Well, this year I'm going to try an experiment and try to grow a small amount of grains for them. Probably won't be much, but I know they love to eat ANYTHING, lol! I usually let them graze in my garden and eat weed seeds, since that is what grows in my garden. Weeds. They love amaranth, the leaves and the seeds, as well as millet. They love lettuce too! I usually give them my old tomatoes and they go after them like flies on...well you know.

Mine LOVED the split zucchinis and the lettuce last year and the watermelon. I gave them the bean plants when finished with them and they ate all the leaves. They also liked the spinach. They liked grapevine leaves too and the broccoli leaves. They wouldn't eat the hard, raw squash but loved it ground up. They also liked the cabbage leaves cut into little pieces and they like dandilions and carrot tops. lol! I think they pretty much eat anything.

Oh, and they fight over the shaggy mane mushrooms.

This year I am going to grow the following to make some chicken feed to go with the layer rations:
poppy seed, amaranth, curly dock, sunflowers, flax, sorgum and a few other things I have that I can't remember right now. I am also saving, washed and dried, all egg shells to grind and add to it for calcium and a little protein. I will also have squash and watermelon seeds to dry and add as we use the them nest year. I don't know that I'll add corn to that, since it takes so much space to grow for such a small return. They will still get some commercial layer ration, which has a lot of corn in it.

Do you guys think ground dried yellow wax beans and peas would be good for them? I want to save any that get too old for us to eat to use for seeds the following year but I thought I could also grow extra to dry for the chicken feed.

I grew some giant cushaw pumpkins for mine last year and kept them in the basement. When it was really cold and nasty I'd bring one out for them and split it with the shovel. They loved the seeds the most but after they were gone they did a pretty good job of eating the rest.

That's a good idea! I plan to plant halloween pumpkins for sale. I'll save any leftovers for the chickens to eat throughout the winter next year.