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  • From: Bill Jones <billj AT harborside.com>
  • To: Homestead mailing list digest <homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [Homestead] Chicken Scratching Run
  • Date: Fri, 05 Nov 2004 20:51:18 -0800

This is not a new idea, but I think I can add some to the thoughts of others. Someone had said a while back that chickens would derive endless entertainment from scratching over a mulch pile. I noticed one day that chickens were returning daily to the guinea pig litter that had spilled on the back porch.

Now, an outdoor mulch pile is not likely to have much in the way of insect life during winter, compared to summer. But guinea pigs have to be kept in a warm place, so their litter pans continue to evolve flies all winter long (thank goodness that now they just go right out the south door of the sun porch). I'm suggesting that it's possible to time the changing of the litter pans so that they're emptied just as larval development peaks, and the flies can emerge in the scratching run.

I'm picturing a sort of hallway on the shady side of the barn, sheltered from rain but well-ventilated and screened in. It could have a doorway at each end for dumping and removing organic material. It really needs a way for chickens to enter, perhaps a hole a couple of feet off the ground. In this way none of the "mulch" would be lost by chickens' scratching it in every direction.

It seems this would be an excellent device for feeding chickens during the winter, and at least it keeps them busy. It also allows the daytime production of chicken manure to be concentrated in one place, instead of here and there on the back stairs.

The other trick that can be used to get chickens to eat less desirable foods is to enclose them with the food in the morning, especially if that food is their only source of water. I've been able to get them to eat things like cooked parsnip peels this way, which are entirely nutritious and even rich in calories, but which they'll normally turn their nose up at.

Bill
S. Oregon coast





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