I'm retired now, I've more or less always kept chickens but have now implemented a long thought of plan. I'll explain it and then would like comments.
I am only a summer resident at my farm now that I am retired. Each Spring when I arrive to the farm, I rent 1st season pullets that are already laying. I think I invented chicken renting.
When the whole family lived here I kept a garden that was 80' x 40'. I now have divided that in half and keep the chickens in 1/2 and the garden in the other half. I surround both with electric net fencing. I normally have 10 hens. I feed them 1/2 of the recommended commercial feed and the rest they get from all of my vegetable cuttings, clippings and peelings, table scraps, and anything else that I used to throw in compost. Also bugs and worms of course. I have a movable coop with an open bottom that I change the location of within the run, frequently. The coop has roosts built in. There are no laying boxes, just a nest of straw and grass clippings on the ground inside the coop. I normally get 85-90% egg laying results. In otherwords, 10 hens in 10 days give me 85-90 eggs. My hens are my composters. No extra work involved in composting. They scratch up all of the weeds and the run becomes barren. They fertilize the area at no extra cost.They also turn up a lot of rocks in my gravely soil and that makes the rocks easier to pick out. This is all supposed to create a weed-free, seed-free area, well fertilized area for next years garden. In the Fall I return the chickens to their owner and till the chicken run and the garden under. In the Spring I till again and put the garden in last years run and the run in last years garden.
Folks I talked to were skeptical because the manure was not rotted or aged. My contention is that 10 hens in an area of 40x40 is lightly populated and by tilling it under in the fall it is not a problem. I've followed this procedure for 4 years now. The garden is terrific but the weeds seem to just laugh at the idea of a weed-free, seed-free garden. The eggs of course are great and the hens just love summer camp. Has anyone done anything similar to this and how did you make out?
Steve
I am only a summer resident at my farm now that I am retired. Each Spring when I arrive to the farm, I rent 1st season pullets that are already laying. I think I invented chicken renting.
When the whole family lived here I kept a garden that was 80' x 40'. I now have divided that in half and keep the chickens in 1/2 and the garden in the other half. I surround both with electric net fencing. I normally have 10 hens. I feed them 1/2 of the recommended commercial feed and the rest they get from all of my vegetable cuttings, clippings and peelings, table scraps, and anything else that I used to throw in compost. Also bugs and worms of course. I have a movable coop with an open bottom that I change the location of within the run, frequently. The coop has roosts built in. There are no laying boxes, just a nest of straw and grass clippings on the ground inside the coop. I normally get 85-90% egg laying results. In otherwords, 10 hens in 10 days give me 85-90 eggs. My hens are my composters. No extra work involved in composting. They scratch up all of the weeds and the run becomes barren. They fertilize the area at no extra cost.They also turn up a lot of rocks in my gravely soil and that makes the rocks easier to pick out. This is all supposed to create a weed-free, seed-free area, well fertilized area for next years garden. In the Fall I return the chickens to their owner and till the chicken run and the garden under. In the Spring I till again and put the garden in last years run and the run in last years garden.
Folks I talked to were skeptical because the manure was not rotted or aged. My contention is that 10 hens in an area of 40x40 is lightly populated and by tilling it under in the fall it is not a problem. I've followed this procedure for 4 years now. The garden is terrific but the weeds seem to just laugh at the idea of a weed-free, seed-free garden. The eggs of course are great and the hens just love summer camp. Has anyone done anything similar to this and how did you make out?
Steve
