like the look of them.  

This year there are no yellow ones, but we still have red, a vibrant pink that I cannot capture the colour of in my photos, white, and light green.  The leaf is always green, some dark, others light, and over winter some turn purple/reddish green.  

  

Various stem colours

Silverbeet is often considered to be a biennial, They grow one year and they flower and die in their second year.  Given the right conditions many silverbeet plants probably are biennial.  For me some are annuals, they grow, flower, and die in under a year.  Some are indeed biennial, growing one year, then in their second year they flower and die.  Others are short lived perennials, in my garden they survive 4+ years before flowering.  

Silverbeet is the same genus and same species as beetroot, mangelwurzel, and sugar beet.  All of these plants can and will cross readily, so care needs to be taken if seed saving.  

All of these can be grown side by side without affecting the taste of each other or the colour of neighbouring plants.  Growing them next to one another is only an issue if you are allowing them to flower and are planning on collecting seed. 

Pink stems from same plant - far prettier in real life

Beetroot was selected for its large sweet and tender root, mangelwurzel was selected for larger root and leaf, sugar beet was selected for high sugar content, and silverbeet was selected for leaf production.  I find beetroot goes woody and my chickens won't eat it once it grows large, whereas my hens eat every last scrap of mangelwurzel no matter how large and old it is.  

If seed saving, all of these beets will cross pollinate readily.  The plants produce ample pollen that is spread a long distance by the wind.  

I have crossed beetroot and silverbeet a few times, the result is usually a plant with a tiny bulbous root, and produces fewer, smaller, and slightly sweeter leaves than silverbeet.  I am told that crossing silverbeet with sugar beet results in plants with large and tasty leaves.

Various red and pink silverbeet

Seed saving and breeding of silverbeet can be a little difficult and takes a lot of time and garden space.  As mentioned, individual plants can be annuals while many are perennial or biennial.  This may be influenced by environment as well as genetics.  Stress seems to induce flowering, so if you have a nice perennial plant you may be able to stress it into flowering.  Being wind pollinated means your plants may cross if your neighbours are also growing some of this species.

As you can see in the photos, my Silverbeet has a lot of genetic diversity.  I think this is a good thing and try not to create a genetic bottleneck.  Some years I see more diversity than others, this is because it has some recessive genes as well as genes that are only expressed when in the right combination.  

I have always thought about breeding something spectacular with it, but have never gotten around to it.  I tend to just cull things I dislike and allow the ones I like to flower and drop seed.  There are also some that grow in out of the way places in the garden or lawn, which I often allow to flower and seed.  

I have a few plants that have very wide petioles, these look interesting but we don't use petioles much, and my chickens are reluctant to eat these thicker stems.  I had some plants a few years ago that were twice as wide as this, they were short plants that produced little leaf and had extremely wide white petioles.  I culled them.  I probably won't allow these wide petiole silverbeet to flower.  Then again, I may leave one just to keep the diversity in the mix. 

Thick petiole vs thin petiole

I like the bright yellow ones, but they were not as productive in my garden so are slowly disappearing from my mix.  I don't have any bright yellow ones this year, but they may reappear next year.  As much as I like the looks of them, if they are less productive I won't grow them. 

I don't love the looks of white stemmed ones, I prefer the look of light green.  Presumably white is more vigorous or something as that is the most commonly seen in shops, I just don't love the look of it.  In my garden the light green ones seem pretty vigorous. 

The red ones can be very pretty, and my red ones may have some beetroot genes in their heritage.  Many of these are very productive and vigorous.  Some of these will be allowed to set seed.

This year there are some vivid pink plants that I cannot really capture in photos.  I plan to allow them to flower and set seed.  I don't have many of the vivid pink, but they seem to produce well.  I hope I get more vivid pink in future generations.  It wouldn't be overly difficult to bag them and collect self pollinated seed, but I have a feeling that I won't get around to doing that this year.  

Silverbeet grows well over winter here, and provides nutritious and large leaves that we eat as well as feeding to our chickens.  Having some greens over winter is good for the hens.  Silverbeet also grows reasonably well over summer, but needs some water to prevent wilting.  

When my current plants set seed I may collect and offer some for sale through my for sale page.  This will be a mix of colours, and it has been open pollinated, so I can't guarantee what colours you will get.  

My plants probably have some beetroot in their heritage, but are not likely to produce fat roots.  Coloured silverbeet is not rare, and is certainly not difficult to grow from seed, so if I don't have seeds you should be able to find seed for sale somewhere.  You could buy seedlings, but for the same price you will get a lot more seed with a lot more interesting colours.  Seedlings tend to sulk after transplant but pick up if cared for, and seeds grow so easily, so either is a good option to grow these.  Once you have them in the garden, it isn't too difficult to allow some to flower and set seed when the time is right and ensure a continual supply of this vegetable.  

