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!

 

[aart]

Quote: 'Permaculture' is not a finite thing, it's many different techniques. It's such a buzzword, SMH, and misused like most other buzzwords

But putting a big pile of poop from the barn on the ground of the same land fits with the idea of improving the land with things produced on the same land.
Piling and spreading will provide different benefits...but both fit under the umbrella of permaculture IMO.

 

[shortgrass]

There's a way bigger picture here than typical every day "permaculture" hobby.... This is reclaiming what has been damaged by 60 years of poor landanagement and chemical application. ... The use of permaculture is what has returned 75% of this back to its original glory. Untouched pastures for miles...except for a herd of cows and a couple lambing barns that don't belong there lol... Restoring also means moving things that don't apply or interfere with the course of "nature".

In essence, the compost that you take from your kitchen and then scoop compost around the tomato, that is already moving it. The tomato staying on the plant, where it grew, where it seeded itself, where it will die and become fertilizer, is not the definition of permaculture. That is what I would call " naturalizing".

Permaculture is using what is already there to repair or sustain itself without need for anything else. By loading big logs with soil that you dug up, THAT is not what it is. You have to move the logs AND dig the soil. By that definition I would gather that using everything to its fullest potential is the key.

Picture this: 2500 acres, 1700 of pasture and wetland. The rest plowed into circles and my grandparents poisoned the soil and now i have to fix it..it takes YEARS to undo chemucal damage, and we have to live too... I'd love to see all of it returned to its former glory..Bison, antelope, prairie chickens.... Prarie dogs. That's what belongs here. So I don't have bison or antelope. I have cattle and sheep. They are free range...but I have to provide a tank because the water will dry up by August. Does that mean that my cattle will die? No! I provide water. If I removed the water I would have to remove the cattle. Then it would be back to "natural". Permaculture is incorporating a DESIGN of sustainability with thought of the 29th century woes...

I have to raise crops. No choice there. But I don't have to use chemicals and moving poop one mile to the south to help get poop out of a pasture and into a cornfield is exactly what permaculture is about. Not wasting anything. If I had it my way, the barns wouldnt be there. The sheep would lamb out in the pasture like the cattle and if coyotes get them, that's what nature intended lol... Prairie chickens. All I want is free happy chickens haha

 

[Leahs Mom]

Wishing you all a Happy Thanksgiving!

 

[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]

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!

 

[aart]

'Permaculture' is a moving target for definition, and IMO can encompass many aspects of improving our use of the land.

Think it started in Australia because of the need for intensive water management...... evolved to creating a healthy soil bioculture that holds the water that falls on it reducing irrigation needs....which also greatly improved fertility without adding chemicals for growth maximization and onto cover cropping for water retention, more soil improvement and an environment for insect population to help with pest control - again sans chemical application.

Carefully rotating livestock can also be hugely beneficial to soil health....it goes on and on......that cycle of life. ;-)

Anything you can do to pay attention to and improve to soil health to support what we eat is a good idea IMO.

There's some fascinating documentation on the 'desertification' of land...and folks who have reversed that devastation around the world.

One recent book by a journalist,
The Soil Will Save Us by Kristin Ohlso
... tho the title is a bit over the top(rollseyes) gives a nice, wide overview of the concept and lots of examples she visited.

 

[centrarchid]

Think about banking / stockpiling invertebrate prey during the winter months. A large amount persists frozen but hard for birds to get at when ground frozen. Deposits of organic materials like leaves can be setup to provide accessible forages during colder periods. They need to be spread out but not so as to get birds exposed to predators.

 

[Lacy Blues]

That's a lot of poo!