Seeing folks like you and Sasha gives me hope for the future. I love what you are doing and thank you for doing it. I'm not talking merely about the videos. I like those. But the example you are setting and the sanity you are injecting into our planet, a sorely needed inoculation.
Grass clippings from yards, neighbors, and fields are an excellent source of nitrogen-rich material that often goes into the waste stream. Just be sure the neighbors aren't using weed killers. The clippings can be collected with a push or riding mower with a bagger. Neighbors often put clippings on the curb after mowing their lawns, to be picked up by the city. Same with leaves. Nothing more than grass clippings and sawdust makes great compost. Chickens love the fresh greens and they make the egg yolks dark yellow and rich with omega-3.
I love this system! I love ya'll for these videos and trying to help people. We have some girls that are 5yo and they know that when I have a shovel, they get treats sometimes. They get our leftovers, and pumpkins. We found a few varieties that are vine borer resistant and we focus on stocking up on them every year. We live in bugville, so as soon as it warms up their feed gets augmented with protein, and then produce from the garden that has bugs or bug damage. We also have ducks, so I've been working on fencing off the garden so they can eat bugs without fear of the neighborhood fox. I will be starting a brassica plot out in the chicken run, keeping it fenced off until the cabbage moths come out :)
With your encouragement and information I have gotten some some chicks and began planning where the compost run and coop shall sit! I feel so bad seeing them stuck in a little brooder, so I made a mini yard and put the brooder in it a few times a day. They play and romp and get wore out and retreat, it's such a wonderful site right now!
I live in a very dry hot climate with very little rain and no snow. I feed my turkeys/quail/chickens a high quality pellet thats suitable for all three, with as much greens from the garden and food scrsps as i can source. Composting has proven very difficult without water. I keep layering anything I can, woodchips, branches, green pruning, weeds, bedding etc in the chicken yard. Its too dry for worms naturally, but we have a lot of other critters that have moved in. Slaters, termites, woodroaches, millipedes etc that that help break everything down and are food for the chickens. Any rain, water spillage and moisture from food scraps soaks into the deep mulch and stays there. I'm planning on introducing worms when I feel it's deep enough to provide them protection so they stay.
I love you system! I don't think I've seen another Channel with such healthy happy looking chickens that go out all year round and if I ever get the chance to get the property that I want I'm definitely going to be using the ideas that you guys have set out because it looks like a wonderful system and thank you so much for sharing your ideas.
About the only whole grain I can get around here is oats. I want to try and sprout those out for the girls when things are a little further along. right now we are being held up by the need for more fence posts. For people, who are concerned about rats and mice. I put my feeder away at night and I have owls around. I have planned my chicken yard so it is longer and narrow and I will also put up flight wires so the owls should never be a threat to the girls. But you can tell by wing patterns in the snow where they have been hunting mice all winter. there are owl nesting box plans on the internet.
If mice or other rodents want to feed on the abundance in the evenings, we're fine with it. Haven't had a single issue with that mentality in 6 years, but folks can do what feels comfortable for themselves...
I also use whole grains and seeds to feed the hens in my chicken tractors. as I move them through the orchard any seeds that get buried by their scratching grow during our mild winter and produce free feed the next summer. Just pull the plants as the seed matures and throw it in the tractor. Right now I am pulling cleavers that will climb the trees if they get a chance but are a favorite green for the hens.
No better time to start than now ❤️. I just got fencing from a friend yesterday and I plan to widen the chickens pen and start the composting pile!!! I don't have a whole lot to start with but I look forward to starting anyway!!! Thank you for the idea and sharing the success and learning curves of it all!!!!!
The farm I work at has a constant stream of produce and whole grain bread that we compost and feed to our hogs. I bring some home for my hens whenever I can, reach out to local farms and I'm sure everyone will leave happy! Great video as always
My gram milked her cows and made cheese. She would soak old whole grain wheat, oats, corn or barley, whatever grains that were rancid, for a day in the whey and feed that to her chickens and pigs who shared pastures. Love the work you, Sasha and the girls are doing!
thank you for this!! I've had such success using a similar system. we're about to get chickens again after a 2 year break and am grateful for the refresher! I truly value your contribution here
Breeding and incubation of our own birds is huge in our flock. We eat roosters and use roosters from our best hens to breed back to increase the quality of our flock, meat and eggs. Also we cull hens to increase quality. We have birds now that are similar in carcus to broilers but grow slower and don't fight or pick on youger birds because it's bred out.
The holy bondage of life is through what you do truly works for all the ripple effect would be nothing but good the birds and the bees that beautiful butterfly effect y'all are spiritually beautiful God bless
So timely, thank you so much for sharing the information. "If the flow of industrialized products is minimized "... it seems close. Not much room needed to feed them this way huh?
Thank you so much for your information my parents just bought 40 acres and we are going to be doing a homestead over there. We have 13 chicken that are going to be moving on the property. Then I have four chickens at my house.
Hello, Glad I found your channel. Just got chickens and a worm bed again. Going to be home binge watching. I bought pellets and seeds. I'm going to copy you!
Got some pecans shelled locally and they have a huge pile of shells that still have some pecans in them and it’s waste for them. My chickens love pecans. Maybe shellers of all types is a good friend to make.
Ask local schools and Cafe's as well. If there is a small scale abbotior or traveling butchers ask them for the offal. If you live near the river and know anglers ask for the fish guts/heads. If you know anyone that runs traplines ask for the carcasses they don't plan on eating.
