There's nothing like motivating the building schedule, than having baby chicks, waiting in the wings. Sorry, an obvious pun. But our chicken coop should be ready for these three, to eventually migrate into. Even if renovations have just barely begun.
I have been lamenting some brush-turkey damage in the garden recently. Especially when it had been so dry. Watering any plant, was an invitation for them to scratch it up. Because water, brings life to the soil. They're not silly, those turkeys. They gotta eat, and my garden is a good buffet, when times are lean elsewhere.
More recently, we discovered a new ritual they were up to...
Click to enlarge ~ scratching up hill
Mr Turkey was building a nest. He started a line of scratching, where there was leaf mulch to be had (under the trees). He patiently worked his way, up and down, scratching the mulch back to the nest. It was incredibly funny, once he reached the canopy of the trees again - because he'd immediately race back to the nest, like a hungry velociraptor on steroids!
By golly, they look hilarious when they run!
I was lamenting my garden again, when Mr Turkey cleaned-out the leaf mulch under the trees. Because it was my nearby garden bed, he turned to next!
Denuded of mulch
Luckily the rain had been around, so I wasn't worried about the soil drying out, after he made off with the mulch. But I had to observe carefully too. If the sun decided to come out, for a long stretch, I'd have to get something else to cover that bed. I really didn't want my plants to be set-back, after the rain had finally hydrated the soil again.
Flooded gully
The rainy weather, ensured I never had to deal with re-mulching for the short term. And Mr Turkey, was certainly a dedicated father, flying over the flooded gully to reach the nest every day. He wanted to add more mulch, to keep the eggs in the nest, dry.
As much as I didn't want him pilfering mulch from my plants, I had to admire his tenacity, to bring another generation of chicks into the fold. I was quietly cheering him on. Crazy, I know! Why would we want more brush turkeys, feasting from our garden.
No longer a mound of leaf litter
Then, one day Mr Turkey didn't return to the nest. Maybe he'd done all he possibly could, and now it was the waiting game for his chicks to emerge? The baby chicks must fend for themselves, once they emerge from the nest. Dad is long gone, by then - and mum left, once she laid the eggs.
When I found holes in the nest, I thought - maybe they had emerged? But something didn't seem quite right. Why had so much mulch been displaced?
Mulch everywhere?
Mr Turkey, always kept a clean operation. We were amazed how neat that pile of mulch, was. It appeared, something else had interfered with the nest. There should have been one hole the chicks emerged from, not three that we found. Nor should there have been mulch strewn everywhere.
It could only be one thing - a goanna must have raided the nest. We get plenty of those around here. Especially at this time of year, when birds are laying.
He worked hard
Sorry, Mr Turkey. You availed much, but you were robbed in the end. I know how that feels. But I get why you're doing it. You've got to live somewhere, and pick the best place you can, to set up the next generation. You're making a living, like the rest of us. I don't begrudge you that. And our garden is pretty cool. No wonder you like hanging out here, so much.
Once I spared a moment, for Mr Turkey's loss, my attention turned to something else...
Organic bounty
The rain had stopped, and the sun made a more regular appearance. I needed to cover my garden bed again. Mulch! What goes around, does indeed, come back around.
Not only did I have the few remains of the wood chips we dumped there - which Mr Turkey saw as an opportunity for a nest, but I also had all this new leaf mulch too.
Phew!
My beds have been re-mulched again, preserving the moisture all that rain left behind. With summer around the corner, I'm relieved for that. And no doubt, Mr and Mrs Turkey will be finding another suitable location for a new nest.
I saw them in the yard, just yesterday, checking out real estate, under the mulberry tree. I gave them a warning chase, but only because they were a little too close to my vegetable beds. They're not threatened by me at all, because they're always back, a minute later!
March 2016
I wonder if one of these nesting Brush Turkey's, is the one, old Matriarch hen adopted in March 2016? Old Matriarch has now passed on, but the brush turkeys, remain in our landscape. And no doubt, will, for a long time to come.
Growing, brush turkey chick, April 2016
November 2017 - the resemblance is uncanny
What goes around, comes around - whether it be seizing organic mulch, adopting baby brush turkeys, or tolerating the grown ones in our garden. I guess even Mr Goanna has to make a living too. And his offspring, will be (ironically) preyed upon by the carnivorous birds in our location.
