Chickens in Permaculture

[shortgrass]

I wanted to share a wonderful site about permaculture written by Paul Wheaton...http://www.richsoil.com/raising-chickens.jsp

I use permaculture and incorporating chickens into it can be tricky! But the benefits far outweigh the first year of set up. After that, its easy as pie and you can see and taste how much healthier and happier your chooks and soil can be! I would love to hear about what you are doing to utilize your chickens to the fullest in an organic or permaculture setting...

I love cover crops! They're my favorite! Chooks love fresh greens and my yard loves fresh poo lol...I am in a highly alkaline area, so I love nitrogen fixers like alfalfa, beans, and clovers...great weed barrier, chicken feed, then soil amendment... And it grows all winter so I don't have to water it! I still have problems with the strawberries lol...I don't think there will EVER be enough strawberries for us all to SHARE

If you have never considered permaculture, I urge you to explore the possibilities and try something new! I would love to hear opinions and experience with yours!

 

[Lacy Blues]

Here's a subject near and dear to my heart!

Of course I haven't implemented any of it yet but I have bazillions of plans in my head in this regard. I live in a high alkaline area as well... northern Nevada. Where are you?

I've looked at Paul Wheaton's site and tried sifting through what is there. I've also looked at Geoff Lawton's site! Inspiring to say the least. I would like to get started on my permaculture adventure but there is so much that needs to be done in order to even just get started.

I hope this thread takes off and gets lots of input from lots of people. I will be following along.

 

[Lacy Blues]

Your issues with strawberries made me remember this:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1124344974247666&set=p.1124344974247666&type=1&theater

hopefully your can see it. I cannot get a link for the building of this marvel but it should be fairly easy to figure out.

 

[shortgrass]

Here's a subject near and dear to my heart!

Of course I haven't implemented any of it yet but I have bazillions of plans in my head in this regard.  I live in a  high alkaline area as well... northern Nevada.  Where are you?

I've looked at Paul Wheaton's site and tried sifting through what is there.  I've also looked at Geoff Lawton's site!  Inspiring to say the least.  I would like to get started on my permaculture adventure but there is so much that needs to be done in order to even just get started.

I hope this thread takes off and gets lots of input from lots of people.  I will be following along.

Wonderful! I love meeting like minds! I could say "Howdy neighbor," I suppose... I'm in northern Colorado! 6th generation cattle/hay/horses/corn/sheep/wheat/chicken gal, out in the boonies and I can see nothing but grass and cattle on a good day It really led me into my passion...defying my old time cattle family and going organic lol... I changed my major in college from animal science to organic chemistry and tried to convince the folks that the future would be organic, people weren't going to eat the pink corn forever ( I had WAY to much experience with Round Up Ready Corn) ... They thought I was nuts haha ...this was back in the mid 90s... Nirvana and grunge rock and trying to hide my horses and boots from my cool friends at school... Fast forward 20 years and we are looking at 7 circles of organic corn, 240 acres of organic dairy hay, organic chicken, and soon to follow, the cattle. its hard work doing something different! But the results help me sleep at night knowing my kids are healthy, not exposed to chemicals and pesticides the way I was. Permaculture is my way of giving back and utilizing everything to its fullest potential! Its so much fun!

 

[shortgrass]

Your issues with strawberries made me remember this:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1124344974247666&set=p.1124344974247666&type=1&theater

hopefully your can see it.  I cannot get a link for the building of this marvel but it should be fairly easy to figure out.

I couldn't see it I don't have Facebook, will that matter?

 

[Lacy Blues]

Hopefully this will come through.



Strawberries planted in raised gutters. I cannot tell if they are waste high or overhead. I would love a patio cover like this, just reach up and grab a berry! Yum!

I love your life story. Mine is nowhere so dramatic. I love animals though, it seems to have settled on my chickens. I raise the rare breed Andalusian in large fowl and I'm working on developing a bantam variety.

I wish that I could look around and see nothing but grass and chickens but I'm in the desert. I'm "working on" changing my little corner of the ten acres we have here. Most of it is still in the planning stages though.

