Starting Out

[Karen]

So, it's me again, probably the most novice-y novice around these parts!!! Our girls are growing everyday; they look big, strong and healthy. SO exciting! They've moved outside permanently now, although they're still in a make-shift wire enclosure with a bird breeding box/perch for their night time roosting! The enclosure is 1.22m x 1.22m and we have 6 chooks in it. We're also letting them out for a bit everyday, and they're gradually getting more confident and starting to explore the yard! Yay! :)

I've currently got the enclosure on a patch of grass that will probably become a no-dig garden eventually. They're just on the grass, but I was thinking of putting some straw down on the ground for them, thinking that this could then be used as part of a no-dig bed once it's full of chook poo etc. Sound like a good idea?

Also, we've finally cleared our enormous patch of giant noxious weeds (green cestrum) from the area that will be the permanent chook house & yard. The ground is now just bare dirt. What can I do to improve the area, before the chooks go there (we're still building the coop). I imagine it will only be a few weeks, but I'm thinking there might be something I can do so that they don't just go straight on to bare dirt. I read somewhere about growing a green crop of some kind?

Looking for advice and suggestions (again!!)

Karen

[Vicki Hill]

Ooo! You've got my brain ticking over now Karen! I have 3 bantams who, up until recently, I've kept in a 'tractor. I've just moved them into a makeshift run over an old vege plot and I was planning on making up a more permanent (lightweight) run that would be half the size of the plot and I would move it backwards and forwards every few months in between harvests. You've got me thinking now though ... we have a large area in the back (nor-east) corner of our property that is full of wandering dew, ivy and convovulus with a beautiful, huge peach tree smack bang in the middle of it. I've been wracking my brain trying to work out how to clear the area of all the weeds so I can plant. I didn't want to spray so - enter goat. He did a great job but got too noisy when he ran out of weeds to eat so he's been adopted out. I'm wondering though, whether I could make a large pen for the chooks and put them in there. Hopefully someone reading your post will know whether they would be ok exposed to those plants and whether they would clear them!

To answer your question (as best I can as I'm learning too!) - the straw sounds like a great idea. The garden I have them on at the moment had hay mulch - bad move on my part as it sprung up lots of weeds but they seem to be enjoying scratching around in it and finding bugs that have gone looking for cover.

As for a green crop for the new area, my chooks love chickweed and it is a good 'establishing' green crop (you might have noticed it popping up in all sorts of places where there is bare soil). From my experience it tends more towards shady spots but I've had it grow in a few sunnier areas as well. I'm lucky that I haven't had to sow it anywhere, it just seems to pop up by itself, but if you have some on your property you could have a go at collecting the seed or shaking some plants over the area? Either that or you could throw some mustard greens on there ... you can get big bags of seed from garden centres as green manure. It grows quite fast so you'd at least have some decent sprouts there for them.