Using Beet and Alfalfa Pellets

This last winter we were getting seeds and grains from the feed store, and saw that there were alfalfa and beet pellets available for horses. Alfalfa is a great resource for chickens that need more greens.  (when it freezes and the vegetation becomes sparse in winter, or in a small backyard where all the grass has been eaten), we figured that beets should be good for them too, a little sugar energy to warm them at night, both products provide the chickens with plenty of fiber.
Both kinds of pellets come in 50lb bags for around $15.00 and go a long way. They are compressed and expand to about three times their size when soaked overnight.  You can use the reconstituted leaves and beet fiber mixed with other grains as a mash, and feed it to your chickens.
We have been using it to start their soup.  We put some pellets in cold water overnight and in the morning add them to a mixture containing:  salmon heads, seaweed meal, fish meal, rolled oats, barley, cracked corn, flax seed, sunflower seed, soybean meal, and diced orange peels. If there are any vegetable trimmings those can go in too, the chickens like everything.  This produces a thick nutritious broth that is strained off for the chickens to sip warm for breakfast.  The solids, after straining become their mash, for lunch.
While fresh living greens are always the best thing for the chickens to eat, at least they can eat some instant dried vegetables until the yard grows back.