I grew a few acres of buckwheat this year. One thing to remember is that
unlike most grains it ripens a little at a time; some starts falling off
while some is still totally green. (a real challage to combine, by the way).
I a PC setting I think this would be an advantage- long flowering period and
stedy supply of grain for a while if you can keep the chickens from
destroying it. Some one had asked earlier about how to keep chickens
occupied and out of trouble. My suggestion is to give them acess to a
substantial compost pile (smash your egg shells so they don't get used to
eating whole eggs). Such a pile provides scraps, worms and bugs; Chook
heaven! If you can sight it away from the garden a bit, they should stay
put with simple 1meter checken fenceing and turn the compost for you.
Mark