There's still plenty of time in spring, to build another turkey nest. And if I know anything about the brush turkey's in this area, they're as tenacious, as the landscape is challenging. They'll be back...and so will their kids! That's how it's meant to be.
It depends on your set up, but if you can work towards using your feed-grain, allocated to chickens, twice, you'd be crazy not to! In our permanent coop, any spent grain makes it to the floor, and basically turns into dust. I clean it out, a few times a year, and use it in the garden - but it's a poor return on what I spent on the grain.
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!
Since the rainwater tank project, Christmas and New Years came in such close succession to each other, I've been taking a well earned break. I was feeling a little burned out and didn't want to have to contemplate big things for a while. And the beginning of a new year, is pretty big.
I've been reading in other blogs, how goals were being set for the year. Which is brilliant, but I just hadn't reached that mental place, for myself yet. Maybe in a week or two?
Large egg (top left) from parent hen, the rest are pullet eggs
A good place to pick up for this year, is the arrival of new eggs! Compliments of our new pullets, we hatched back in late August. It's been many years since we hatched eggs, and I forgot what the ideal number to incubate was. I started with 20 eggs, and ended up with 15 chicks. Too many for our meagre accommodations for them. I'll have to revise that number down to a dozen in future.
"Mumble", facing camera (RIP)
Sadly, one suddenly passed due to complications from their head injury (birth defect). But even 14 turned out to be too many. The small chicken tractor I resurrected, was quickly outgrown by the little scratchers.
It was increasingly becoming a problem, the older they were, to keep the tractor in the same place for just ONE day. They quickly fowled it and weren't able to graze for more than an hour. So it became imperative to decide another plan.
Poor man's patch job
Resurrect Middle Ridge chicken coop! Only it was partially demolished, with intentions to turn it into something else. Well the bones would have to do for now, so we purchased extra shade cloth to go over the top again. It was about 20cms too short, on either side, and the hens eventually figured out how to fly out the gap.
It wasn't really safe to keep them in overnight, so we let them in the run during the day, and they gladly toddled to their old tractor, for lock up, at night.
Don't mind the jungle!
We placed the chicken tractor, close to the coop door, so at dusk we could open it, and they put themselves to bed in the tractor.
This too worked for a time, until they out grew the tractor. With Christmas approaching, and hens still able to escape the coop during the day, we needed to secure the coop properly. Just so we could leave, and not worry a neighbour's dog, fox or wedge-tail eagle, might make a meal of them.
Hiding the hole, where the "permanent" iron, use to be
What a glorious and ugly patchwork job, that turned out to be. We didn't have time, let alone money to buy anything to do the job. So we scrounged bits of everything which didn't have a permanent purpose yet. From old guinea-pig cage parts, to ancient chicken feed bags, and even heavy pieces of steel we somehow managed to acquire. That's an old chicken perch too, which rotted at the base.
Thankfully we still have chicken mesh up to that orange conduit pipe. Which you can't exactly see. Much like the additional chicken mesh, I had to add above the pipe, to cover that gap the hens were flying through. But now they all live in Middle Ridge permanently.
During all this however (in such close quarters) we realised some of the roosters had to go. I was surprised how quickly these roosters matured. Some began crowing before 10 weeks.
Blurry picture of the last rooster
Maybe I'll write another post about roosters, but for now, all but one, has been dispatched. Even his days are numbers now too. Limited space with maturing roosters meant, we had to cull many before they even reached a table worthy size. But they made excellent tree fertiliser, so have returned to the land they grew up on. I know that sounds harsh, but so is overstocking a flock with too many roosters, in limited space. The hens only have so far they can run.
Out of the 14 chicks we raised, only 5 turned out to be roosters though. Leaving us with 9 hens! That was quite a surprise. So were some of the features, which came out in the mixed genes.
Motley crew
We got 3 pure white hens, some which looked like regular ISA Browns, and do you notice the missing tail on the hen above? She has a pekin tail, which is a breed I've kept before. The presence of pekin genes, would also explain the feathered legs which appeared on some of the roosters too. So there are definitely some interesting genes in this mix.
