The latest issue of Backyard Poultry has a great article about how you can keep poultry for next to nothing in feed costs. Homesteaders know this, it's the way our great grandparents kept chickens. I really recommend this magazine to all backyard flocksters. I've been taking it for awhile, and learn something new in every issue. This particular article wasn't really something new for me, it just validated what I've been thinking all along. It also gave me ideas for how it can be done with limited space and freedom. As a gardener and nature-watcher, I understand how bio-diversity works. It's the key to successfully raising chickens on a natural diet. In this case, natural means for free.
I'm lucky that I have a lot of space and freedom. So much that I can even support multiple roosters. They have the room to work out their pecking order and room to avoid each other, and nobody cares if they crow. A large part of the yard is fenced with 5' chainlink, and one of the reasons I settled on bantam cochins is because they aren't likely to fly over that fence. As long as they stay inside the fence they're safe (nothing bigger than a rat gets in without Whipper knowing) and they have nearly unlimited natural food. They don't need much from me. I've set up roosts under the carport behind the rabbitry and that's where they spend the night, and they dash there when it rains. There's several bowls of water around the yard, for the birds as well as dog and cat. I do give them some daily feed. This is either laying pellets or cheap mixed birdseed with cracked corn. This is mostly as a treat to keep them tame and friendly. They get more during winter when insects aren't available, but here in the south, there's always something green and growing, and many ground-dwelling organisms are active all winter. My very 1st chicken was an obnoxious rooster who annoyed me so much, I quit feeding him at all in hope he'd just go away. He thrived in beautiful condition through all seasons and was as ornery as ever. I had to give him away to get rid of him.
So what's happening in my yard that makes it so perfect for chickens? I'm a perennial gardener and have extensive gardens all over the place. I've been landscaping since the day I moved here. Literally. I brought a lot of perennials from my MI garden, and they went in the ground almost immediately. Natural habitat has grown up all along the fence, and I don't care that it's untrimmed and messy. You can barely see the fence except at the gates and I like that. The lawn is not manicured in any way other than mowing it, and it's made up of a lot of different native plants. The gardens provide protective cover and shade for the birds. I don't use any chemicals or pesticides other than Round-Up to keep garden edges neat and eliminate the need to trim hard to mow areas. The diversity of plant life encourages a multitude of animal life...insects, worms, etc. I dump rabbit manure directly on gardens which invites more life. There's a lot going on in my yard. It's highly bio-active, and chickens fit right in.
So how can a flockster (love that word, I found it in BYP) with less space and freedom provide more natural "free" food for their birds? There's the obvious ways that can be found on most homesteading sites. But if you're not a flower gardener or nature-watcher like me, you might not think about bio-diversity. You should.
Someone in a limited situation might choose the chicken tractor method. A portable coop that gives the birds fresh pasture on a regular basis. This is a great option, but you have to think about the pasture underfoot. Mowed lawn is not going to provide much more than entertainment for the chickens. New grass, maybe a few bugs or worms but they will clean it out in no time, and if you leave them there long enough, you end up with a barren patch of ground that doesn't provide anything. Instead, think about how you can allow some overgrown areas. Let a patch the size of your coop go unmowed for a while. It needs time to develop a mini habitat, including letting plants go to seed. You could even seed the areas with self-sustaining forage such as grain or legume plants. I suggest at least 3 areas per coop. This works like a 3-stage compost bin. There's the "new" part, the "cooking" part, and the "done" part. When the birds have created a new part (depleted it), move them to the done part and let the others cook. In fact, these areas could also be used for composting. Throw all the things you would toss on the compost pile (including rabbit manure) in these areas instead. Decaying vegetation provides a lot of animal life for the pecking, and the birds work the compost pile for you.
If you have a vegetable garden, it could be part of the layout. Let some areas around the garden grow up, and do double duty as compost piles. You could even fence each area so you can just put your birds in a done part. You'd want to include shelter as part of a permanent layout. And of course, the garden itself can provide excellent foraging. You could build narrow runs that fit between rows and tractor them along. The birds will do the weeding. Toss the weeds they couldn't reach in the cooking parts. After the harvest, leave the garden debris right there and let the chickens have at it. Add finished compost from the working areas. They'll turn all that into rich soil for next year's garden, as well as adding their manure to the mix. You might not even need to till it...it's all done and ready to go in the spring. Free food for the birds, and other than moving the coop around, it's free labor for you.
Bio-diversity. Think about it. Chickens that are pastured to save feed costs need it.
tnt
