permaculture

[YankeePerm@aol.com]

In a message dated 10/9/97 9:33:52 AM, askpv@ozemail.com.au (April
Sampson-Kelly) wrote:

>The difference between strip farming with poultry free range in between the
>strips
>and actually using tractors-  is the concentration of birds on the soil,
>this concentration can quickly denude an
>area which is open to weed seed or your seed.  
>This is desirable for intensive beds but may be a unnecessary for large
>scale farming. 
>When I use the chickens in a small concentration here I am left with woody
>plants and sedges and a mix of less tasty plants (tasty for hens) but there
>is a wider control of pests such as insects, caterpillars, slugs and
>snails.
>For orchard maintenance you could use 100 birds to the acre [Mollison] it
>all depends on how much understorey or ground cover
>there is for the birds to eat.
>The greatest risk is soil loss and permaculture is about upmost soil and
>water conservation.
>
>I would consider the options with the least amount of management and energy
>for you, the farmer.
>
>
>Permaculture is really about observation and confidence in trying things, 
>Why not divide the birds up into a couple of test runs,
>and find what really works for you, then hopefully you'll be kind to share
>it with us.


This is very similar to what I do with poultry.  The 100 birds per acre thing
is obviously questionable--breed, climate, soil, and vegetation type all are
factors that can raise or lower the threshold.  Morever, a much smaller
concetration of birds will denude the area around the water supply and the
coop.  I always put water supply under a favored tree and the area around the
coop gate is a good place to grow Opuntia spp for nopalis.  When we use
chickens FOR defoliation of an area, we continually add mulch, first because
it protects the soil and second, because it attractes invertebrates that
chickens then eat.  And you have mulch ready to plant through.  It needs to
be said, though maybe it is obvious, that when poultry are used to defoliate
they need supplemental feed.

I'm intereasted on hexagonal arrays for poultry forage with the coop and the
permanent deep mulch in the center hexagon and the foraging limited to one of
the adjacent hexagons (there are six more).  The outer permieter can be
circular to save a few percent on fencing.  Seven forage areas give plenty of
time for an area to recover.  Yet if, say an insect infestation crops up,
they can be let into any one forage area, immediately, without moving
anything.  In my view this system is not suitable for steep ground.  We are
seriously considering it for very lightly contoured land here where some
areas get flooded from time to time.  These would be in chicken-fallow.
 There is no reason not to grow grain for chickens in the forages when
chickens are out, or other crops and agroforestry naturally fits in.  My
chickens really don't like to come out from under the trees and I have wasted
grain trying to entice them into certain open areas to break up bovine manure
pats for fly control.  They just left the grain there, much to the delight of
the cardinals and other wild birds.

For Mother Earth, Dan Hemenway, Yankee Permaculture Publications (since
1982), Elfin Permaculture workshops, lectures, Permaculture Design Courses,
consulting and permaculture designs (since 1981), and now correspondence
courses via email.  Next starts in Oct. 1997. Internships available.
Copyright, 1997, Dan & Cynthia Hemenway, P.O. Box 52, Sparr FL 32192 USA
 YankeePerm@aol.com  

We don't have time to rush.