Bantam pekin hens, I kept a long time ago
We even got some that looked like a ginger Australorp (the one feeding on the grapes, 2nd image above). We did have an old black, Australorp hen, who wasn't laying much at the time I was collecting eggs to incubate. But I'm sure, with some of the black hackles which have developed in some hens, a few of her eggs must have snuck in.
Unfortunately, she has now passed, as did her sister - Matriarch.
Guarding her new friend
Matriarch was the one we had to let free range, outside the coop, because her sister had outed her from the new flock, we introduced. She was relentlessly pecked for doing anything, So free ranging daily, it was! Matriarch even became very protective of a visiting Brush Turkey chick, which naturally doesn't have parents from birth. They have to fend for themselves. It was sad when she passed. There are some hens which stand out from the rest. Matriarch was one of those.
But I'm not as sentimental as I used to be. When you are exposed to so many animals passing, or intentionally culled, you realise they carry on, in the landscape regardless. Whether they get buried under a new seedling tree, or they feed you in some other way, they go on to serve another purpose. Those turkey chicks are now fully grown, and I'm reminded of Matriarch, whenever they pass through the yard.
One egg, two yolks
One eventuality I wasn't expecting though, is how one of the new hens is a regular, double-yolk, egg layer. It will become an issue when incubating eggs, next time. Double-yolkers don't tend to survive incubation, as there isn't enough room for two chicks to grow in the same egg. I was considering, only hatching a dozen eggs next time, but I may have to increase the numbers to compensate for the double-yolk, egg layer.
If you're wondering why we didn't properly prepare accommodations BEFORE incubating eggs - we "intended" to build accommodation straight away. Which I did with the chicken tractor (phase one, for growing chicks out) but when it came to building something bigger, our new rainwater tank project went over schedule by two months! That's eight weeks we could have been preparing chicken accommodation.
We just weren't anticipating how big the tank project, or time consuming it would be. But alls well that ends well, I guess. We're happy to see our recent additions, starting to lay now. We do have plans to upgrade Hilltop chicken coop again. But more about that, another time.
I hope the new year brings my readers, something to look forward to. Even if it's just a little time to recuperate.
As any gardener knows, new plantings can look messy. Not just because they're too small for the space - requiring room to fill out, later on...but if you live with native animals, or free range poultry too, they like to scratch out any new and moist earth, you make available to them.
On acreage, it's just too hard (not to mention expensive) to fence everything in. Especially from nimble poultry, who specialise in defying gravity and barriers. They're jungle animals originally, so they've evolved into specialised earth movers in confined spaces.
I've actually found they will dig under netting, to get at the compost I've planted new seedling in. So fencing isn't exactly a foolproof solution either. The only effective method to thwart poultry, is the messy jungle approach. Any new plantings I put in the ground, get surrounded with whatever materials, I have available.
I've been putting new plants into this area, since autumn. It's just on the edge of our verandah. Much to my frustration, the brush turkeys and our free range chicken, delighted in scratching up the new plants. I realised I needed something to avoid their access. So I started collecting rocks and other random materials, to place around the plants.
I even left he grass and native peas on the edges, because if I pulled them up, it would just encourage the poultry to start scratching around the soft soil edges. It looks messy, but it's been effective. And it's only until I can get my plants established in the lovely compost, I planted them in.
I originally had a dead plant and it's unearthed root ball, protecting this liriope silverstar. But it didn't cover most of the soil, so they just rolled it off and dug up the liriope. So don't use lightweight materials, which can just be rolled over. I found a ring of heavy rocks has thwarted their antics. So long as they can't get a claw in, they can't dig up the earth.
I found they tried the same thing with this root ball, I tipped out of an old pot plant. I turned it over, to disguise the soil, but they just scratched it back, and unearthed the new succulent on the right. This is the repair job I did afterwards. By pushing a stick through it, into the soil, it effectively pinned it down. But it also makes it difficult to get purchase, to scratch around it. There are some rocks, above the succulent too. It's been effective, to date.
So if you are going to use more lightweight material, I have found the odd vertical stick out of the ground, makes it difficult for them to scratch around.
