In our movable chicken tractor however, any spent grain which makes it to the ground, reshoots - and if left alone, turns into a green crop. Which means we get to double the return on what we initially spent on buying the grains, in the first place.
Our lone chicken was recently turned onto this patch of primarily brassicas, wheat grass, and a few tufts of corn and sunflowers.
She looked a little confused at first, with all that greenery around her. But she quickly cottoned on to the element of "food". Especially since there were bugs hiding in all that greenery too.
Jungle terrain is actually the natural terrain of chicken fowl, but domesticated chickens rarely get to see such delicacies. Mostly because gardeners want to keep their plants in the ground.
We're no different either. In the past, wandering chickens have destroyed the mulch under our citrus trees, which in turn, invited pests to attack them. So it's a balancing act. Where we can integrate plants into the chicken's domain, however, by cleaning up grain waste, its a better use of resources all round.
And that patch of corn I'm intending to plant in spring, is all the more achievable, now our chicken has knocked down the plants. You can see the path of the tractor. The yellow area was the place she was at, before being released onto the green manure crop. She didn't get all the plants down, but reduced them substantially.
Sure, I could have turned that green manure crop into the ground, myself, but I get to save money on feed, and get the chicken to do the work for me. Sometimes it just takes, avoiding mowing the lawn, to let the seeds germinate. And moving the chicken around other areas, as the plants grow.
It gives me ideas for developing other areas around the place as well. Food for chickens, as well as food for thought!
No more free ranging for our chooks, Chris. They have dug up a lot of hubby's dahlias and heaps of bulbs so now they are locked up till we find a solution. It is amazing how much damage they can do. A chicken tractor would be great but there are too many obstacles in our back yard.
ReplyDeleteThe bantams don't do much damage in my experience, but the standard chooks are terribly destructive. They want to get to all the grubs attracted to the moisture, we keep around our plants. The brush turkeys we get here, are worse, lol. So I understand the need to keep 'em in!
DeleteI'd love to free range mine (and they'd love it, too), but so would the foxes.....
ReplyDeleteClever Mr Fox, would! ;)
DeleteMy hens make the richest compost - I am not sure how folks compost properly without hens
ReplyDeleteThey really do a great job, turning mushy stuff into good stuff. Great for feeding the garden with.
DeleteNot actually related to this post but the previous one. Made the sweet chilli jam and have one jar that is almost empty already. This recipe is a keeper. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteThat's fantastic! Thanks for letting me know :)
DeleteOne of the best decisions we made was to move our compost piles into the chicken yard. It's amazing how quickly they can turn it into rich, find compost! I've taken to tossing the goats' spilled grain into the bins as well (where it is gobbled down in an instant.)
ReplyDeleteMostly we've let our chickens have access to pastures and hedgerows; theoretically "rotated" by a chicken gateing system. But they can really be a problem with the way they scratch mulch away. And eat pasture seed! I've learned that rotational grazing with chickens is near impossible without keeping their wings clipped, and even then they sometimes manage to get over the fences. Dan's been reading Joel Salatin's Salad Bar Beef and is now talking about trying a chicken tractor. It would be small, like yours, but with pasture planting coming up, it may be well worth it.
When there's space, chickens are awesome at dealing with food scraps, and turning them into compost. Good idea to get something more from the spilled goats grain. Effectively, using it twice.
DeleteIf I could recommend anything about building a chicken tractor, it would be to make sure you can access it from the inside. So tall enough to let you in. If you're going to build the smaller Salatin style tractors, for meat chickens, I'd design the doors (effectively the roof) to open up, at least half the size of the tractor. That way you only have to duck down, for half, and stand tall for the rest. Meat chickens don't tend to fly when they're ready for processing, so they won't escape when you open the roof up.
Good luck with your tractor experiments.
Very useful information as usual Chris. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThanks. I hope your garden is starting to wake up, from winter. Spring is just around the corner. I reckon we're going to be busy in the garden.
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