Chicken run & vegetable garden.....

[Chicabee19]

OMGosh Fizzy ... that is a really cool avatar you've got there!

I love the idea and plan to do something sort of along those lines, but inside my only run -- block off a portion and plant stuff, then unblock it.

 

[ozzie]

I've done this but on a smaller scale and with a semi-permanent tractor arrangement because I live in suburbia and space is a premium.

I have 3 vegetable garden beds all sized so that the 'run' of the tractor sits on it. The coop section is the little house on the back. I have 2 Australorps that work the run section and all clippings, straw, poop, food scraps all get dumped into there. After sitting in the 1 spot for 3-4 months, I move it to the next bed and plant out in the old bed. The run/vegetable bed works like a big compost 'bin' and the hens scratch in it and do all the aerating, bug control for me. Works great so far

ozzie

 

[me&thegals]

That is so stinkin' cool! What a great way to cycle everything around without any waste!

 

[fizzy]

Ozzie, that is TERRIFIC!!! I hadn't even thought about the chickens eating all the BUGS -- no more cutworms maybe!! Really good plan. Wendy

 

[BeardedChick]

I did that with my setup. The only issue is the chickens get in the habit of going into certain free range areas, and then it's really hard to convince them not to go into that area any more...

I am wondering how high my fence is going to have to be to keep them out next year.

 

[freemotion]

A-MAZ-ING!!! Truly sustainable!

 

[Clay In Iowa]

I think in the first week of my flock/coop planning I ran across that BHM article. It's been part of my strategy every since.

I plan to keep my birds fenced for protection, inside a 40'x40' electrified poultry fence. I'll range them all summer on my 10 acres and move the fence with them. In the fall when the garden has given it's all I'll surround the garden with the fence and let them "clean up", while fertilizing. I'll move them for winter and return them for more fertilizing in the spring. Also since my coop will be movable, when it's time to clean it out I'll just roll/drag it over to a compost pile next to the garden. I'm hoping all the fresh composted wood chips/poo and chicken poo will make for a better garden (How can it not?).

 

[MEMama3]

I'm doing something similar. My girls spend late spring, summer and winter by my garage for convenience. I move their coop (on wheels) to the gate opening of my veggie garden for post growing season until "it's going to snow any day now". Then they get moved back to the permanent run which is covered with plastic for the winter - greenhouse style. I have a pop door for the front and the back so I don't have to try to pivot the coop (it's crazy heavy despite the wheels) and their ramp is held on with pegs so it can be moved from one door to the other easily.

 

[SunnySkies]

If we don't get pigs to plow for us, I will roll the hoop coop into my spent garden (100x120 feet) which is already fenced with deer netting, and put the layer flock in it to scratch around and clean it up.

There is some thought that wood chips/shavings take nitrogen from the soil to break them down, so I use straw now for coop and horse stable bedding unless I'm DLMing in a particular coop. This means I'm likely to use straw in the hoop coop this winter instead of shavings. Straw breaks down faster in my compost bin.