We finally finished the chicken tractor that I meant to have done last fall. And when I say we I mean my wonderful husband who finally got tired of tripping over the supplies that I had strategically left in the way in the garage. That technique serves me well.
Guess What? Chicken Butt.
Last fall I had planted some cover crops in the beds. One I was really hopeful about because it was billed as chicken foraging blend. although everything died back in December except for the clover. I’m working on my own version now that I know what went into this and I’ll plant it in the orchard and around the backyard where it won’t tie up valuable garden beds and the chickens can free range it.
I also planted some oats and wheat grass. Apparently the oats were summer oats and they up and died at the first sign of frost but the wheat grass is so long now that the girls had a hard time making a dent in it. I had to help them somewhat by pulling it out and laying it on top of the ground so the plants can start to die back and I can work it in to the soil. But of course as soon as I did that it started raining again so even a week later the grass looks just as lush as the day I pulled it out. Plan C may be just throwing it in the compost pile and covering it up or throwing it right into the chicken run and not letting them out for a day or two until they’ve worked it over for me.
I based the chicken tractor on Patti the Garden Girl’s design, making it from 1″x1″s and just the right size to sit inside the raised beds. I love her style and she has lots of interesting ideas on her site.
All winter long I’ve been throwing garden scraps and kale stems into the chicken run. I cover the ground with sweet alfalfa hay once every few weeks which the chickens love to eat and after two weeks that has already broken down from their incessant scratching and turned to compost. They do amazing work! By late spring we’ll let them out once the grass is established again and I’ll rake the top several layers of compost from their run to add to use as the bottom layer of my compost pile.
The compost pile itself is located in the northwest corner of our lot just behind the chicken house. There I put the largest biomass from the garden, chopped up. Things like sunflower stems and brussel sprout stems, large leaves, grass clippings, leaves from our deciduous trees and squash shells. Every few weeks I open the back door of the coop and rake out all the wood shavings and poop right onto the pile. I cover the whole thing with old burlap coffee bags.
Somehow over the course of the winter the pile has shrank way down and the bottom layer is already dirt without any effort on my part. It’s in the perfect spot protected by a thick laurel shrub and covered by a large conifer so that spot stays fairly dry and the layering seems to be the perfect mix of wet and dry for the compost to get busy. In another month I’ll rake that pile aside to finish breaking down further over the summer and start a new 2010 pile next to it.
I also have some small garbage cans sank halfway into the ground with worm holes drilled in. Into these go my smaller kitchen scraps, egg shells, coffee grounds and whatnots. When it gets too wet I put a layer of dry wood shavings from the coop on top to keep the fruit flies at bay. The worms and potato bugs move in to break down those scraps as well, although this seems to take longer but there is less loss from the pile since it doesn’t wash away in the rain. And these are secure so if I have things like tomatoes I can put them in these lidded cans without fear that I am feeding the rats.
Finally indoors I have a worm bin. I meant for it to go under the kitchen sink but then I read that they don’t like vibration. They would have been living just left of the dishwasher and under the grain grinder, which is akin to living right under a train station. I moved them into the living room instead where they live quite happily until I get too close with the vacuum cleaner and then they try to escape. I later find them dried and shriveled somewhere on their way to freedom.
These worms get really small kitchen scraps and travel frequently. They love children and participate in science fairs and classrooms talks about urban gardening. They can’t be bothered for photographs or autographs. They are a little snooty and like to be left alone. The do, however, make lovely dark worm castings. And the chickens find them tasty should they multiply too quickly.
Here some red wigglers are making short work of a tomato.
You can see how many decisions I have when cleaning the kitchen. Do the scraps go to the chickens, worms, dog, small compost or large compost? It makes doing the dishes fun and challenging, but difficult to delegate.
It is my ardent desire (and vague obsession) to build a composting outdoor system for dog poop as well. Someday all “outputs” here will either be useful or at least not fill the garbage can. Now that we have these great compost systems in place and don’t buy packaged food we have such a small amount of garbage that it really is predominantly made up of dog poop which gets encased in plastic bags that I borrow from friends since we no longer have shopping bags. Someday though, I’ll come up with an above ground doggie dooley
I hope you have enjoyed this little tour of worm poop, chicken poop and other scraps that go into the building of the soil for the garden beds. Because remember, one chicken's poop is a gardener's treasure.
