It probably is interesting, but the video won't play. I can catch it later on I suppose.
Thanks for the suggestion.
Chris
I just checked the link to make sure it's not broken and it works. It is about 18 min long, so I'll do a sum-up for you:
This guy, geoff lawton, came up with a system of making the best compost for his garden for the least amount of work and money. He re-purposed a scrap utility trailer and built it into a coop. The coop design consists of the main area of the trailer with a drop-down roosting bar arrangement (kinda like a gate panel, hinged at the top on one end and resting on the coop floor on the other so that it can be raised out of the way for easy cleaning) and a row of nest boxes protruding on both sides. The run is a moveable fence the width of the trailer by about 32' long.
He starts with a 4x4 or 6x6 cage into which he puts cow and horse manure, followed by used hay/straw litter from the coop then topping it up daily with food scraps and produce scraps from local restaurants and grocers. The chickens go to work eating and scratching. After a week, the cage is removed, the entire coop and run moved another 6' or so, and the cage set up for a fresh new pile of compost to be started. During this time, he also manually turns the piles with a pitch fork. Now the chickens are not just going through the first pile with all the fresh food scraps but they continue to go through the other piles as well picking out any bugs or missed bits and further turning these piles. Within the run, there are a total of 4 piles that the birds continually work. When the coop assembly is moved each week, that 4th pile is done and ready for the garden!
Now, the "working birds" are not supplemented with grain or purchased feed of any sort, whatsoever - just compost. Now, here's the kicker: the working group consists of 28 black australorps that are several years old. He has another coop with 30 younger black australorps that are fed only layer pellets. He keeps records of his egg production and the older, working birds living on ONLY compost CONSISTENTLY OUT-PRODUCE the younger group that's on commercial feed!
He also calculated his labour. I can't remember what it was, but for what he's getting out of the operation it's peanuts
I wish I could do this at my place but the landscape doesn't really allow for it. I am going to try to find a way to work this system in a stationary manner. Free food and more eggs? Hard to argue with that!
