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Backyard Chooks
An Introduction To Keeping Chicken At Home
© Sustainable Gardening Australia 2012
This Workshop is
Developed by: Sustainable Gardening Australia
Presented by: Mount Alexander Shire
© Sustainable Gardening Australia 2012
Sustainable Gardening Australia
OUR VISION is for vibrant and sustainable communities and a healthy biodiverse planet OUR MISSION is to inspire, empower and connect individuals, communities and organisations to garden sustainably
© Sustainable Gardening Australia 2012
Your Presenter is Carey Priest
I am a small scale, free-range egg, beef & almond producer, running a Community Supported Agriculture venture on 30 Acres in Melton.
I am passionate about Permaculture, Organic Gardening & Farming, and am dedicated to regenerating degraded farm-scapes to produce great food whilst re-building soils & habitat.
I also manage the warehouse & construction for Very Edible Gardens (VEG) who are helping make Melbourne & surrounds more edible!
© Sustainable Gardening Australia 2012
CHOOKS! CHOOKS! CHOOKS!
Why keep backyard chickens?
Fresh eggs and great pets
Chickens help you to make your garden and keep it healthy
They work with you to convert waste into compost for your garden
A wonderful example of urban and backyard sustainability, giving you eggs on most days while helping control pests, diseases and weeds!
© Sustainable Gardening Australia 2012
Chickens are for LIFE!
Chickens require many of the same needs as any other Pet, Food, Water and Companionship.
Never gift chickens to an unknowing receiver who is not ready for them.
Build before you buy or breed. Get the house ready First!!
© Sustainable Gardening Australia 2012
Where do I start- Local Laws
Contact your local council for any specific laws that apply to your property or local area
Generally, 6 birds per family is acceptable with fencing perimeters kept clear by 1 metre.
© Sustainable Gardening Australia 2012
Where do I start - Housing
Moving or Static? Chook tractors or fixed Pens, Strawyards and Runs?
Use recycled + sustainable materials wherever possible
Consider edible living fences or plan your seasonal climbing frames to act as temporary pens.
© Sustainable Gardening Australia 2012
Designing the system
Photo Courtesy of Very Edible Gardens
© Sustainable Gardening Australia 2012
Designing the system
Photo Courtesy of Very Edible Gardens
© Sustainable Gardening Australia 2012
The Basic Needs Access to FRESH WATER
REGULAR if not DAILY food
Access to vitamins and minerals, bugs and grasses, dustbaths, weeds and safety perches and new to chook grazing zones
Warmth, and a clean , wind and manure free sleeping area
© Sustainable Gardening Australia 2012
Housing Pens, Strawyards and Runs? Whats the difference?
Pens are bedrooms
Strawyards are loungerooms Safehouses where roaming can occur that are fox, snake, bird and vermin proof
Runs are playtime areas or out and about areas for excercise and can be fixed, temporary. You can provide several across your back, side or front yards
© Sustainable Gardening Australia 2012
How is this done?
A Bed can be a clean warm box or an elaborate custom built hammock! Either way it must be out of the wind and free of manure.
Provide a large bowl or container for housing water, with a tap or hose very close by or on the irrigation system. NEEDS regular checking and cleaning
A pest free feeding area, feed your chickens not the neighbourhood!
© Sustainable Gardening Australia 2012
GET CREATIVE!
Take time to learn the basics then design the outcomes that suit you the best, Visually, Ergonomically and Practically.
Think, Experiment and Play! (then send us your creations for our website!)
© Sustainable Gardening Australia 2012
Chicken Tractors or Moving Pens
Chicken Tractors are mobile pens and strawyards in which chickens live and move across your landscape, OR spaces in which chickens are moved to temporarily, for specific garden / feeding reasons
Some have bedding, others dont
© Sustainable Gardening Australia 2012
Moveable day Spaces Moveable day spaces allow
you to move your chickens in a contained way across your patch as need be.
A Brilliant method of preparing soils for new crops by controlling pests
A Great addition to crop rotation systems
© Sustainable Gardening Australia 2012
A Strawyard enclosing a Pen
Photo Courtesy of Very Edible Gardens
© Sustainable Gardening Australia 2012
A Permanent Run attached to a
Strawyard with an enclosed Pen
© Sustainable Gardening Australia 2012
A Ready to move in Chook Heaven Ecosystem with multiple fruit trees, green manures and forage plants, Easily divided when neccessary. Preparation is Vital !
© Sustainable Gardening Australia 2012
Supplying Needs
Owning, renting or sharing?
Do I need chickens?
Do I have time and resources or am I better to share these resources?
Egg and food co-operatives. Can I access and share surplus in these ?
Neighbourly love, love thy neighbour!
© Sustainable Gardening Australia 2012
Food And Grazing Patterns EGGS NEED PROTEIN!!
