Keeping Chickens

I attended a meeting of the Food Gardeners Alliance the other day, which was very interesting, raising many issues such as the new water restrictions in Victoria, developing governmental policy and some hints and tips. One of the attendees then delivered a talk on keeping Chickens in your back yard, something that requires less space than you may think, so here's a few hints and tips...

• Firstly Investigate and double check your local council's policy on keeping animals, there's no point getting everything in place to then find you've done something illegal and having to get rid of all your hard work.
• Chickens will eat scraps of food, in fact pretty much anything you feed them, such as newspaper and other bits of non-toxic rubbish.
  
• As with most other species in the animal kingdom, what goes in, comes out at the other end and Chicken manure is extremely good for the garden.
  
• It's probably not a good idea to keep Roosters, especially in smaller properties, they're noisy, aggressive and don't give you any eggs!
  
• Check the closeness of coups to neighbouring properties and also check with your neighbors before going ahead with keeping chickens, again there's no point embarking on an endeavour and then being forced to stop due to a neighbourly complaint.
• Keep the chickens, coup and their surrounding area clean and pests under control with normal and cheap powders and tablets from your vet. If a chicken is very ill or dies, take it to a vet straight away do discover the cause and to prevent spreading.
  
• Keep the coup secure to save the chickens from foxes, mice and rats. Don't cut back on costs by using low gauge netting, wire or locks. Keeping the coup clean and free of excess food will help keep away rodents.
• Chickens food consumption and egg production depends on many things including season, light, temperature and what you feed them.
  
• Aside from pellets, they need greens and vegetables. Silver beet is great for this, feeding fresh vegetables means more yellow yolks and protein filled eggs.
  
• Where do you get your chickens from : From farms, $15-30 per chicken on point of laying, or somewhat past it for $1.50, but these chickens will have a lower egg production
• A Chicken's Good laying time is between 2 and 15 years.
• To stop Chickens flying, trim the edges of their feathers, this puts them off balance and stops them flying.
  
• There's no real minimum for space, but the larger space and run the better.
• You will need at least 2, chickens are social animals.

Interested in finding out more, take a look at www.bookachook.com

Resource Efficient Gardening

A few weeks ago I attended an excellent talk and discussion panel hosted by The Food Gardeners Alliance, we posted a little more on them in a previous post.

Buying produce from a supermarket is perhaps one of the most un-environmentally friendly things you can do, not just the direct resource usage of farming, but the effects of product transport, wastage, refrigeration, personal transport and much more. We only have a small patch in our (mainly concrete) back yard but it's enough to supply us with just under half of our weekly food, the statistics on this are :

A 4 by 5 metres patch can produce enough for 2 people, approximately 200kg a year with only 2 or 3 hours a week of work.

Even if you have no yard or garden there are many tricks to be performed with containers, an issue we have also frequently covered here.

Lets take a look at a few more tips offered by some of the speakers at the discussion.


David Holmgren is an infamous figure in the recent resurgence in gardening, one of the co-founders of Permaculture he proposes a more holistic approach to gardening, considering micro cultures and climates to encourage growth and nature. It's a fairly involved process and there are many who offer courses, literature and insight into it. Rest assured it's not just applicable to those with lots of space, permaculture can also be practised easily in restricted spaces with processes such as Rooftop gardening, planting in containers, vertical gardening and aquaponic systems.
www.holmgren.com.au


Diggers is an organisation perhaps better reserved for those with slightly larger gardens, but for a source or certified organic seeds it is ideal. Specialising in vintage, cottage and heirloom varieties of plants Diggers maintains an impressive list of breeds that you've probably never heard of.
www.diggers.com.au


Jane Edmanson is a famous figure in the gardening world, host of TV shows for many years and generally a figure of respect and trust in the wider community. Her tips were generally a lot more practical and common-sensical, moving themes back into the home and the benefits that growing and eating our own produce can bring, such as gardening being a great source of exercise and that fresh produce could help reduce obesity. She also bestowed the virtues of seasonal planting, something that can frequently be overlooked when your attracted to the myriad of pretty plants available to you.
www.janesgarden.com.au


There was also an interesting representative from Sustainable gardening Australia, but I admit that I had to leave early, so missed what they had to say, expect something on the SGA in the near future.
www.sgaonline.org.au