How can we be throwing away so much chicken food? OK not really throwing away, but feeding to the composter. Which is good but not nearly as satisfying as watching a bevy of biddies TEAR into a fresh pile of kitchen scraps with a gleam in their eyes.
I have missed my chickens so much! That’s one of my favorite Buckeye gals (below) from Larrapin West. I think they are the number one most practical tool for the gardener: for breaking up scraps and garden waste for composting, breaking up straw for mulch, de-seeding hay for mulch, eating weeds you pulled, making eggs, eating any bug they can catch, de-grassing any area you put their pen over (such as a future garden bed), adding rich manure to your compost pile, and on and on. I enjoy letting them in the late fall garden (with large plants only) for short periods to hunt for bugs and grubs settling in for winter..they thought!
All that without even mentioning the cheery company and constant commentary they add to working in the garden if their pen is nearby. I highly recommend having the chicken yard right next to your garden so you can toss fresh-pulled weeds (and japanese beetle grubs) right over the fence. It’s a rollicking non-zombie apocalypse in both cases.
So of course chicks are on the way! I ordered an assortment due to be shipped on April 30th. The farmstead will start to feel really real once there are chickens here. After that, the kitchen scraps will go to the composter…but not before the chickens get it good and ready. Can’t wait.
One Comment
You pointed me to Geoff Lawton’s website – did you see his video about a chicken tractor with a compost trailer behind it? Fabulous idea!