“So lucky, you get free eggs”

[BDutch]

..
The "Back to Eden" system that Paul talks about uses his homemade wood chip compost (with animal manures) to get the results he shows. If you just used plain wood chips, it would not work nearly as well. I saw a YouTube video where a guy visited Paul's gardens and said that when Paul talks about this wood chip "Back to Eden" garden, it's not plain wood chips he uses. It's much more of a composted wood chip litter filled with animal manures and other organics. So that is what I have tried to recreate in my chicken run setup, although I use more leaves than wood chips in my current system. It's all organic and breaks down into great compost.

I have a run with a net on top and I actually don’t clear out the chickens poop. I dont buy anything to improve the soil either. Just throwing in my home made wood chips from pruning and adding autumn leaves give a wonderful soil.

I throw mixed grains in the run for my chickens (almost) every day to scratch and peck a little before they start to roost. The soil is very much alive and healthy. I even never had to deworm my chickens.

I do free range my chickens too. But only part of the day. If I didn’t free range I need more ‘browns’ to compensate the nitrogens in the chicken poop. I have 8 bantams on 15m2 run space. And there are 4 bushes in it. 3 types of berry and a Portuguese laurel.

 

[gtaus]

I have a run with a net on top and I actually don’t clear out the chickens poop. I dont buy anything to improve the soil either. Just throwing in my home made wood chips from pruning and adding autumn leaves give a wonderful soil.

I have a couple of woodchippers, one larger gas chipper and a smaller electric chipper. I used to chip up all my wood and toss it into the chicken run. It was a lot of work, but I didn't mind too much.

Then I discovered that I could load up my 4X8 utility trailer with all the free wood chips I want at our county landfill. It takes me only 20 minutes to load up my trailer with wood chips at the landfill, using nothing more than a manure fork. If I had to chip all that wood up at home with my chippers, it would probably take me about 10 hours, or more. Long story short, I don't chip up wood at home as much as I did in the past. Mainly only small lawn cleanup stuff but not with the intent to completely cover the chicken run or for use as coop litter.

I have a couple of riding mowers with bag collection bins. I toss all my grass clippings into the chicken run. In the fall, I mow up the leaves and toss them into the run. Not only do I clean up the yard that way, but I keep my chicken run composting system alive with new material.

I throw mixed grains in the run for my chickens (almost) every day to scratch and peck a little before they start to roost.

Yes, the scratching and pecking helps break down the chicken run litter into compost. I make compost faster in the chicken run than I ever did in my pallet wood compost bins. To be fair, I never turned my compost bins. But my chickens are constantly turning the chicken run litter.

We also save all our kitchen scraps and unwanted leftovers for the chickens in an ice cream bucket on the counter by the kitchen sink. Every morning, the scraps in that bucket get tossed into the chicken run. My chickens like eating kitchen scraps even more than chicken scratch. I put a bit of scratch grains and/or cracked corn into the bucket on my out to the chicken coop, more or less grains, depending on how many scraps we have that morning.

The soil [compost?] is very much alive and healthy.

My chicken run compost is very much alive and healthy. In the non-snow months, my chickens are outside all day scratching and pecking in the compost litter looking for tasty bugs and juicy worms. My summertime feed consumption is about half of my winter consumption. I don't get "free eggs", but they cost a lot less in the summer.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

@gtaus, how long does it take to convert raw manure and wood chips to good usable compost in the cement mixer?

 

[MapleLaurelFarms]

I'm curious, how many of you actually name your chickens?

I don't name mine, they are farm animals and meant for consumption either for their eggs or for meat so naming them would not be wise.

We named ours when the kids were younger. Well, our daughter did. After she married and left home, I've only named the rare one that tends to earn a name, like "Trumpet."

 

[MapleLaurelFarms]

Just like 2020-2021

This was exactly what I was thinking! I also remember the long lines at TS and kids running around the store tossing and dropping the boxes with chicks inside. I wonder how many unaccounted chicks never made it to maturity.

 

[Barnette]

I think that come mid to late summer there will be a lot of birds looking for homes.

Yep, that's basically the whole reason I run a chicken sanctuary and encourage others to adopt, because a lot of people just get chickens because they think it's easy and they get "free eggs" then they find out the truth and get rid of their birds (or the chickens get too old to lay and the people get rid of them).

 

[Barnette]

I'm curious, how many of you actually name your chickens?

I don't name mine, they are farm animals and meant for consumption either for their eggs or for meat so naming them would not be wise.

All of mine have names!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

We named ours when the kids were younger. Well, our daughter did. After she married and left home, I've only named the rare one that tends to earn a name, like "Trumpet."

Or "Screech?" Lol.

 

[BDutch]

I have a couple of riding mowers with bag collection bins. I toss all my grass clippings into the chicken run.

Green grass adds nitrogen and is contra productive to break down the nitrogens in chicken poop.

In the fall, I mow up the leaves and toss them into the run. Not only do I clean up the yard that way, but I keep my chicken run composting system alive with new material.

Yes, this works in the chicken run.
In my country leaves are also good against frost in plants and as fertiliser for plants. So we only take leaves from the lawn/grass. Only some type of leaves break down too slow to compost before the growing season.

In summer when we mow the lawn/grass we leave most cuttings on the grass to vanish and add nutrients for the growing grass. When its sunny and warm we usually collect some Grass clippings to make hay/ bedding for the chickens.

My chicken run compost is very much alive and healthy. In the non-snow months,

All our months are non-snow months. We often have just one week with snow. But besides the grass there isn’t much food in winter.

… (or the chickens get too old to lay and the people get rid of them).

Some people are so to think chickens are too old to lay more eggs at the start of their second winter. If they had the patience to wait a few months, they would see the chickens are not too old to lay. They just needed a break and start to lay again at the end of winter.
Even my 9 yo hen started to lay again last year in spring.

Typo: to-> too.

 

[TooCheep]

Some people are so to think chickens are to old to lay more eggs at the start of their second winter. If they had the patience to wait a few months, they would see the chickens are not too old to lay. They just needed a break and start to lay again at the end of winter.
Even my 9 yo hen started to lay again last year in spring.

Very few backyard chicken owners would get rid of chickens at their second winter when they generally have their first adult molt. That is something that factory farms do, however. I'm not a fan, but big operations measure profits and the public demands the cheapest eggs. Backyard chicken owners generally don't do either.

As far as I can tell, most here do not cull at all and keep their hens as pets as they get older. That is fine, but I consider my chickens as livestock. I do cull at their 4th winter as I've observed chickens having a small decline in egg production in their 3rd year and a very noticeable decline in their 4th. I've seen older chickens suffer with various maladies and I'd rather give them a good life and quickly harvest while they are still healthy.