Chicken Food Tower

[Phaedra Geiermann]

I grow strawberries and some potatoes this way. May i ask the breed of your hens? I love the golden color...

If you mean the adult hens, they are Lohmann Brown After rasing 5 different vareities hens, they are my favorite now - they are stable, friendly, curious and sweet.

In fact I also thought about strawberries, they're perfect to be planted on the top. I just started to propagate them this week and will transplant about 1 month later.

 

[Gammas Bearded Babies]

The specs of these are:

Height: 100cm
Hole square: 25x50mm
Wire strength: 2.10mm

Thank u!

 

[Phaedra Geiermann]

ok, i didn't think an empty tower will be used as a broody jail someday, but it is now.

This hen is already semi-broody once in early May, and I successfully broke that with food. This time another hen is broody and she is somehow affected - not semi, this time is fully broody.

As I only got one dog crate, and this one is the alpha, i don't want to put both together as it might be too stressful for them.

So far she is upset but eats/drinks normally, and other hens also came to express their curiosity , let's see.

 

[Phaedra Geiermann]

07.30 Update

An improved food tower, as mentioned, I removed one to my vegetable garden and started to use it as a vertical planter. Different purpose and different expectation - so the design changed accordingly.

For the food towers in the chicken run, I will keep direct sow method, but it's here as a vertical planter, I will insert the young seedlings instead. Therefore, kraft paper is used to temporarily hold whatever go inside, basically followed the general instruction to fill a raised bed. The kraft paper can also hold the moisture a little bit better than the fully open structure. After sometime, it will decompost.

I will try cardboard in next planter for a comparison. The first batch seedlings that will move in next week would be pea (for shoots). The forecast said, early next week there will be good chance to rain, I will plant after that, simply use a dibber to poke holes thru the karft paper or cardboard.

Spinach and lettuce might follow in middle August.

 

[NewBoots]

This thread is awesome! Thanks so much for keeping us updated. I plan to extend my current (completely covered and very secure) run with a 16' x 8' open air run and these wire planting towers look like a great addition. You have a great idea here and we can all adapt it for our own preferences and needs. Again, super job!

 

[Phaedra Geiermann]

07.31 Update

Food Tower first harvest! Okay, in fact this is a not-so-good idea to plant grass on the top, but anyway, they grow very well.

So, first harvest with very fresh and young and juicy grass!

Baby chicks are 6 weeks old today, besides getting some pecks by the adult hens during meal time, the integration seems quite smooth.

As using the empty food tower as a broody jail, not really suitable, because the bottom is too comfortable. She is still in such a dinosaur status this morning. But no choice, we have only one dog crate, where another broody was already there.

Thankfully this morning the broody one in the crate is back to normal (YEAH!), so we removed above one inside the broody jail.

 

[Araucana Nest]

Great thread. Thank you for such careful description and photos

 

[Phaedra Geiermann]

Besides grass, here are two new seeds I got for chicken food towers, they are both commonly used as green manure

1. Trifolium incarnatum: not just good for nitrogen fixing, but also rich in protein, not to mention the flowers are also charming and can attract pollinators.

2. Oilseed radish (Raphanus sativus or R. sativus var. Oleiferus), grow quickly with leaves that our chickens like very much, colder weather is totally okay for them.

The last one I ordered is a perennial one, still on the way: Alfalfa/Lucerne (Medicago sativa), also an important foraging and multi-function crop.

 

[HomesteaderWife]

I saw this on the homepage and it really peaked my interest. I went through every page, and I am impressed with the detail. You know, I’d love to take this and make a duck food tower somehow! This is such a great idea and I appreciate your updates and photos. I hope you come to make those articles and even an instructional video?

 

[jwlee]

This is such a great idea. I wonder if I can grow kale vertically. My girls love kale.