Keeping Chickens and their benefits to the garden

I watch mine a lot also and have noticed they really enjoy eating the flower petals from chicory plants. The great thing about chicory is it is extremely drought tolerant , some consider it a roadside weed. Bees love it and so do the chickens so it a winner in my book.

5 Likes

Ehyy thanks for that I deff see these plants often might have to try to seed the run with them !

2 Likes

all overflo veggies get chopped up and froze for winter months. The birds will reward you with nice numbers of good tasting eggs even in winter!

10 Likes

I ordered some chicks that were supposed to hatch on the 28th and arrive shortly after but I got the call this morning from the post office to come get my birds :grin: I could hear them from outside :rofl:image

12 Likes

If I had a chicken like that I’d have to take up fly tying. Fly fishing is such a strong tradition around this area that I think that bird would be bald within a week LOL. Beautiful bird. What kind is it? Heck, toss the whole thing in and maybe catch a biggin!:rofl::joy:
Great thread @Heritagefarms. Really thinking about getting some chickens lately. I was watching a video that mentioned those little chickens are great parents

6 Likes

@Heritagefarms
Seen this little gem gonna plant it today see how she goes !


7 Likes

This reminds me I have quite a bit of extra zucchini and cabbage at the moment they would probably love in the winter , great idea :grin:
@Rabeats2093 im going to have to get me a giant bag of that , I like the idea of chicken specific seed mix .

3 Likes

.my defoliation disposal system

13 Likes

We have a bunch of morning glories and tomatoes from the nearby compost pile climbing the chicken fence which is going to be a treat . We there a bunch of vegetable scraps zucchini guys cucumber guts and ends. They had the whole pile gone …great summer treat I haven’t planted those chicken mix because I’m not sure how long it takes for everything to grrow out and it being August I’m hesitant!
I would like to just have the chicken fence perimeter get grown over with tomatoes blackberries …I gotta get sunflowers going next year …
Sorry I could go on and on

To get a bag of .perennial chicken seed would be the bees knees !

Isn’t it crazy how our rooster that just started crowing a month ago crows when we go near the outdoor plants …
Good bird

11 Likes

I got some of the chick mix myself and am trying to decide if I want to plant now or in the spring, I have long summers here so I’m leaning towards now.
Also working on installing this sense all my birds dependably go in before dark

5 Likes

Awesome I have seen these
My only question is what if a bird fails to make it in on time !?
I would love to have them for morning as well !
“Sow the land “ is a very good network to follow !
So cool you searched and found the chicks mix …two more months till frost here so imma Wait till spring Have big plans inspired by this thread …
So far we have unannounced cherry tomatoes growing along the chicken fence also morning glories as well …
I have done some thinking since our chickens absolutely love blackberries
Keeps me on good terms with the rooster lol …I would like to eventually make a bramble fence for the chickens ?
Sound logical

1 Like

Well the bird would be stuck out but you can set it to close up to 15 min after nightfall and my birds are always in the coop a good 30 minutes before that. I’m more interested in the opening in the morning aspect, I can’t always get to work super early to let them out. I’ll definitely watch it work for a few nights before I trust it. It gets very cold where I live so I will be there in the evening during the winter months to make sure it’s closed up. You can also set it on a delay for opening so it’s not open first thing in the morning on winter days. If I have to much issue with winter operation I might just rely on it for the summer months when the days are long and I’m super busy.

2 Likes

@Rabeats2093 hey boss I installed one of these 7 years ago… Not one issue ever. You won’t be upset with this choice and the chicken absolutely love it. Never had one not figure it after one or two days. Ill take pics when it gets light out. Very convenient. I have some other hacks for “hand off chicken raisin” ill be back with pics

4 Likes

Deff interested it would save a chore that’s a plus especially when I’m leaving at 430 almost before the rooster crows haha

1 Like

So I’ve been waiting to post untill the results were going in a positive direction but about ten days ago one of my hens who is around 17 weeks old starting to get curled toe paralysis very bad and was becoming unable to walk. This is often caused by a riboflavin deficiency that starts off in the mother and and is passed on to her hatchlings. There born deficient so they grow slower and get out competed for food making the deficiency worse and then this shows up, normally in there first two weeks so I wasent sure this would work. I decided to splint the foot in a way that would hold it open with the toenails sticking out , put her on riboflavin boosters and left it for on 8 days. She is now she is walking with a open foot again :grin: The riboflavin effects the nerve endings that control the foot and they can quickly atrophy and become permanently stuck closed , I got nerve problems I wonder would riboflavin help :thinking:
image

18 Likes

Well done. Just well done.

3 Likes

and we have the first confirmed kill at 20 months.

7 Likes

nice job doggies!

2 Likes

Do you think ducks would be as good? Comparable or wayyy different? Ducks would fit a lot better in our half acre I’m thinking… I’m nit opposed to chickens tho… glad to see others doing the same things I was thinking about… we want a few goats eventually as well… possibly rabbits first though…

Wow that looks like a great way to feed/excercise the chicks and help keep the pests at bay!

Learning a lot this morning…

I enjoy your threads guys! Keep up the good work +

3 Likes

Ducks are great foragers. We have 6 and there are NO ticks by the pond.

3 Likes