The key is to find a workable balance, which meet the needs of the animal, the investor (you) and let's not forget the land and inputs. Natural resources would like a return, for expending energy, keeping your animals alive. In fact, if you ignore that last part, keeping chickens will become infinitely more expensive, as time goes by.
Greenery, where chicken tractor used to be
Which is why I like to find as many ways as possible, to grow carbon, where I keep animals. I have a permanent coop, for most of our layers - but I also have a nifty little chicken tractor, which doubles as a fertility spreader. A broody or sick hen, will often find themselves in it.
How expensive are my chickens, when what I spend on their seed, sprouts on the lawn? Which I will slash to the ground, before planting corn into it, for spring.
If I had to spend extra money on top of their feed, without this tractor dispersing the seed they didn't eat - my chickens, and corn, would ultimately be more expensive to grow. It's how you use your animals, which can increase the return on your investment. They're still going to cost you "that" amount of money, but you've gotten more than just eggs, from the deal. You've developed a means of acquiring nature fertility, as well.
The acquisition of inputs, didn't require a trailer to cart, or petroleum to ferry either. Just two people, to lift and walk a chicken tractor, 1.8 metres, at a time.
Pea flower
Although, the seed I purchased, did come with a carbon footprint - I'm turning it back into carbon, as well. Some variety of pea has sprouted (above), also sunflowers, wheat, corn and what seems like broccolini. I've been picking the broccolini leaves, for the guinea pig too.
This is system stacking, on a small scale. It's perfect for this little strip, 12 x 3 metres, right out the back door. In some places, I'm running the tractor, back over the spouted seeds - so I'm extending the feeding capacity from the same bag of feed.
The insects which are attracted to these little forests in the lawn, is amazing too. I have a miniature prairie, at work.
Brassica flower
All those insects will contribute excrement and decaying bodies too. I've noticed a lot of lady beetles (aphid control) and predatory wasps (caterpillar control) attracted to the broccolini, bolting to seed. In winter, if you please.
Which tells me, this strip will be perfect for corn in the growing season ahead. It will get enough warmth, and thanks to my chicken fertility dispersal, enough nutrients to feed the crop.
The answer to how expensive are your chickens, is how many functions do you intend to stack around them? If it's just for eggs, they might be very expensive chickens to keep. If they're going to help you grow stuff, feed the garden or dispose of your waste, then they're actually valuable to keep. Because they save you money, in other areas.
I have a post lined up, about my permanent coops too. How I harvest the fertility from them. Having a permanent coop, and a mobile tractor though, allows more flexibility with livestock and land management.
I really enjoyed the way you described all of the benefits of the humble chicken Chris. It's really important, as frugal farmers, to make everything work for us in various ways, and for numerous benefit. On our small patch, we're able to farm quite intensively, using every possible resource, interacting and overlapping so that each facet compliments another, whilst caring for our environment at the same time. I'm trying to talk B into building me a small chicken tractor that I can move around the paddock close to the house. Foxes are our problem, so the outside dog would be on guard at night. We used to have a chook caravan with a separate flock of layers that we moved around the big paddocks, but whenever we moved it closer to the homestead, one by one, the hens made a dash back and joined up with the hens in the house yard chicken area. Day time foxes were beginning to appear too, so the caravan was sold.
ReplyDeleteWe're fortunate not to have encountered fox problems yet, but we do have wedge tail eagles. The neighbour's free-range chickens have been gotten, many times. One of the reasons, mine are all enclosed. That predator factor, always influences how we arrange our livestock.
ReplyDeleteBut I do so love the idea of your alpacas, for sheep and lamb guardians too. You get the fertility factor from them as well. Did you have the alpacas, when you had the chicken caravan?
Eagles are such huge birds Chris. I drove past a couple of eagles feeding off the carcass of a road-kill kangaroo recently. It was the first time I had seen full sized adults on the ground. Whoa, they were so large. Chickens would be such an easy catch for an eagle.
DeleteHeck yes, they are huge. You should see them in flight. Wing span is just under 3 meters!! Those talons are the closest we'll get to seeing a raptor in action. Luckily they don't prey on humans. ;)
DeleteWe found it was actually affordable when we had chickens because we sold our surplus. We only had 10 layers but they were super productive. The only reason we got rid of them was due to our health issues and we needed to take it easier in winter. But had we not sold our eggs, we probablly would have thought of the expense. We let them free range most of the year so stacking wasn't planned out like you wrote about and we only loat two in as many yaers to possums. This despite our lama and alpacas. It happens.
ReplyDeleteInteresting that you still lost hens with flock guardians. It does happen though. Sometimes the predators win. Hopefully, not very much though.
