I need a chicken/garden topic...help!

[MontyJ]

I know! I can't help it! I have 3 grills and 1 smoker on the back deck and every time I walk outside I can smell them. I also have another big smoker in the back yard and another grill in the barn. I can't get away from it! I picked up one of the Cornish X chicks this morning and my mouth started watering. I actually caught myself looking at the hibachi grill

 

[vfem]

Build a frame in the run and cover it with wire. They can eat the stuff that grows through but cant get at the roots to kill it.

Similar to the first, I built a frame to fit over my strawberries and covered that with wire. That stopped the chickens from scratching the strawberry plants up while digging through mulch and stopped them from eating my strawberries.

I built a fence around my blueberries to keep the chickens out so I could get some blueberries. Keeps the deer out too.

For lack of anything better to call it, build a tractor that fits over your raised beds. Keep chickens in there to kill the vegetation and fertilize it; preparing it for planting.

Maybe putting a bale of wheat straw in the run so they can rip it apart. Theyll eat a lot of the seeds that are left over after threshing and their scratching it apart will thresh it even more. Then use that as mulch. I find it easier to use with the flakes torn apart.

If you allow your chickens to have access to your compost, they will rake it for you. But build high sides so they dont scatter it all over the place.

No only did I write about this, but we designed one and we sell the plans online to make it! hahaha Maybe I could write a topic about it and try to push sales on that at the same time?

http://www.mypetchicken.com/catalog...cken-Run-Raised-Bed-Building-Plans-p1248.aspx

Monty, You've been talking about grilling and food to much... you're making me drool lately!

Nyboy, I was thinking bug control as a great topic!

 

[MuranoFarms]

Are you growing fodder for your chickens? That seems to be a hot topic.
Seasonal uses of chickens in the garden.....it's time to let them pick the beds clean of old seeds and bugs for spring planting.
Growing vegetable plants for feed (I relocate volunteer tomato plants to a separate garden)
Growing greenhouse leaf lettuce for winter greens.
Mulching beds with coop litter.
Watering with duck pond water (don't know if you have quackers too)
Fencing to protect garden from too much chicken fun

Hmm, I'm sure I can think of more. lol Can you post your blog link? Thanks!

 

[canesisters]

No only did I write about this, but we designed one and we sell the plans online to make it! hahaha Maybe I could write a topic about it and try to push sales on that at the same time?

http://www.mypetchicken.com/catalog...cken-Run-Raised-Bed-Building-Plans-p1248.aspx

vfem.... Is Mypetchicken yours???? THAT is SOO COOL!!! I haunted that site making shopping/wish lists before I heard about the gilmanor swap.

have to add... when I wrote that first sentance it said "are you my pet chicken" and I cracked myself up

 

[Mell62]

How about a fodder wheel (like ferris wheel)..I've got the idea in my head, now to figure it out. My girls cant free range right now, still working on the border collie. Figure some sort of rotating wheel for the outside in the pen when it warms up. Then moving it into the greenhouse for the winter months. The fodder would be watered from the top to rotate,water bin on bottom. A lock pin on the side, so you can move the edibles to the bottom for the chicks/ducks to munch on...Just started on fodder, only 1/3 thru the BYC article. This would be a small scale operation, as I have 4 hens, 2 chicks, 2 ducks...at least right now. The other idea is hanging planters along the fence, high enough that the hens cant get to it, and plant things like nasturium, sweat peas...They would drape down for munching, letting a few grow up on chain link for human use. :rainbow-sun

 

[vfem]

No only did I write about this, but we designed one and we sell the plans online to make it! hahaha Maybe I could write a topic about it and try to push sales on that at the same time?

http://www.mypetchicken.com/catalog...cken-Run-Raised-Bed-Building-Plans-p1248.aspx

vfem.... Is Mypetchicken yours???? THAT is SOO COOL!!! I haunted that site making shopping/wish lists before I heard about the gilmanor swap.

have to add... when I wrote that first sentance it said "are you my pet chicken" and I cracked myself up

Hahahaha... NO, it is not mine!

I just work for them and write for their blog, which is why I need the topic. After all you guys' help I was actually able to start 3 new topics, so I have several weeks of posts in the works thank goodness.

You should read the blog, its all written by the employees so there is a lot of diversity about what actually gets published.

Mell62, I just saw a GREAT article about creating portable chicken tunnels you can shift around in the garden and they can just walk through the tunnels where you want them to go. Then you can take it apart and move it into a different pattern and you need them you go to a different area. It looked awesome! I just couldn't stop picturing how I would tear my hands up trying assemble all that wire paneling! lol

 

[Smart Red]

but chickens are so multi use in the garden,.

I had my potato plants fenced in. I collected a dozen or so Colorado Potato Beetles but someone must have gotten past me and laid eggs. Once I saw the little larva, I let a couple of chickens into the potato beds. Within the day the chickens had eaten all the beetles.

I toss all the weeds I remove from the garden to the chickens. Also all the bad bugs I find. They are happy, I am happy.