permaculture

[Permacltur@aol.com]

In a message dated 6/3/99 3:42:25 AM, permawest@olywa.net wrote:

<<So now, who out there has fiddled with the infamous fowl forage system 
(chicken, duck, goose, etc?  I'm not talking about "wouldn't it be nice" 
scenarios, I mean really matched up plant with bird to witness the results. 
 I've been fiddling with my own now for a few years, adding more plants 
each season and so on, and have collected a good bit of info. straight from 
observation.  However, I want to push the envelope of fowl forage 
construction.
        Can anyone tell me about types of plants that they've actually 
witnessed 
fowl picking away at?  Any insider, first-hand advice on constructing such 
peculiar systems?  Any wacko, nutz design ideas to share?

Thanks,

Kirk Hanson>>

Kirk: 
        with chickens, the challenge is to find something that the do NOT 
eat.  Then you can protect it from scratching.  And if it bears fruit, figure 
out a way to savage a fraction for your direct consumption.  So far, I have 
found that my chickens do not eat sage. I have seen them eating (green) oak 
leaves, blueberry leaves, oregano, banana (of course) leaves, ad infinitum.  
they do not eat my tea (Camelia sinensis) and feijoa plants.  Forget 
blackberry.  To date, I have not seen chickens eat conifers.  I imagine they 
will eat the winged pine nuts, etc., as well as the next bird.  Bear in mind 
that they have continuous grain in the poultry house and continuous bread 
(scrounged as waste) in the yard.
        Probably the most interesting thing that they   do is to wade into 
the water to eat aquatic life.  I never saw this before, but then I never 
raised chickens in a swamp before.  Of course the ultimate food for them is 
the duckweed that spontaneously grows here.  They will wade for it, if the 
water is nearby or if I am working further away.  (We have had a bit of a 
predator problem, and there are sectors where they will not go unless I am 
working there.)  
        I often use a pool net to harvest duckweed for the chickens.  I get 
many invertebrates as well,  tiny crustacea up to fresh water shrip and on to 
medium size crawdads, kind of the peanuts in the crackerjacks, insects (I've 
not seen the giant boatmen eaten), small fish (e.g. mosquito fish), 
mudpuppies, and I suppose tadpoles if they get any.  Like the aquatic and 
semi aquatic birds around here, which I suppose they emulate, they like to 
work advancing and receding water for the concentration of small food 
animals.  (I'd be happy to sell a hen to train your flock, but I don't know 
how we would ship it!).
        They DO NOT like to go into deep grass, except to hide when in 
stress, though even then they prefer brush.   To harvest insects in deep 
grass, just mow it.  Geese and ducks will harvest small roots (e.g. evening 
primrose) and tubers (e.g. chufa) as well.  Back when I was an unrepenitant 
tiller, they used to follow me like children after the pied piper as I 
rototilled the garden.  The first crank on the tiller brought a poultry 
stampeed:  chickens, ducks, geese.  The omnivores ate mainly invertebrates 
turned up while the geese worked the ground for root and tuber parts.  
        We have a back issue of TIPSY (well, they are all back issues), that 
has a poultry forage section.  If you like, I'll look it up for you.  We 
stillhave several cases of the journal on hand.

For Mother Earth, Dan Hemenway, Yankee Permaculture Publications (since 
1982), Elfin Permaculture workshops, lectures, Permaculture Design Courses, 
consulting and permaculture designs (since 1981), and annual correspondence 
courses via email.  Copyright, 1998, Dan & Cynthia Hemenway, P.O. Box 52, 
Sparr FL 32192 USA  Internships. YankeePerm@aol.com  

We don't have time to rush.

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