Chicken Food Tower

[Phaedra Geiermann]

In fact I was reading the article about the best treats for chicken, and suddenly an idea came into my mind. I have bought such hardware cloth (not sure if it is called so in English) originally for making a simple support between raised beds for beans and cucumbers. But, anyway it ends up with such a wire compost bin, but quite high, 1.2m.

I cleaned the run and put the mixture of soil, poo, whatever they scratched and left on the ground together, added the grass seeds then piled them up.

mixed grass seeds with whatever they scratched and left before adding them in the compost tower

Then, well, i have really a lot of vegetable seeds, i means, why not push this idea a bit further?

radish, coriander, different kind of brassica family veggies, carrots, herbs...

pea - they should not directly eat raw beans, i know, but the leaves and flowers, tendrils will be nice! (i can accept only pea pods left for us, haha)

Well, can't wait to keep developing this idea forward!

Did anyone try similar ideas? It would be great for hearing your experience. I believe it can provide them both food and fun

 

[Tre3hugger]

Great idea. Keep us posted how it grows!

 

[Phaedra Geiermann]

okay, i do keep working on it, many ideas, also find some old stuffs and give them new purposes, first, the roosting bar (it's something from previous house owner, i guess it's a part of broom?) The towers are quite stable as the materials inside is quite a lot and wet

Then, added a roof (which is originally used last year for a temporary protection for tomatoes, but now we have a greenhouse.

okay, veggies and grass planted, and girls have now a place to hang out when it rains , and leads the rain water going to the planting towers at two sides.

I will keep updating this one, really excited! Earlier this year I mixed wild flower seeds with compost and created several wild flower boarders, which are awesome. Now I can't wait to see how a food tower can look like!

 

[Chookchicken]

Very cool.

 

[3KillerBs]

Watching to see how it develops.

 

[Sally PB]

Me too!

 

[Krugerrand]

This looks like a great idea! I might have to try something like this for my garden next year. I'm curious what grows best in there. A bush-bean tower would be neat.

 

[Phaedra Geiermann]

This looks like a great idea! I might have to try something like this for my garden next year. I'm curious what grows best in there. A bush-bean tower would be neat.

Yes, but you might not want them eat the raw beans. I will make totally 8 of them, and besides what I already planted, i might add some grapes and berries too.

 

[Phaedra Geiermann]

Also I think most of the edible flowers like Marigold, monks cress will be also nice ideas, not just for chickens, but also for pollinators.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Following.

I suspect some of those seeds (corn, for instance) won't do well in that structure or might crowd others out, but definitely curious as to how it works out. The coriander/cilantro should do well on top, the brassicas will be hit or miss in my experience - but definitely interested in the climbing/trailing options. Oh, if you can get it cheap, would you try fenugreek??? In appearance, it looks a lot like coriander as it grows, but its one of the few good plant sources for lysine, so if the tower is a good way of growing it, I'd definitely do something like this on my property.