So what kind of stuff have you implemented to change or make the best of your soil? Do you have pictures?

Well, hopefully some more people will chime in here and we can have fun with this and learn stuff too.

 

[shortgrass]

Hopefully this will come through. Strawberries planted in raised gutters. I cannot tell if they are waste high or overhead. I would love a patio cover like this, just reach up and grab a berry! Yum! I love your life story. Mine is nowhere so dramatic. I love animals though, it seems to have settled on my chickens. I raise the rare breed Andalusian in large fowl and I'm working on developing a bantam variety. I wish that I could look around and see nothing but grass and chickens but I'm in the desert. I'm "working on" changing my little corner of the ten acres we have here. Most of it is still in the planning stages though. So what kind of stuff have you implemented to change or make the best of your soil? Do you have pictures? Well, hopefully some more people will chime in here and we can have fun with this and learn stuff too.

Yes I can see it now! That's funny, I saved that picture in my phone because I want to do it too! ( I lost my junebearers two times this year, DHs' ducks arrrgh) That would be amazing to put them in gutters! Love the idea Slowly...I started by making my own soil for projects in the greenhouse...vermicomposting! My scraps would go to the worm bin and then I built from there...sheep poo goes to cornfields, chicken poo goes in my garden poop. That's where my magic starts lol This year I have an area that I composted on over winter and turned over this spring. No till. I was scared of my first attempt at no till.. Its amazing! Covered an area of @ 250 sq ft with chicken poo/ coop clean out ( I'm trying the deep litter method but it gets ony nerves, I like it CLEAN Lol)... Kitchen scraps, the leftover worm bin from last fall...this year it has already given me an impressive supply of radishes, with beets and carrots coming on, peppers planted between rows so radishes provide shade for roots and weed barrier, plus the chooks are quite spoiled by radish tops Today i raked the run and took all the straw that I've let the chickrns trample and poo on to the bean patch for mulch! It's hard work but i love it!

 

[shortgrass]

My youngest helping set up a fresh worm bin (I let them give the chooks worm treats, but on a very limited basis...worms can carry pathogens...and they're kindof my pets haha)

End product..radishes to munch on..the girls aren't allowed in the garden yet, too many seedlings lol... But they watch and wait for radish, beet, weeds I've pulled...they especially love the massive quantity of alkali weeds we have...which is EXACTLY what i look for in permaculture. Ways to decrease my workload while using what occurs naturally!

 

[shortgrass]

This area was a salt grass grub plot last summer...DH warned me; he called it "grub alley" and refused to use it...so i took it as a challenge

15' wide, 50' long. Left the grass and put down newspaper. Covered it with my coop clean out and compost. Left it all winter. Come spring, I had to barricade it to keep DH from tilling it lol. It turned over beautifully with a fork, fluffy full of worms and not a grub in sight

I planted radishes the first day of spring, very early for zone 5 , but radishes are onr of the first to pop up and they give a great weed barrier until you can plant more tender veggies. 2 week intervals of pulling radish to plant beets and carrots, then by May most of the radishes are done and bolting so i could pull rows to plant peppers. Now i have 2 months worth of beets ready to can, and the wee peppers have been protected from our crazy Colorado weather. Herbs at the end are for the choocks to help themselves to, they will self medicate for worms and the like

The girls are impatient. They get fenced out until seedlings can handle inspection lol. They will wipe out a strawberry patch in 5 minutes, and sneaking sweet potatoes into the marigolds didn't work, they found em... Lol they love the day when the fence goes down and they can have at it, i did my job and set them up for fresh food all summer...in return i get bug and weed control and more POOP!

 

[Mrs. K]

I too, am a rancher, and have a great deal of space. I have a coop/run and free range with a rooster. There are many variables in vegetation that vary wildly from year to year, here depending on the rain.

In western SD, we have new bugs in May, good amount of bugs June and July, and by August, they are in their final stages. In 8 years experience, my feed bill does go down in June and July, but they are a long way from self sufficient.

This sounds good, but I think the picture might be a bit rosy.

Mrs K