Chicken run 'salad bar'

When we had acreage or chickens and other poultry would free range through the orchards.  After moving to town our chickens used to free range through our yard.  That was nice, it was good for the chickens, good for the fruit trees, and rather pleasant.  Then we had issues with the neighbour's dogs. 

Now during the day the chickens are contained in a (very large) run under several fruit trees, at night they have a fully contained run with a house part and a covered deep litter area.  They always have shade and water, and we like them to have constant access to greens.  The number of hens, and the sheer size of the run, means they more than meet the definition of free range, plus they are safer from dogs.  

During the summer of 2019-2020 it was extremely hot and dry and we lost all our grass/weeds/lawn.  When the rains returned, the larger lawn came back but any seedlings that popped up in the chicken run were immediately eaten by our hens.  This means they would have no grass in their run unless some of the soil is protected.  I like chickens to have access to grass and weeds, I think it is good for their health.  

Back when our hens were free ranging, my wife built some cages to put in their run.  The idea was for the cages to protect grass and weeds enough that they could survive, and when they grew tall enough to poke through the wire the hens would eat some green feed.  It works well.  

The internet seems to refer to this as a chicken run salad bar, I hate this term but can't find it referred to as anything else.

Chickens are destructive

The cages work well.  For the past few years the chicken run has bare soil under the fruit trees, the only place anything grew was under these cages (plus whatever grows there that they will not eat such as wormwood or white horehound).  Each time grass seeds germinate outside of these cages they don't last very long.  

I have tried moving the cages in the hopes that the more established patch will survive.  The new covered soil quickly grows grass and weeds, while the unprotected grass gets eaten and scratched back to bare soil.  No surprises there, chickens are destructive.  

Cages protect grass and weeds for hens to eat

We have several of these little cages in the chicken's run.  Over summer we need to water them to prevent the grass and weeds from dying.  I have a few of these cages scattered through their run, and I have a few cages along the fence so the running grasses can invade them and replenish them if they get eaten too vigorously.  Grass is good for hens to eat, it helps them stay healthy, but it does not replace the bought feed.  

From time to time I sprinkle spare seeds in these cages.  Things like silverbeet, coriander, parsley, and bok choy are readily eaten by hens.  All of these things grow among the grass and weeds to survive for a time.  Sooner or later they die and need to be replaced.

  

This got me thinking, I wonder if I could grow something in these cages to replace a percentage of bought feed.  I don't want to replace all their bought feed, but I do want to replace enough that it lowers the cost of feed.    

I am not just aiming to keep the chickens alive, I want them to be productive.  They won't be productive unless fed some bought feed.  According to the FAO: "A scavenging hen lays only 30 to 50 eggs per year".  Also according to the FAO, in Tanzania the total number of eggs produced per scavenging hen per year ranged from 6 to 20.  This is not many eggs, and the FAO is talking about 40 gram bantam size eggs.  My hens lay on average 190 to 230 medium to large eggs each per year.  

Admittedly the FAO are talking about unimproved varieties of scavenging hens, while I run improved hens.  I also know from food security projects that improved breeds tend to die pretty quickly when not fed concentrates or grains.  

All of this indicates that I won't ever be growing all the feed for my hens, I will always be feeding them some pellets.  Even so, I would like to reduce at least a little of the bought feed.  

Sometimes we extend the run using temporary fencing 

I have known a lot of people who sprout grains, and I have sprouted grain to feed hens in the hopes of reducing feed costs.  Sadly we have never seen a noticeable difference in feed costs from feeding sprouted grains.  It may make a difference if the hens are in battery cages, but when free ranged and fed various fruits and vegetables sprouting doesn't seem to make much difference.  I know a few people who have fermented feed for their hens, again this has made negligible impact to feed costs and has increased the amount of work.  

I did a bit of reading on the internet to see if anyone else has reduced their feed costs by growing some chicken feed.  After reading countless pages about 'salad bars' in the chicken run, it became obvious that, while plenty of people only grow 'treats' for their hens, very few people are attempting to replace any bought feed.  This does not interest me.  

Some people suggest growing things such as iceberg lettuce!  While this is gladly eaten by hens, it is less nutritious for them than grass and weeds, plus it needs a lot more water.  Dandelion is far more nutritious than iceberg lettuce, plus it needs less work from me.  