Here you can see the root ball again, next to a concrete chunk we had leftover, from an old project. Old concrete makes a good scratching deterrent. I even used an old solar light, with the spike missing - turned upside down, If I had the spike, I would put that into the ground too.
Once again, it looks messy, but it's only temporary. Maybe 12 to 18 months. I suspect the succulent, will simply exploit the nooks and crannies of the rocks anyway, and the plant will hide the mess from view. It's already gone to flower, so it will have offspring, soon enough.
Just a little further up the verandah, is another patch, I'm attempting to colonise with succulents. The idea is to thwart the grass that grows along the edges of the verandah, so we don't have to use machinery to trim it back. I put rocks around one planting and used another solution on the other side - just because I had it around...
This tub and bucket is where I plant my annual ginger crop. They're empty after harvesting, and won't be planted until September. As they were laying around, I butted them against the succulents, to make it difficult for any scratching opportunities.
I keep the gravel on the base, because I need it for drainage when the ginger does get planted out. But for now, it helps to weigh them down, so the wind can't blow them away. This is mixing storage solutions, with plant protection, even if it's only temporary. I've got to protect my new plants if I want them to survive.
I actually relocated this nasturtium that almost go scratched up, when it self-seeded in the vegetable patch. I put it in the crack of our retaining wall, so it would be protected from eager claws. It got eaten back by our chicken, but since it's grown bigger it's less attractive in flavour. So be sure to use up the nooks and crannies of existing hard surfaces, which are more than likely, being underutilised.
Here is another example of a nook I filled with a hardy daisy. It's placement was for two reasons. Firstly, to discourage purchase for scratching fowl - I didn't want soil scratched out from behind the retaining wall. But secondly, I wanted to shade the side of the raised, hugelkultur bed. Not just shade, but wind protection too.
As for the hugelkultur bed, itself...
It too was visited by scratching fowl. I had the heavy mesh on top, but they soon figured they could scratch between the grids. So I used a couple of the casurina branches I felled from a tree nearby, and they got placed on top of the mesh.
It's kind of a happy accident, because not only have I managed to keep the brush turkeys out of my beds now - it's also helping to shade the soil for the new seedlings. I'm tempted to experiment, and see what the results will be, if I keep them on for the entire growing season.
In other areas of the garden, I have used bricks, branches (some with spikes) and even logs, to keep away scratching from my new plants. The added benefit being, it's also feeding the soil, as the wood breaks down.
Other plants I have used to discourage scratching behind retaining walls, are spiky pineapples (they're especially effective) and strongly scented plants, like curry plant and pelargonium citronella. Fowl don't mind the strongly scented plants, but it's not something they hang around for long.
Our free range chicken likes to shade herself under the lime tree (above) preferring the side, furtherest away from the scented plants. I'm fortunate the pelargonium and curry plant are extremely hardly, and easy to propagate. They don't make bad nursery plants either, if you want to provide ground cover and shade, for a tender seedling.
A more recent project I did, was planting out some vetiver grass. I dug a hole, only large enough for the seedling, and placed rocks around them. So it's effectively surrounded by weeds and what not. Luckily, vetiver has a tenacious root system, that will easily out-compete the weeds. But I've keep the ground mostly in tact, so it's not going to be as attractive to scratching fowl anyway.
I planted out five sets of vetiver grass, and they haven't been disturbed yet. This will hopefully provide mulching material for my swale.
Basically I have found that hard, heavy barriers, vertical sticks out of the ground, spiky plants, condensed plants, scented plants and undisturbed soil, all to be effective deterrents from scratching claws.
I just have to live with a bit of mess and chaos, until the plants get more established. I also don't have to go out and buy a manufactured solution, which isn't always that effective anyway. The jungle solution, of removing the opportunity to scratch in as many ways as possible, using as many materials available, makes the rest of the yard look more attractive to jungle fowl. Instead of those tender seedlings, which have barely gotten their roots into the soil.
I imagine other materials, such as broken terracotta pots, car tyres, even recycled milk bottles, filled with sand or water and laid on their sides, would work at protecting new seedlings too. I especially like the idea, the plants they are projecting, will one day, cover them in greenery and look beautiful again.
