The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[SeattleSelkie]

Thanks for the kind words everyone. I am certainly still in the experimentation phase with my gardening chickens, but so far so good. This little flock is a mix of Welsummers and wheaten Ameraucanas.....hatch mates of JulesChicks. While they are both good at scratching, I am thinking the Wellies are a bit more into repeatedly working the soil and moving the dirt.

As to the seaweed, I find that the best time of year for collecting is late summer when the large amounts of summer growth have started to wash into the wrack line. I just take big tubs and a pitch fork and shovel it.....it is lightweight then too as it is dried out some but not totally decomposed yet. I don't do anything to it, but rather let the chickens at it....it has sand, snails, bits of crab shell and a nice mix of kelp, sea lettuce and eel grass where I am in Puget Sound. The chickens actually eat a lot of it, but I figure it is good for them and what they don't use comes out the other end.

I love the garden tunnels and have that on my list to make for some harder-to-reach areas that don't need the entire tractor....I imagine little platoons of chickens I can stick into smaller ones with a covered roosting end for a few days to work an area.

For those interested in our tractor, you can see a detailed description of it and some video of how it moves by going to the "my coop" below my avatar. We have added the big water and food holding pipes and those are working very well for only having to re-stock every four days or so....making it easier to service when the tractor is farther out in the garden/orchard of our ten acres.

 

[lazy gardener]

I just love that barefoot gardener! My garden is about 40' from my chicken run, with the leach field laying between the two. Now that I have a permanent run which is hawk proof, I can re-purpose my electronet. Most likely, it will be placed around the garden. Perhaps I'll make a chook chute with a length of the electronet to direct them to/from areas of the garden. Always a work in progress. Always plenty to think about and plan for when the winter winds are howling!

I just opened up the garden for the chickens today. They actually don't know what to do about all that space that is now available. They're almost cautious about entering to sample the bounty there!! They'll run in and snag a tomato, and run back out again before they eat it!!

 

[beginnergirl]

@SeattleSelkie Wonderful!!!! Whenever I see folks doing the garden thing, I can't resist posting the chicken tunnel man video I know most of us have seen this, but for those that haven't... @mlowen

I LOVE THIS! Many thanks

One question: what about egg laying?0"

 

[slordaz]

The other 2 are roos too, as now we got 3 of them crowing, and here they are sneaking into the hens FF

 

[curious chickee]

@SeattleSelkie Wonderful!!!! Whenever I see folks doing the garden thing, I can't resist posting the chicken tunnel man video I know most of us have seen this, but for those that haven't... @mlowen You better post some photos of your tunnels again... inspiration for the newer folks!!!!

That reminds me I was going to build a tractor for my cockerels to clean up my horribly overgrown flower bed, which looks more like a Bermuda grass garden.

 

[Leahs Mom]

One question: what about egg laying?0"

In the chicken tunnel situation, they can get back to the chicken house through the tunnels.

 

[Leahs Mom]

I just opened up the garden for the chickens today. They actually don't know what to do about all that space that is now available. They're almost cautious about entering to sample the bounty there!! They'll run in and snag a tomato, and run back out again before they eat it!!

I opened mine too, but they're like yours - they're afraid of the hawks if they're out there in the open. I wish I could figure out a good way to put some netting over the open area of the garden without it being a major project.

Mine mostly go over there in the late afternoon just before bed time. Not sure if maybe they feel safer closer to evening or what. There's a real bounty over there! I also put out a dog house and some things they can get under if there is a hawk threat, but they just seem to want to only be there in the near evening.

 

[slordaz]

my roosters are more scared of stuff than my hens lol, next year we are planting a reg garden and adding more of the circle gardens though which we will be putting bird netting over the top as this year the wild birds stole all our berries and fruit. easier as the circle garden sits right next to where we are building the new coop so can just run it from there as there isn't as much room to cover.

The duck taught the hens to fish from the ditch now it's drying up for winter , that is hilarious as only one is really good at it on her own and it's race day when she catches one cause the others all want hers

 

[beginnergirl]

In the chicken tunnel situation, they can get back to the chicken house through the tunnels.

Makes sense. I will probably see if I can make some nest boxes for my make shift "tractor" because the tunnel would need to be so long.

 

[mlowen]

Makes sense. I will probably see if I can make some nest boxes for my make shift "tractor" because the tunnel would need to be so long.

My tunnel runs about 150 feet from coop to fenced yard. I think there are pictures on "my coop" link. It's a hoot to watch them walk back and forth all day long.