DeleteIt's great your could sell your surplus eggs. The thought has crossed my mind. Did you sell directly to neighbours who asked, or did you have a farm gate stall, like with the iris? I think it was iris. It was flowers anyway. :)
We had a sign and we sold to neighbors. We tried selling gladiola but not much business there. Honey, eggs and rhubarb were our big sellers. Our issue was that a possum got into the hen house itself and our silly camelids adopted the damn thing once that happened:) At least thats what I think happened.
DeleteWhat a strange, but understandable, turn of events with your camelids adopting a predator. :o
DeleteI live on a small 535sqm block with a tiny backyard. Our 5 chickens have their house and free range there. Our chickens become expensive when they are not laying. We just dont have the space for non productive chooks. If they dont lay I have a beautiful friend who lives on a farm about an hour away who takes them to live their days out. Its always sad to say bye as they become pets and the kids play with them too.
ReplyDeleteThat's an excellent arrangement you have there. The fertility of the chickens, when they stop producing eggs, can be migrated to a larger property. Where, I'm sure, the extra fertility and pest control, is appreciated.
DeletePerspective is key! I think though, it's something that has to be learned somewhat. We had good intentions when we first started with chickens, but have learned so much about how to partner with them for the benefit of chickens, us, and the land.
ReplyDeleteHa, yes, we start so naively don't we, lol. I was going to own a chicken empire, of only heritage breeds. But then realised, the value in a chicken, is not in their pedigree. It's all the same, in nature. So long as they're healthy, lay eggs and do everything a chicken is supposed to, their worth is paid by the black gold, they make.
DeleteYou're doing far better than I am. I have no chicken tractor (no grass, no flat ground and too many fox visits through the day to even think about it). Mine aren't laying at the moment so I'm buying eggs, plus a 5 kg bag of mixed grains every 3 weeks. All I get is a pile of poo for the compost tumbler....but they're good fun and good company.
ReplyDeleteFoxes have a lot more competition up here, between dingoes and even the wedge tail eagles. Plus there are wandering domestic dogs, which is really the ones we have to watch out for. The new neighbour's dog had us up at 1.30 in the morning, as it harassed our long chicken in its tractor. It was just checking out the new area, so no real damage, but it's an example of why we need to be on our toes.
DeleteYou raise the point, domesticated chickens make great pets too. And they're probably cheaper to buy food for. We'd buy a tiny bag of cat kibble for just under $30. It was the good stuff with lots of minerals. But we buy a 20kg bag of chicken feed though, for just under $20! Plus you get compost! Cat and dog droppings, can't be used in the same way.
I have thought about getting chickens here many times, Chris, but always hesitate. The carpet pythons first and foremost. The folk down the road have lost countless chooks to the big (and I'm not exaggerating here) pythons that live in the forest that borders our street here. Then there is the shape of our suburban block...we have neighbours on three sides and any hen house would be hard to position away from our shared fences. The one spot I've kept coming back to gets a lot of Summer sun and I think may get too hot for them. Then there's the veggie garden/other gardens that I think would be scratched up by the chooks when they were out free ranging. So, at the moment, I content myself with sourcing lovely eggs that do not come from battery hens and are as local as I can find. I keep thinking about solutions though! Meg:)
ReplyDeleteThose pythons, can eat chickens. We've only encountered one that go into our maturing chicks, when they were old enough to be outside. It managed to lift the tin we weighed down on the roof. It goes to show how strong they are. We managed to save the chick though, because we heard the ruckus. We relocated the snake, further away. It was a big python, but still only half the size I've seen them get.
DeleteI've never had them eat the larger chickens, even though I've seen one perched up in the rafters of our coop. It was after eggs. A fully grown one, probably could eat one though, as I've heard it reported they've been caught eating domesticated cats.
In relation to your specific location, I've had great success with keeping bantam sized chickens in the past, and you'd be surprised the size egg they can lay, for such a small bird. The feed to egg ratio is much better, than the standard sized chicken too. In my experience, the pekin bantam, are good layers and don't scratch as badly as the larger breeds. They have feathered feet, so it's a little more challenging.
The best bantam breed I've ketp as egg layers though, would have to be the bantam Orpingtons. As they did lay the biggest egg. It could pass as a large. Followed closely by the bantam Australorps. Although the latter, might be more vigorous in their scratching habits. The other two breeds were wonderful little birds to keep. Hardly any trouble at all.
And unlike the standard breed chickens, they're a lot quieter too. It sounds like you have a good arrangement, sourcing local eggs though. :)
this is great Chris, i love the idea of pasture chickens and moving from one area to another but unfortunately its not always possible, i think the small tractor is a wonderful idea as a non permanent solution for value adding. cant wait to see your corn next summer
ReplyDeleteI can't wait for corn either. :) Nice to see you again. I hope all is well (albeit, chilly) in your neck of the woods.
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