The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

Georgia, the broody girl:




I know I should totally leave her alone, and for the most part I do, but I had to get one photo of her all fluffed up.

I feel bad (here I am attributing human emotions to a chicken) because it's gotta be boring, sitting there with nothing to do. I told my husband I wanted to set up a chicken TV for her, 3 weeks is a lonnnnnng time. Maybe get her a chicken raising book to read or something ;)
 
aaggjg - maybe what you've been doing for the worms is working as she is expelling some. But on the Basic H, I think you should only give it a couple days then back to regular water and maybe only do that about 1X in about 3 weeks if you think there's a problem. Way less often if you don't think you have a problem.

May want to back off on all the worming items and give them a rest and and recover on normal food.

Just a thought, but I'm thinking if those items are meant to expel worms, they most likely make the intestinal tract inhospitable - and possibly a little irritated if given constantly.
 
Georgia, the broody girl:




I know I should totally leave her alone, and for the most part I do, but I had to get one photo of her all fluffed up.

I feel bad (here I am attributing human emotions to a chicken) because it's gotta be boring, sitting there with nothing to do. I told my husband I wanted to set up a chicken TV for her, 3 weeks is a lonnnnnng time. Maybe get her a chicken raising book to read or something ;)

How 'bout setting up a computer and let her join BYC?
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I'm not sure if I understand you correctly, but are you asking if the chickens will be able to keep the grass short? In my experience, no. Depending on the size of the large fenced area they will either totally kill the grass or have no affect on it. I know that sounds weird, but chickens are hard on grass- they can scratch it up something fierce. But if the area is large enough for them to not ruin it by scratching, they don't eat enough grass to keep it short. KWIM?
We were just wondering if we would still have to mow in between our raised beds and the surrounding areas or not. My understanding (newbie here) was that any area the chickens are given will become short on vegetation and just become dirt. I guess I assumed they would be also eating the grass as well.

Oh and what is KWIM?
 
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We were just wondering if we would still have to row in between our raised beds and the surrounding areas or not. My understanding (newbie here) was that any area the chickens are given will become short on vegetation and just become dirt. I guess I assumed they would be also eating the grass as well.

Oh and what is KWIM?
KWIM= know what I mean :)
 
I know :). Im almost done watching it and all the questions I asked before got awnsered. I just need to find a spot for newspaper. I have enough horse manure to do a decent start at a garden. Just gotta make sure I get enough wood chips. They wont be partly composted though sadly but that will be just for the first year.
You can use all the cardboard boxes from your move instead of newspaper. They take longer to breakdown but work really well blocking out the weeds. Its great to put a layer of manure down before you cover the weeds with cardboard or newspaper and then add more manure.... top with wood chips. Goggle sheet mulching... Its a permaculture technique..... My one tip would be sure you water well ... you want to soak the cardboard to encourage it to breakdown. I had practically pure sand not a worm in site ... after amending the soil with manure and cardboard everywhere I dug there was a worm! The key to growing great healthy vegetables is to build great healthy soil! Good luck!
 

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