In my recent posts about permanency, I touched on the subject of keeping animals. I suggested, necessary infrastructure on the land, comes first, before getting too carried away with livestock. I may have given the impression, however, you cannot have any animals at all.
It is possible to keep some animals before you've gotten all your building projects completed. After all, it could take years. But remember to keep permanency in mind, by practising some limitations too.
Black Pekin pullets - 2008
I personally didn't need to keep as many heritage breeds as I did, in the first few years. It was a wonderful experience, and I learned a lot about different breed traits. However (ironically) in the end, I realised I just wanted a healthy chicken, which could provide eggs.
Now I just keep layers of mixed variety. ISA Browns, to be specific, but we plan to keep a rooster and breed our own, Gully Grove variety. Which will simply comprise of whatever rooster we can get for free. We recently acquired one, which is part ISA Brown and part Leghorn. He's a lovely fellow. We'll keep one coop, several layers and one rooster at a time.
Bantam Orpingtons (blue rooster, black pullets) - 2009
I recommend this is how you should start with chickens on property, if you need to practice economic restraint. Attempt to find whatever chickens are available for as little cost as possible (free in some cases) in your area. As long as you can acquire a rooster, then you can incubate the subsequent eggs. That's if you don't have a broody hen, to incubate the eggs and do the rearing for you.
This simple set-up means you don't have to keep buying new hens, for reliable egg supply. You can breed your own - year in, year out. It's a wonderful way to introduce yourself (and any children) to keeping chickens too.
Limiting yourself from the beginning, ensures what you start with, has a better chance of succeeding. Or, if you discover you don't like keeping chickens, you haven't spent a great deal of money, to learn that lesson.
Lavender Araucana rooster - 2009
The question of whether to build a permanent chicken coop, or mobile chicken tractor, can only be answered by what your land (and you) can provide. There were reasons we went with permanent coops, rather than the tractors, and everyone's reasons will vary.
I would however, recommend a permanent coop, if you don't have the time to move a mobile tractor around. After all, that is the key part of their design to keep chickens healthy, happy and productive. Or if, like us, you don't have enough flat land to run them on, a permanent coop is better suited.
Newly constructed chicken tractor - 2008
Chicken tractors are more economical on building supplies, plus they allow chickens to be moved to fresh food. Which can ultimately, reduce the cost of feed you have to purchase. If you're just starting out and can use mobile tractors, it makes more financial sense to do so.
If a permanent coop suits your situation better however, you can reduce costs of building one, by searching for second hand materials, online, or at garage sales. You can even reuse wooden shipping pallets. These are often given away for free, by businesses who would otherwise have to pay to have them carted away. Heck, I even reused an old cot, in my first permanent chicken coop.
Recycled, wooden babies cot - 2008
Of all the livestock you can keep, chickens are probably the easiest. But they're also the most prone to predators. So whatever accommodations you make, ensure they are offered as much protection as possible.
I have no experience with keeping larger livestock, such as goats, sheep, pigs or cattle. Simply because most of our energies and resources, have been spent, creating flat land. If you have the land though, and can dedicate some resources to keeping larger livestock - the same practice of limitations apply.
Gold Lace Wyandotte pullet - 2009
Start by setting up a few animals, successfully, at first. Be conservative with building accommodations, but also make sure it's secure. Any design, which can incorporate free feed options, should be considered too. Even with a permanent coop, we have found pigeon peas to be an excellent, no hassle, free feed, for our chickens. So we incorporate them around our chicken coops and gardens. If you don't have the climate for pigeon peas, try growing easy greens instead.
Free feed can also be found, by giving chickens: garden weeds, fruit 'n veg past their prime, including the offcuts and their seeds. Even your leftover dinner scraps will do. Clean a roasting tray of fat, by using a piece of bread instead of kitchen towels, and give it to your chickens. They will love it. Ours do.
Barnevelder pullet and cockerel - 2009
By placing most of your effort on being conservative with your resources though, it will be an easier venture to manage over the life of it. Being enthusiastic about keeping livestock is great. Just avoid creating such an enormous chore, it starts taking away most of your time and resources. Especially, as you will be busy setting up, other aspects of your property.