Other people suggested growing mint for laying hens.  Mint is very productive, and has some medicinal benefits, but my hens rarely eat mint, and when they do eat it they never eat enough to replace any percentage of their feed.  Mint may work as a supplemental treat, but is not a good choice to grow for replacing any amount of chicken feed.  

While many people grow treats for their laying hens, it seems very few people have tried to grow something to replace feed and had it make any real difference to feed costs.  Or if they have tried, they have not told anyone what worked and what didn't work well.  

This means I can't learn from other people's mistakes.  How disappointing.  

Rosemary and other tall herbs provide afternoon shade

You can see in the photo above that I have shade cloth that I put down in summer to provide shade from the afternoon sun.  I put the shade cloth up during the cooler months so the hens get all the sun they can.  I am training a grape vine over this fence to do the same job with less effort from me.  

I also grow tall herbs next to their run.  The tall herbs block the afternoon sun in summer, and the hens pick at them and eat bits they can reach.  These grow over the warmer months, then parsley and things die off.  I need to cut back the rosemary as it is getting a bit too big.  Strong smelling herbs probably also decrease the mites and parasite load somewhat.  

Many people talk about growing treats for the hens, where I am trying to look into how to reduce the cost of feed over a year.  The difference here is one between a supplement and a replacement. 

Many people, if not all, seem to focus on supplementing feed.  They still provide the same amount of base diet, with the addition of various things that they grow.  This addition quite likely has multiple benefits and possibly helps the chickens to be healthier.  If you are aiming to supplement their feed, then you can add basically anything that they will eat (even if they will only eat it begrudgingly).  If you supplement their feed, they may be healthier due to the increased variety, but your feed costs remain much the same.  

In addition to bought feed, we feed our chickens leftovers and kitchen scraps, we also feed them a wide range of seasonal vegetables, herbs, and fruits from the garden.  They also eat a wide variety of insects, spiders, and mice.  I am already supplementing their feed and providing a huge array of seasonal variety, and I don't intend to stop doing this.  

What I am interested in is replacing some feed.  This is where the hens get less of the base diet, they have a percentage of bought feed replaced with something else that is cheaper (or free).  I don't want to replace all their bought feed, but I do want to replace enough that it costs me less to feed them.

In this case you don’t need to supply every nutrient from their feed in a completely balanced way, but you need to supply enough that performance does not decrease as a result of the substitution.  If you substitute correctly, the hens may be healthier as a result, but the important part is the costs should decrease in a noticeable way.  If costs don’t drop, then you need to consider if the replacement is worth doing.  

Grass in the cages is similar to the grass outside the fence

 The FAO and various other food security projects and agricultural experimentation stations have run trials and experiments to replace bought feeds with various things.  There are a bunch of different edible things that have been trialed over the years and can replace a percentage of bought feed without lowering egg production. 

Some are things that I can't grow here due to climate, others we don't have in this country, others are not legal to grow here.  Various meat and bone meals and slaughter waste have been successfully trialed, but they are not an option for me at the moment.  

Other trials have replaced one grain with another, this is of no use to me.  I know some people raise various insects or worms to reduce feed costs, these are not feasible options for me at the moment for a number of reasons.  

As well as these, there have been a few plants that have successfully replaced a percentage of bought feed without reducing the number or quality of eggs laid.  These are the plants I need to consider. 

Grass only survives where protected in the chicken run

I have read a few papers where they replaced up to 10% bought feed with mulberry leaf meal.  Mulberry leaves are incredibly nutritious, and the trees are true survivors.  I already grow mulberry trees, and I feed the leaves to my hens.  While this is a great start, I am also looking for things to grow in their run under cages that they can pick at during the day.  

Azolla is meant to be able to replace up to 20% bought feed without decreasing egg production.  Azolla grows fast and has an impressive amino acid profile.  Duckweed also grows fast, contains a complete amino acid profile, and is said to be able to replace up to 15% bought feed with no decline in egg production.  I grow azolla and duckweed, and feed them both to the chickens, but I lack the ability to grow enough to be able to feed significant amounts.  I also would not be able to grow much azolla or duckweed in their run, so this is labor intensive.  

I started to consider if Vietnamese fish mint (Houttuynia cordata - not related to mint but has 'mint' in the common name) would work.  It is incredibly vigorous, surprisingly nutritious, and has a host of proven medicinal effects.  I have read several papers where including fish mint in the diet of hens has effectively controlled coccidiosis and increased survival rates.  This is a great plant for poultry to eat, plus they seem to eat it readily. 

