TreeChick
Chirping
Chicken run around the garden is SO smart! Plotting this addition in my own yard nowI agree whole heartedly about the magic of compost! I use a lot of straw bedding, and am a lazy composter. Each year I make a pile and then in two years it is ready to go. Been doing it for ten years, so I have a new pile every year. I have the garden right next to the chicken run, and a small enclosed chicken tunnel that wraps around the inside of the garden fence. It connects to the chicken yard, so they spend a lot of time catching bugs and slugs and generally making a pest barrier around the garden. It has greatly reduced the slugs and aphids!
Chickens are also really good at weeding! If you have a grassy area or an overgrown garden you can put up a temporary run and leave the chickens to do their thing. If you put them on a patch in late winter and leave them there until late spring it will be weed free and ready to plant starts in. Just be sure to wash anything you harvest there because of uncomposted droppings.