I just wanted to let you know that I’m very impressed with all that you’re squeezing out of you lot and it looks beautiful. Well done! Your neighbors and those that pass by must stop and gaze in envy. I can only imaging what they’re thinking.
I do believe in the importace eating our own food and being as local as possible. We have 12 acres, garden, orchard, chickens, sheep (3 rams) and three kids(children). It’s work, but when I put the food on the table I know my kids are lucky. They might not realize it yet but when they go off to college and are eating on their own they’ll remember our dinners and the good food they were treated to. Best thing for me is NO PLASTIC is wrapped around the food.
Keep up the AMAZING work. I would love to see a picture of the whole set up one day. Back yard, from and your orchard.
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I love posts like this. All the little details that go into living one’s life are so easily taken for granted. You really seem to think of everything!
Hi Sandy,
You are so sweet – I’m hoping once I get the garden under control I can do a little you tub tour. I’ll be having an open garden probably in about 4 weeks once the arbors are done and some things have leafed out but of course you probably don’t want to pay for a plane ticket to attend.
Julia, I think about poop a lot. Two young kids, one hairy dog, 5 chickens and a bucket of worms. I never thought poop would be such a big part of my life. I’m glad you are feeling better!
LOVE LOVE LOVE this chicken tractor. I’ve been wanting one similar to fit over my raised beds. HM, I think I can make it not look like a chicken house so I can get around the poultry ban in our neighborhood.
That is just awesome…poo is so useful for our gardens! I just got done cleaning out the camel house, now I have enough poop to cover all of my melon and squash patches!
Thanks so much for linking up over at NDiN…this was a super useful post for a chicken owner like me! Kim
Sounds like you are feeling better. Yay!
I really like your compost cans. Neat and very efficient. I’ve been tossing most of the dry pulp from the veg&fruit juicing into a pile about 100 ft from the house. Right now it is just a pile of very colorful frozen mess, with pineapple tops and all that.
However, I’m thinking that this may attract bears (yes, there’s a black bear den about a mile from here and for the past three years a big momma has been visiting my neighbor, the one who hardheadedly insists on hanging out bird feeders in early spring, when the bears happen to be the hungriest!
). Soooo… I’d better find a way to hide this mountain of goodies before they find it. I have a couple of tubs of ashes (from the wood stove), maybe I’ll use that.
I’m looking at that raised bed you have, full of beautiful greens. Wonderful juicing material. Yum.
(Power came back Sunday evening. Cable/Internet just a few hours ago – amazing how many things can get done when my Internet is down. Sigh…)
Almost forgot to mention: I made a chicken/leek/eggplant quiche with your shortbread pastry dough and it turned out d-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s!, it being sweet and all. Loved it!
Chiot’s Run, we aren’t supposed to have chickens here either but I talked to my neighbors and all the kids love coming to look at my zoo.
IF – you really have a camel? Wow. Where are you at?
Auburn, I feel like a new person. Not quite my old energetic self yet but I think when my ribs heal I’ll be there. Definitely do NOT attract bears. I’m not so sure these little cans will keep a bear out but it does work great for my rats and racoons.
I love the chicken tractor and the chickens
Great compost system. I need to get ours up and running again.
Quick question: You’ve mentioned before that you freeze pre-cooked beans to make quick dinners. Do they thaw with much change to their texture? Any hints on how to freeze them or is it a simple cook then freeze? I’ve switched to only dry beans now but am looking for a quicker way to get last minute meals together. Thanks!
Wonderful chicken tractor! And cute little chicken butts too!
I have wanted to do a worm bin but I know I would be struggling with the decisions of “worm bin or compost pile” daily. I will settle for lots of worms in my older cold compost piles. I do have an extra garbage can though that I think I may either punch holes into and turn into a below ground composter OR turn it into a tumbling composter. Been toying with the idea for a while now but your post has me feeling inspired to act.
Good work – everything looks nice!
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I built a dog poop composter similar to your garbage can worm bins. If you put in some enzymes (something like rid x) and keep it wet, it breaks down pretty nicely. I wouldn’t add it to my gardens, but at least you don’t have to plastic wrap it. Better yet, if you take your dog hiking in the woods, he can do his business au naturel and you don’t have to dispose of it.
Angela that’s awesome! do you have a post about it? I can’t do that here since the soil is too wet and doesn’t drain so mine needs to be above ground.