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Subject: Market Farming
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- From: "Marlin Burkholder" <glenecofarm AT planetcomm.net>
- To: "Market Farming" <market-farming AT franklin.metalab.unc.edu>
- Subject: Re: Use of chickens to enrich soil.
- Date: Wed, 28 Aug 2002 20:22:38 -0700
Hi Franklin,
I keep around 50 chickens in a 10' x 12' trailer
mounted range shelter surrounded by 225' of electrified poultry netting in
my 2 acre market garden during the winter months. Moved about
once weekly, I can pretty much cover the entire garden area with the
foraging chickens til spring. In addition to making their little
contribution to garden fertility, they do a decent job of breaking down old
mulch and garden residue, and cleaning up overwintering pest insects, especially
grubs. Since I started parking my chicken shelter along my raspberry rows
for a few weeks every winter, I have seen a noticeable reduction in Japanese and
Colorado potato beetle pressure during the summer months, enough so to make it
unnecessary to spray or spend much time trying to physically remove these
pests. I like to start around 75 new chicks in December, get them out to
the garden in a pasture poultry pen in March, and add them to the flock in
late April or early May just as they begin to lay. Then as the garden and
adjacent hay field begins to really take off, they all go out to the cow
pasture behind the house to scatter cow piles and to do their little thing to
build up pasture fertility, to reduce the cattle fly pressure, and to feed the
red tailed hawks. Typically I begin the season with around 125-130 hens and end
up the season with around 100 after the summer's predation and hot weather
casualties. I then sell off or eat the oldest half of my flock and carry
the rest over winter to keep my household and a few dedicated "on farm" egg
customers supplied until the new bunch kicks in with fresh pullet eggs once the
new farmers' market season is up and rolling.
Marlin Burkholder
Virginia
|
-
Use of chickens to enrich soil.,
Franklin W. Davis, 08/13/2002
- <Possible follow-up(s)>
- Re: Use of chickens to enrich soil., Marlin Burkholder, 08/28/2002
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