So with that in mind, keep the numbers of animals, in check too. Make sure its only what you can afford to keep, and what you can realistically manage. Otherwise it could become a wasted venture, in the end. Only succeeding at delaying you, from reaching the goal of permanency.
Black Australorp Rooster - 2012
Don't be surprised if (like us) you have to reassess what you're doing, and change things to suit your circumstances. You haven't failed at keeping animals. The compass is set to keeping the land viable, under your tenure, is all. Only you can give yourself, the flexibility to achieve that.
While I've enjoyed sharing some photos of my old Heritage Breeds, in this post, don't be tempted to think, I got my money's worth. Not as it turned out. Because as gorgeous as all those birds were (I loved each and every one) at the end of the day, it was easier to just go with whatever bird was affordable, and preferably (in the case of roosters) free. Because it's only over time and compounded effort, the real cost is accounted for.
ISA Brown x Leghorn cockerel - 2016
17 weeks old (free)
My hat goes off, to anyone who does dedicate their time to breeding heritage chickens, however. There's nothing wrong with that vocation, if you're set up for it. We had a lot more work, it turned out, setting up our property from scratch, than I initially anticipated. Which is why I eventually went with, whatever was the most cost effective approach.
There is no, good - bad equation to keeping chickens. Heritage Breeds. Cross Breeds. Or any other livestock, for that matter. Just remember to put what works for the land (and your efforts, setting up) first. Because that is what will keep the wheels of your entire venture, running, well into the future.
For one final bit of inspiration, I wanted to share a short 3 minute video, demonstrating a chicken coop, being made from pallets. It showcases what is possible with cheap (often free) materials. Or you can visit their website for more detailed information. All freely shared.
I saw it coming, as soon as "Gobbles", our adopted baby brush turkey, bonded to our Matriarch chicken. Gobbles, who is essentially a wild turkey, would start to see our cultivated areas as a personal smorgasbord. And why not? We try to improve the soil here, so all the bugs move into it.
Under the mandarin tree
Baby brush turkey's grow fast! Especially when they're eating plenty of their natural diet. But it has caused a dilemma for our garden, as they're digging up everything. I was expecting they would, but hoping they wouldn't.
Someone's been digging
Both Gobbles and Matriarch (our lone free-range chicken, who cannot live with the rest in the coop) are as bad as each other. Matriarch didn't use to scratch as much, until Gobbles showed her how it was done.
Only problem is, they were destroying ground covers I was attempting to establish around our new retaining wall. That had to come to an end. So I was forced to take drastic measures.
Ugly, but effective
Old milk crates and ice-cream buckets from David's workplace, are now adorning parts of our garden. I've also placed down some heavy rocks in other areas. Their legs aren't strong enough to scratch up the rocks.
Other protective measures
I'm grateful for the old logs I moved to this area recently too. It has prevented a lot of scratching around the ground cover I had. While it hasn't eliminated scratching completely, the logs certainly make it more challenging to get to the plants I nurture. Which has all the bugs, I'm sure, because the ground is a little more moist than anywhere else.
Self-spreading, garden fertiliser
I much prefer it when both of these free-range fowl, find more natural areas to scratch around in. That's where their scratching and manure will do our garden the most benefit. But those are the risks you take with free range fowl. We just have to be a little clever with blocking them out of the areas we don't want them in.
I expect baby Gobbles, the brush turkey, will be calling this place home indefinitely. And I won't be doing anything to be rid of them permanently. In fact, Gobbles perches on a tree near the house at night. I'd miss Gobbles if I didn't see them attempting to dart for cover in foliage, the minute they saw me. I've gotten used to the sound they make in the scrub. It's different to quails and kangaroos, who can also move around. We can't always see them, but we can hear them.
The benefit of free-range fowl, is they can improve your soil - you've just got to limit their access sometimes. Not always easy, because they're so good at what they do!
On the plus side, this is the first year we've actually seen brush turkey's move into our backyard. Their habitat are normally rainforest areas. They need that kind of environment to build their mounds/nests and incubate their young. So we're improving conditions on our land from dry, arid, to dry rainforest. So all our swales, and blocking the waterways with light debris, and more, is working.
