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Subject: permaculture
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- From: "Gerry Hawkes" <ghawkes@sover.net>
- To: "permaculture" <permaculture@franklin.oit.unc.edu>
- Subject: Re: Pasturing chickens
- Date: Tue, 6 Nov 2001 20:44:16 -0600
Title: Re: Pasturing chickens
Thanks Claude,
This is most helpful. I may not be able to do all that
you suggest, but will certainly aim toward a variety of plantings.
We have been totally free ranging our chickens on worn out
pasture and just confining them at night for their own safety.
They have been free to wander from the pasture to a wet wooded area
of alders and willows and actually spend about half their time in the wooded
area.
After years of thinking about upgrading the pasture, I am
finally getting to it and was thinking of reseeding to a mix of clovers come
spring, but thought I would ask around first. My definition of best is
multifaceted, meaning what is relatively easy to establish and maintain, builds
up the soil and provides good nutrition for the chickens.
Speaking of using peas for building the soil, I have been
using perennial Lathco flatpea to rebuild soil on another area of hillside
pasture that would only grow sparse grass before, but now grows flatpea so
densely that it is difficult to walk through. A few years ago I did a
non-chemical vegetation control demonstration project for Green Mountain Power
under their transmission lines in Waitsfield and had excellent success planting
flatpea in stands so thick that woody brush would not regrow.
About the most exciting and gruesome action I have ever seen
was when we (meaning the chickens, my daughter and I) discovered a nest of mice
in the winter chicken house.
Watching chickens sure is a fascinating activity. Back
about 14 years ago, when our son was only 2, our whole family was sitting on the
deck one Sunday afternoon just watching the chickens. We were sitting so
still that a spider spun down from the overhang right down onto my son's
head. Immediately he recited, "Little Miss Muffet sat on a
tuffet eating her curves away" . As you can see we had not taught him
cheese making (nor did we teach him this version of the nursery
rhyme).
Anyway, thanks again for taking the time to send me this
information.
- Gerry
-----Original Message-----
From: Claude Genest <genest@together.net> To: permaculture <permaculture@franklin.oit.unc.edu> Date: Tuesday, November 06, 2001 12:09 PM Subject: Re: Pasturing chickens Hi Gerry, |
-
Pasturing chickens,
Gerry Hawkes, 11/05/2001
- <Possible follow-up(s)>
- Re: Pasturing chickens, Foss _, 11/05/2001
- Re: Pasturing chickens, Rex Teague, 11/05/2001
- Re: Pasturing chickens, Xavier Dequaire, 11/06/2001
- Re: Pasturing chickens, georg parlow, 11/06/2001
- Re: Pasturing chickens, Claude Genest, 11/06/2001
- Re: Pasturing chickens, akbabic, 11/06/2001
- Re: Pasturing chickens, Gerry Hawkes, 11/06/2001
- Re: Pasturing chickens, georg parlow, 11/07/2001
- Re: Pasturing chickens, Xavier Dequaire, 11/08/2001
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