For all its benefits, I worry that fish mint would escape into my yard and I would have to deal with the yard smelling like fish each time I mow, so I am reluctant to grow this in the chicken run.  For now I am growing it in pots and cutting handfulls of it to take to the hens.  This is more work than growing it in the chicken run, but I have the peace of mind that it won't escape on me.  

Fagopyrum cymosum might be useful in reducing feed costs

I did a little reading about perennial buckwheat, Fagopyrum cymosum.  This perennial leaf vegetable which has been eaten in the Himalayas by people and livestock for centuries and has a host of proven benefits.  There has been some research done into using this to replace commercial feed in laying hens that indicates that 10% of the feed can be replaced with this without adversely decreasing number of eggs produced.  This sounds like it could be a candidate for replacing some bought feed.  

This plant is extremely vigorous, and spreads underground by rhizomes, so should be able to survive and spread under the cages.  It does need to grow tall to set seed, but I wonder if it could survive long term by staying closer to the ground.  

I also have some wire protecting one of the smaller fruit trees, you can see it in one of the photos higher up on this page.  The grass tends to grow rather tall in the cage around this tree at times.  Perhaps I could plant some perennial buckwheat in there and allow it to spread until it escapes under the wire and is eaten by the chickens.  I think this is a good option that is well worth trying.  If it did escape and get into my lawn, I don't think I would be overly bothered.  

I can't take photos without the chickens coming over

There is not a huge amount of space in the chicken run that I am willing to cover in wire cages as I don't want them always walking on wire, so I only have a few square meters of space to play with.  There is no point growing mint or lettuce as this space would be better used to produce grass and weeds that are both highly palatable and more nutritious.  

If I had acreage I am pretty sure I could significantly reduce feed costs, but at this stage I only have a little space that I can use.  I wasn't even sure if a few meters of growing space is enough to make any noticeable difference to feed costs, but it is worth trying.  

If it wasn't for these cages there wouldn't be a blade of grass left

After a bit more reading, it appears that I am already significantly reducing the amount of bought feed I give my hens.  What I am currently feeding them is apparently working well at reducing their feed costs.  

I read that on average laying hens are fed 120 grams of pellets per day.  For the past half a dozen years or so my hens are eating on average a little under 50 grams of pellets each per day.  They also get grass/weeds, left overs, food scraps, excess things from the vegetable garden, hand fulls of azolla and duckweed, excess eggs when they lay more than we need, various dropped fruits in season, various insects etc.  It seems as though all of this has reduced their feed costs significantly, and has done so for years, without me even realising. 

My hens are about 6 or 7 years old (and very close to being retired and replaced), and have declined to laying an average of about 190-230 eggs each per year.  I keep records on the amount of eggs, they are declining noticeably as they age and they may be in their final days.  Over winter their laying almost stopped, I gave some extra lighting which fixed the issue, which is pretty impressive for hens this age.  Now the days are a little longer I removed these lights.  

We used to have a rooster, and we used to hatch the hen's eggs.  Fertility was high, usually around 85% to 90% hatch rate.  While the hens may lay slightly less than if fed entirely on bought feed, they are laying well enough for us, and have laid for long enough, to demonstrate that what we are doing is working and is sustainable long term.  The high fertility and hatch rate when we had a rooster also indicated that what we were feeding was working well.  I have a feeling that the huge amounts of seasonal fruit and vegetables my hens eat has have helped them be so healthy and productive for so long. 

I plan on leaving the grass and weeds in the cages, as this is working well.  I will keep throwing in extra seeds of parsley and silverbeet and things into those cages from time to time.  I also plan to introduce Fagopyrum cymosum and probably a few other things to the cages and see how they go.  If nothing else, I think the wide variety in their diet must be of some benefit to the hens. 

If you have something that you are growing to reduce your fed bills, and doesn't need much effort, please let me know how well it worked.  At some stage I will try to either expand on this post, or write another post, and detail what worked and what hasn't worked well for me.

Perennial buckwheat vs fishmint

A few years ago, I started growing a perennial vegetable called Vietnamese fish mint (Houttuynia cordata).  This perennial plant is used as a vegetable, or herb, or medicine, or grown as an ornamental, in a host of different countries. 

Fish mint is an extremely productive and vigorous plant, and borders on being indestructible, which is a great trait for a perennial vegetable to have.  Fish mint is productive, it looks pretty, and is incredibly healthy to eat, but I find the smell to be a little overpowering.  

I grew fish mint for years, and wished that there was a version of it that was not so strong smelling.  Some people love the smell of fish mint, however, I find it a bit too much. 