Wheat , Millet, Corn, Sunflower Seeds, Soya Meal, Barley, the list goes on and on. Aim for at least 15% Protein in chicken foods
Commercial Food options are great and vast. Aim for Organically Certified and RSPCA Approved foods.
Gluten Free options. Eggs do not carry gluten, even if chickens are fed gluten full foods!!
Access to dolomite, kelp and shell grit for good shell quality
Access to diverse grazing crops such as weeds, lawn, oats, vetch, salad greens and for health and your food scraps for health and vitality.
Plant more food! Plant more food! Plant for friends. If grazing your flock, you will need to consider planting more for your feathered friends
© Sustainable Gardening Australia 2012
Kitchen Scraps Dont feed them mould!!
Kitchen Scraps should be fresh, exclude anti chicken foods such as coffee grounds and teabags, rhubarb and meat
Collect neighbours, kinders, or friends if you dont produce enough
Buy cheap seasonal fruit treats
© Sustainable Gardening Australia 2012
The Medicinal Cabinet
Plant medicinal herbs alongside
your chickens fenceline so that they can access medicines such as comfrey, rue, wormwood, silverbeet, tansy and yarrow as they require them!
As seasons and the birds age change so will herbal needs so dont be shy, plant a pharmacy!
Photo Courtesy of Very Edible Gardens
© Sustainable Gardening Australia 2012
Killer Foods!
Rhubarb leaves
Amaranth seed ( requires heat treatment )
Potatoe Sprouts or Green Peel
Crotalaria ( a common green manure )
Lily of the Valley
Hemlock
Black locust leaves
© Sustainable Gardening Australia 2012
Pests and Diseases
Foxes are ridiculously cunning!!
Foxes love to dig and a challenge!
Foxproofing your chickens means stopping all possible fox entry points with wire including underneath
© Sustainable Gardening Australia 2012
Pests and Diseases
RATS AND MICE Feed your chickens in the morning
Grandpa Feeders + hanging feeders
SNAKES Use a 10 -15mm snake
netting along all perimeters
Take your eggs daily
TICKS
Consider Using steel posts in known tick areas to prevent ticks nesting in timber
© Sustainable Gardening Australia 2012
Working together!
Let your Chickens do the work!!
Clean up pests and diseases under your fruit trees
Prepare Vege beds for you!
Scratch and ferment your soil
© Sustainable Gardening Australia 2012
Chicken or Chook? Breeds Common Breeds = Isa Browns, Australorp, Salmon
Faverolles, Rhode Island Red, Light Sussex, Coronation Sussex, Buff Sussex, Speckled Sussex, Lavender Aruacana, Plymouth Rock, Barnevelders, Welsummers, Campine Gold, Campine Silver, Gold Laced Wyandotte, Gold Pencilled Wyandotte, Silver Laced Wyandotte, Silver Pencilled Wyandotte, Buff Wyandotte, Buff Cochin, Yokohama, Legg and of course Bantams just to name a few!!
Common Friends = Consider Ducks , Geese or quail.
© Sustainable Gardening Australia 2012
Myth - Chickens are Messy! Most backyards can house chickens!
Most backyards may not allow for true farmlike free ranging systems. Move your chickens around your yard to imitate this.
Key to success to a no mess system is a no mess design, that deals with how to mobilise your mess and get it easily to where you need
Contain your chickens but allow free range like options. Allow for easy access to manures and composting material, daily eggs and cleaning.
© Sustainable Gardening Australia 2012
Myth- Chickens damage soil!
Chickens build, scratch and nurture soils, with your help and understanding.
However, keeping chickens in one place over extended time creates soil compaction, reduces microbiology of soil, and encourages diseases.
© Sustainable Gardening Australia 2012
Using the force!
Use chicken manure in your composts
Never handle manures without gloves or washing thoroughly of hands
Dont overuse chicken manure directly on established plants or at all on young seedlings
Use chickens to create potting mix!
Dont dance like a chicken in public!
© Sustainable Gardening Australia 2012
Eating Older Birds
It’s a personal choice.
You can easily soup or cook your older birds when they are ‘off the lay’.
Young Birds are normally eaten, older birds have a much more gamey flavour.
Check internet for detailed processes and information guides.
© Sustainable Gardening Australia 2012
Troubleshooting Ask Your local VET if you are ever
concerned about bird health
Look out for signs of disease or sickness, isolated birds, or birds not feeding or drinking
Local Poultry Groups, find who is in your area and ask lots of questions
Read and Research!
© Sustainable Gardening Australia 2012
LINKS + MORE Health and Legislation
Department of Primary Industries
Your local council
Local Poultry Groups
Local Farm shows and
backyardpoultry.com
rarepoultry.net
Chicken Systems - veryediblegardens.com
© Sustainable Gardening Australia 2012
Further Information
Healthy Gardens Healthy People
Healthy Environment
For extensive information on a wide range
of sustainable and waterwise gardening practices visit:
www.sgaonline.org.au
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