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Here are a couple of pics I already had here on BYC, these were early in this years growing season, hopefully they will be clear enough to get the idea.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/66877_dsc_0025.jpg
This is an overview. The coop is the center and there are 8 gardens encircling (radiating) out, each fenced off. The pallets are just temporary gates, most have been replaced, and all will be. There is a wire fence that I can put up or take down next to the coop at each garden run, just a square piece of fence w/ a couple of pieces of wire to hold it up it doesn't need to be sturdy just to keep the chickens from going in that area.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/66877_dsc_0021.jpg
Here is a garden spot just prior to allowing the chickens in to prepare it for planting.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/66877_dsc_0020.jpg
Here is one they have made ready, they were shut out of this one just after this pic was taken and planted out.
This was my first year to have this up and going and I had an amazing garden even though we had a record breaking heat / drought year. (I did water and have the water bills to prove it though)
Do you know what kinds of grass are present? How many square yards per bird? How many days between rotations.
Most of the grass is evil runner grass, the bane of my existence!!!! There is other grass, but I don't know what it is. Each garden spot is roughly 20 feet deep, at the narrow end are 3 feet wide and at the broad end 20 feet across. Right now I have 10 chickens per coop, but am thinking about upping it to 15 for this next year. Originally I had planned to rotate them through on a 3 week schedule for half the garden spots that I was going to plant in short term crops, then rotating through the other half of the garden spots (long term growing plants) during the non growing season. But that plan did not work for me, it was loosely based on Linda Woodrow's mandala gardening. My current method is more loose and less rigid time schedule until I get a couple of seasons down to understand the growing cycle better. I plan on planting the east most garden in the coolest temp crops (we have wicked hot summers) so it will be finished around June, so the chickens can go in the most shaded gardens in the summer. As each garden spot is finished at the end of the year it is opened and they are allowed to run in all the open gardens. Right now I still have harvesting gardens in a couple of the garden/ runs (radish, greens, turnip, carrots, beets, peas). I also plant stuff in each garden spot specifially for the chickens.
Both gardens are going to be enclosed in a "chicken moat" this coming year, I'm hoping this will eventually take care of my grass problem. That area I plan on having a larger flock (I plan on using for meat
) I also plan on planting fruit trees around each garden system, to benefit from the chicken fertilizer, garden water, and so the chickens can gleen the damaged, or over ripe fruit.
