North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Joe and Ellen Hecksel <jhecksel@voyager.net>]

Don Yellman wrote:

> Rondi:
>
> At the risk of trying to change your fowl habits,


We never raised turkeys.  We have had ducks and chickens.

Like Don, I have a personal affinity for ducks.  Maybe because they walk 
like drunken sailors.   Maybe it is because they are not as peckish as 
chickens.  Unfortunately, we do not have a pond and the neighbor does. 
We lost our ducks when my wife reclaimed the kid's wading pool.  I don't 
know why she wanted it...it was pretty fertile looking.  Another upside 
to ducks is they don't scatter your mulch the way chickens will.  I 
thought I was on to something when I mulched with big chunks of bark. 
The smallest pieces were the size of the back of your hand.  No dice. 
The chickens redecorated the lawn with them as they scratched for slugs, 
worms, pill bugs, etc.

We also had several flavors of chickens that free ranged the property. 
The lighter weight breeds are most likely to perch in trees and merrily 
take a peck out of each fruit.  Aracanas or "production" RI Reds are the 
lightest breeds of chicken I would consider keeping in an orchard.  I 
would not even consider them except for the fact that they seem well 
adapted to free range and are pretty good at fending for themselves.  It 
is a bit of a dilemma;  good fliers and birds that have the instinct 
(and ability) to roost in high places are capable of flying into 
canopies of apple trees.

Regarding breed size:  I have no experience with Bantams.  They might be 
less capable of excavating chunky mulch and maybe are less likely to 
peck hanging fruit.  I am interested in hearing from anybody who has 
experience with Bantam breeds (of chickens) in the orchard.


--
-Joe Hecksel
My personal web site: http://my.voyager.net/~jhecksel