permaculture

["georg parlow" <georg@websuxxess.com>]

hi daniel:

> I would like to hear expierences from people using ducks, geese or
chickens
> for weeds control (especially grasses), pest control, fertilizering and
bed
> preperation.

i had great successes with runner ducks in the vegetable garden against
zillions of slugs (in austria, with huge spanish red slugs) - only after a
couple of months, when the slug sluppy started to run really low, they
deleaved my climbing beans as far as they could reach - so i guess as long
as their protein food is sufficient, they are compatible.

in west australia i once used 4 kaki campell ducks for fertilizing a small
fish pond stocked with koi, worked fine for a while, until the neighbours
dog killed one duck after the other. against night predators i had a fine
construction (take a look at
http://permakultur.net/texte/huhn/enten.html#entestall ), but the darn dog
came during the day. when it came for the third duck i saw the dog and
realized where the problem came from. i was then keeping guard for 2 or 3
days until it came for the last, but unfortunately i am such a bad shot -
missed the bugger.

also used chicken-tracktors for turning rather dry wasteland (also in west
australia) into gardenbeds - 4 chooks on approx 5 square meters - worked
like a charm.

georg