Lisa Steele - Gardening with chickens: plans and plants for you and your hens

Plans and Plants for You and Your Hens

LISA STEELE

Chickens and gardening go hand in hand. Both play an important part in being more self-sufficient and helping feed your family with what you can produce on your own land with your own two handsand each complements the other beautifully. A garden can provide your chickens with lots of nutritious, inexpensive treats to supplement their regular feed and save you money, while their activities in the garden can help it thrive. They instinctively love scratching for bugs, loosening the dirt, and eating weeds, not to mention providing free fertilizer.

The recent movement toward a simpler way of life has caused both gardening and chicken keeping to gain favor throughout many segments of society. Of course, homesteaders, survivalists, and those wanting to become more self-reliant have been doing both for years. Driving growth in these hobbies are young people looking for a new way of life, as well as empty nesters and retirees finding themselves with extra time on their hands.

Whether youre motivated by the need to continue to nurture something or concern about whats in the food you eat, raising your own animals and growing your own food is good for you on so many levels. In fact, studies have been done to show that time spent outside getting dirty not only is good for your health, both physical and mental, but also contributes to a stronger immune system!

It doesnt matter whether your backyard is postage stampsize in a close-knit neighborhood or you have acres of open fields. You can still make a difference in your familys health, lifestyle, and well-being by embracing a homesteading lifestyle. Its entirely possible to raise enough chickens to provide your family with eggs throughout the year and to plant a garden that will supply enough vegetables to fill your pantry on / acre or less. Cows, goats, or sheep can be difficult to raise without ample space for grazing, but chickens are small and dont need much space. They are completely manageable for most who want to raise them. Its fairly inexpensive to get started, and chickens provide a simple way to supply your family with fresh, healthy food in a relatively small area.

OK, so raising chickens and planting gardens both contribute to a more healthy, sustainable way of life on their own. But the real beauty is when the two are combined. The circle is complete! Nothing goes to waste: not garden trimmings, not vegetable peels, not a single eggshell, not even any chicken poop (AKA bountiful, free, nutrient-rich fertilizer). It all has a purpose.

In this book, Ill cover a wide variety of topics regarding how to integrate your chickens and your gardening. Well explore not only general strategies, but also specific garden plans, each of which has a purpose when it comes to chicken keeping. Ill cover some fencing ideas and other strategies for keeping your chickens out of your garden until youre ready to share it with them. Ill also share some ways to beautify your run or chicken yard with various types of edible landscaping, which can serve to beautify what might otherwise become an eyesore for neighbors.

Protecting your plants from your chickens is the cornerstone to successfully gardening with chickens.

I grow herbs to add to my cooking and to my chicken feed.

Much of what youll learn in this book is completely scalable. My own flock has ranged from just three chickens to more than three dozen over the years. Ive also raised ducks alongside my chickens. And through it all, I have continued to integrate my gardening and chicken keeping. You can apply the same principles whether you have a trio of chickens and a few planters of tomatoes on your back patio or you have a barn full of chickens and your gardens span acres. (Although if you have only three chickens, it will take them far longer to eat an acre of vegetables!)

Youll find gardens and backyard chickens can coexist in harmony; its just a matter of planning. Maybe you have wanted to get started with chickens for a while but were afraid of the destruction they would rain down on your carefully planted gardens. Or maybe you already have chickens and have been hesitant to try planting anything for fear the plants wouldnt survive your flock. Either way, this is the book for you. By thoughtfully planning out your garden and coop, you can make it work. Whats more, everyone can win! Youll find your gardens and your chickens will actually benefit each other. And your family will benefit as well, with delicious eggs, a bountiful harvest, and savings in time, energy, and money.

Happy gardening!

Lisa Steele

CHAPTER 1

Getting Started

W hile these days I am better known for raising chickens, some of my fondest memories of growing up on a farm are actually rooted in the garden.

My mother always had a vegetable garden out back where she grew peas, squash, broccoli, and any number of other vegetables that ended up on our dinner table. (Of course she saved all the trimmings for the chickens.) I loved to watch her pick out seeds each spring, then help her weed and turn over the soil with my tiny shovel to get the garden ready for planting. Once the soil was ready, wed carefully place the seeds in the little holes we dug in the dirt. If I grew bored, Id still stay in the garden; Id just gather all the earthworms I could find and collect them in a bucket to feed to our chickens! Later on, in the summer, my mother would reward me for my hard work the past spring. Shed let me take a colander outside and pick the vegetables we would be having for dinner. I was so excited, Id often help her cook as well, standing on a stool next to her so I could see into the pot on the stove.

The first money I ever made was thanks to the garden as well. I was about six years old and wanted a new bathing suit. We didnt get an allowance in those days; we were just expected to keep our rooms clean, beds made, and laundry folded and to help with the dinner dishes to boot. So if I needed money, I had to come up with a way to earn some. At six years old, my options were limited, so I decided to pick raspberries from our patch out back and arrange them in boxes on a folding table in the front yard. My first business venture was a success, and I earned enough to buy the bathing suit I wanted, in all its neon orange and yellow glory. (This was the 1970s!)