More and more suburbanites decide to start raising backyard laying flocks every season and most people have little or no experience with farm animals. Last year I started my first flock after a winter of research and design on chicken housing and management systems. Although the most popular method of raising laying hens is a permanent coop and run, I strongly advise people not to raise chicken using this method. In a coop and run system chickens are in the exact same place everyday and in a short time will eat and scratch up every bit of vegetation and bugs. Additionally permanent areas smell a lot and require frequent scooping of poop. Many people think that “free range” is the best possible way to raise chickens but the truth is soils and pastures will be much more productive and healthy with a chance to rest. “Free range”  hang out in the spots with the food they like and do not let the land rest. They will also poop and lay eggs in places you would never imagine and get eaten by hawks and other wildlife without a guardian watchdog.

Housing

For suburbanites I suggest using a mobile chicken ark because they provide birds with new pasture everyday, provide protection from predators and look nice. Chicken arks are two story mobile structures with open bottoms so birds can forage in a new area everyday and roost at night. Chicken arks are practical for suburbanites because most people already have a lawn in there yard they could move the ark on.

Chores

My daily chicken chores consist of moving the ark to a new spot, refilling the water, refilling the feed and collecting eggs. When my family is busy working and at school the chickens forage in the pasture.  In the evening when everyone is home we let the girls out of the ark to fly around and  eat dessert! The girls love scratching in the worm filled compost and wood chip piles. They often chase each other around with worms in their mouths until dust when they return to their roosts and we close the door so no raccoons enter at night.

Feed and water

All kitchen scraps including meat can go to the chickens and can make up  part of their diet. Two common misconceptions about raising chickens on pasture are that supplemental grain in not necessary and that chickens are vegetarians. Even in the late spring when everything is lush the birds still need supplemental grain to be healthy. I recommend Natures Best Organic Layer Pellets which is based in Pennsylvania. Currently I am experimenting with growing plants chickens like so they get a more diverse diet and because grain prices are going up everyday.  Plants chickens love are mulberries (all berries), sunflowers, amaranth, lambs quarters, French sorrel, squash seeds, comfrey and many more.

Birds

For suburbanites I recommend getting just laying hens and no roosters because neighbors will most likely complain about the noise of roosters. Hens are not very loud if they have what they want. The breeds that I have are Speckled Sussex, Americana, Buff Brahman and Cuckoo Moran. I purchased the birds at Midsummer Farm (certified organic) in Warwick, NY where I also learned most of what I know about chickens. Mark and Barbara offer many workshops about raising chickens and farming.

http://www.richsoil.com/raising-chickens.jsp

http://www.midsummerfarm.com/heirloompoultry.htm

an alternative to the chicken ark, free range chickens

The post Blog: How to Raise Backyard Chickens in a Mobile Chicken Coop appeared first on Suburban Foragers.

Our part of the country is naturally forested and if one stopped mowing their lawn, it would eventually turn into a forest. Edible forest gardening is simply designing gardens that mimic the structure and function a forest ecosystems while producing food and other products. Edible forest gardens have three layers of vegetation, Trees, shrubs and herbs and  Just like forests, if designed well edible forest gardens require no fertilizer, no irrigation, no herbicides, no pesticides, and much less labor than vegetable gardens. North American Indians practiced advanced forms of edible forest gardening and permaculture by managing ecosystems with fire, regenerative harvesting and coppicing. What if we planted 40 million acres of  fruit trees, berries and perennial vegetables instead of lawns!

Don’t worry we can turn lawns into low maintenance, resilient and productive ecosystems that supply us with food, fuel, fodder, fiber, farmaceuticals, fertilizers and fun. Lawns are actually a great place to start because they make things easy, you don’t have to worry about taking out existing plants and working around things.

This fall I was busy getting rid of a bunch of lawns (almost 5,000 square feet) by sheet mulching and I will outline the process that I used. There are many other techniques that can be used, this technique is adapted to the materials that are available for free.

To get rid of your lawn easily you will need:

Cardboard- I like going to appliance stores and getting massive boxes, the dudes even help load up the car.

Mulch- woodchips are my favorite, become friends with tree services, they might even call you and ask you if you need more. You can use leaves, hay, compost or whatever else you can find.

All you have to do is lay down the cardboard and cover it with mulch! This simply smothers the grass and builds soil. If you have the materials available and you want to get fancy and really make your soil nice you can aerate the ground with a pitchfork, spread compost/leaves and then lay the cardboard and mulch.

Although sheet mulching works very well on a small scale I worry about establishing large scale food forests and farms. It would be too labor intensive and require tons of material to sheet mulch acres. Grass is probably better for farms so animals can graze. At Native Earth we will be starting with small polyculture patches and we will expand them every year. Does anyone have any ideas or experience with large scale plantings? Also what would happen if wood chips became scarce, I have heard the demand for wood chips is very high in portland because of gardening.

Westwood Volunteer Ambulance Corp Garden

Native Earth Teaching Farm

Thanks to everyone who participated in sheet mulching lawns this fall. It is never to late to get rid of your lawn.

“Plant food trees everywhere always for the rest of your life”- Mark Shepard

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