Fish mint on left, buckwheat on right 

Fish mint produces copious amounts of food and tolerates poor growing conditions.  I only grow it in a pot with pavers under it, otherwise I worry it may escape through the drainage holes and get into the garden.  After years of growing it like this I have never had it even come close to escaping into my yard.  

I am told that people grow this as an ornamental in the garden and regret it.  They say that spraying with weed killer removes growth above the soil line, but the plant survives and springs up again from rhizomes.  After it escapes, every time you mow your yard, or walk through your yard, it smells like fish.  

My fish mint produces flowers, and I am told it does not set viable seed.  For the first year or so I removed all of its flowers in case they set seed.  After the first year I just let it flower and hoped for the best.  

Fish mint escaping it's pot

Fish mint growing out of the drainage holes 

Not long after allowing fish mint to flower, I grew common buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) from seed.  The cotyledons were rather unique, I had not seen cotyledons like them before, but it was the true leaves that concerned me.  

The true leaves of buckwheat were much the same shape as fish mint.  I worried that my fishmint may have set seed, and I was concerned that it had escaped.  Would my yard smell like fish for ever more?  Oh, the terror.  I honestly felt sick to my stomach with worry that this had gotten away from me.  

I didn't remove the seedlings at this stage, I left them to see if I was wrong and hoped I could get on top of things.  I was hopeful that I had not lost control of the fish mint because the seedlings were only in the one spot I planted buckwheat, and were nowhere near the fish mint.  Once the seedlings grew a little larger, I bruised, smelled, and tasted a leaf.  I was pretty convinced that they were not fish mint seedlings, but I still worried that maybe they didn't get their distinctive smell until older.  

The seedlings grew and rather quickly flowered.  The flowers were buckwheat and looked nothing like fish mint flowers, then it set seed that was clearly buckwheat, confirming that they were absolutely not fish mint.  Phew!  

I have been growing fish mint for years, and have never had it set viable seed.  

After growing fish mint for a few years, and reading about all of its benefits, I started to wish that there was a variety that did not smell so strong.  I considered trying to restore fertility and grow seeds and try to breed something that didn't smell as strong, but I am glad to say that I thought better of it.  I didn't want this spreading by seed through my lawn.  Not setting seed is a good trait for this vigorous plant to have, I don't want this plant to set seed. 

Perennial buckwheat - Fagopyrum cymosum

A few years later I learned of a perennial vegetable called perennial buckwheat (Fagopyrum cymosum complex, also called Fagopyrum dibotrys), this also goes by the common names "Golden Buckwheat" and "Tall Buckwheat".  This perennial vegetable sounds a lot like fish mint, but it has no smell.

Even though these plants are not even distantly related, my wish for fish mint that is not strong smelling has basically come true.  Perennial buckwheat does all the things I wanted fish mint to do (and more), and has none of the down sides.  

While perennial buckwheat and fish mint are not closely related the plants look superficially very similar to one another.  They are both perennial plants that are very vigorous and highly productive.  They both cope with hard frosts, and survive poor soils (they survive poor soil, they are vastly more productive in good soil).  They both spread vigorously by underground rhizomes.  They both have nice looking heart shaped leaves.  They have both been eaten as leaf vegetables and their rhizomes used as folk medicine by people for centuries.  They both have a lot of proven medicinal properties (for people as well as poultry and livestock) that have been reported through many peer reviewed papers.  

Perennial buckwheat plants

In my garden, perennial buckwheat grows much taller than fish mint.  In autumn, perennial buckwheat leaves become a brilliant golden yellow colour, whereas fish mint just grows until getting burnt down by frosts.  The flowers of fish mint are visited by pollinator insects only there is little else flowering, while perennial buckwheat flowers seem to be adored by beneficial pollinators and appear to be one of the preferred sources of nectar and pollen.  Perennial buckwheat leaves are high in rutin, and high in protein.  

I have not read anything about how much fish mint is safe to consume.  I think the smell would stop me eating it long before I ran into trouble.  Perennial buckwheat leaves (much like most common vegetables) have some levels of anti-nutrients, even so peer reviewed papers prove that it is safe to eat perennial buckwheat every day. 

Vietnamese fish mint

If you are into Asian cuisine, you should probably grow fish mint.  It can be used like a vegan fish sauce.  I have plenty of these plants, they are very vigorous.  

If you are into growing food, or concerned about food security, growing perennial buckwheat is a must.  I am not sure why it is so uncommon in Australia, it seems to only be common in developing nations where growing food really counts.  At this stage I am still trialing it under different conditions, and seeing what it can do.  

At some point if I have any spare plants I will list perennial buckwheat plants for sale, along with fish mint, on my perennial vegetables for sale page.