When would you consider the compost to be finished? I've seen the total time in your videos when it goes through the system, but not when you'd consider it to be finished compost. Maybe as a follow up, is there a rule of thumb you follow for what you can apply your unfinished compost to? Thanks so much for your videos! I've replaced watching UA-cam for video games to watching your videos instead. Grateful to you for showing me wonderful things.
I don't consider it 'finished' I consider it ready to move on. Used as a rich mulch it can be fine in almost any application. I don't generally try to seed directly into it when applied on the garden, but side dress crops with it.
Your videos are so helpful and inspirational. I love the idea of sprouting seeds in the layers of chips/straw/sawdust/food scraps for food and compost. I'm wondering if you have experienced any issues with rats? We live in a semi-urban area, so we have a terrible time with rats if we don't keep our chicken food & water very contained (which makes it hard to provide interest and snacks for our girls). Any experiences or thoughts on rats?
We saw rats for a while but they actually just seemed to help turn compost. Everyone got along actually. They went away and we haven't seen them again, but they were helpful and fun to watch when they were there.
Nicer to get a coarse sawdust if possible. Super fine and it can be very dusty. But I'll work with whatever we can get. In this case it is a very coarse sawdust from a sawmill processing firewood with a circular blade...
EdibleAcres thanks, I ask as I am a cabinet maker and produce lots of sawdust. I have tried to compost the larger chips and have had very little luck, it’s often just a big clump of chips that remains for what seems like a long time. Keep up the great videos
If/when there are any smells, we focus on adding a LOT more carbon and turning the pile and the smell is gone. A particularly smelly spot? Go 1' deep with woodchips right on top and you're done.
Do you have rodent problems due to food on the ground? How do you keep mice and rats from entering the yard/chicken area? Great video full of great ideas! Thank you.
Chickens eat mice and rats tunnel through compost helping to provide aeration. Neither are a problem in this system. Hawks also enjoy rats more than chickens so things can balance easily.
Raw food starts in my run which is dog proof and covered head to toe in 1/4 inch hard ware cloth. If you have a heavy rat problem and can’t proof a run, look for vegetable based scraps, put your chicken feed up at night and don’t scatter the seeds. It’ll be less attractive to rats. It’s when I did when we were in the city.
I don't know... We haven't done it the other way! Many more variables to consider like the fact that our flock on average is VERY old, but overall it feels like great production to us.
Love your system! Do you supplement calcium, methionine, or anything else that you didn't show in this video? Do you have an idea about how much grain you feed daily?
We sometimes add oyster shells crushed up, and some coarse grit. Most days we'll have a 5 gallon bucket filled roughly halfway with seed and with water poured over it overnight that we dump out for them, and then ideally lots of compost...
Can I just ask about odour in the chicken area? Does the food decomp smell? I really want to use this system but I'm in an urban area and my chickens are kept in a plot of land behind our back yards and I just know my neighbours will complain about smell! My chickens are only a few months old and I'm a new hen keeper!
No odor problems... So long as you keep up with enough carbon and turning. As soon as you smell bad things, add more dry carbon and turn, it all works out!
Can confirm--do not fear odors, just add more carbon if there is any trace of funkiness. Have composted humanure for years with zero odors or pests in this manner, and regular waste is super-simple to manage.
Hello, wondering if growing squash up a trellis is a good idea for food, since the adult beetles over winter in soil? There would be food all summer & winter.
You are such a fine example for peeps but digital media is probably going to be pulled. Do you have any written or published information on what you do?
Hi, but do you also include cooked food among the scraps? Like pasta, meat, bread etc? Thanks for your advice and teachings. I am writing to you from Italy. Bye
The fastest way to make a compost. Make a pile 1 metre square layered green & brown 25:1 c:n. Let it sit for 4 days or until it starts to heat. If you put your hand in the pile and you can’t keep it there, it’s hot enough. Turn the pile inside out and do that every second day for another 16 days. Keep it covered in between turns. You’ll have usable compost at the end of 21 days. If you’re as lazy as me, you just throw the pile together and wait a year. When the compost worms leave the pile it’s ready to use.
I don't test. I don't worry... I put the compost out as is, and generally work with it as a mulch around new transplants. I don't seed directly into it, but rather use it to support plants growing. It then breaks down over time and works just fine.
I am using a version of this system for a year now with 6 hens and a run 30x10feet . i have to empty the run quite often, after a layer of 1-2feet of almost finished compost. The best thing is your hens will be waiting for work, when you pile up every few days the chickens can't wait to get started
@@MrBrznak what kind of climate do you live in? I am in semi-arid desert, coastal sage type. Worried about "cooking" my hens in that plastic tunnel but I am sure they still need some type of structure.
@@christinemose7308 the plastic tunnel is optional for colder climates where it really freezes for longer periods , maybe a hoop construction with some shade cloth to keep the compost from drying out too fast would be better for warmer climates
When i feed any kind of bean to my hens, i cook them first. Raw beans are toxic. Usually just throw in electric pressure cooker with whey and water or soured milk. Then they will eat them.
Christine, a couple of ideas that would also fold well into a warm climate setup would be BSFL (Black Soldier Fly Larvae) and what's commonly called a "maggot bucket." (Both can be very productive and neither are as gross as they may seem.) :-) They are readily explored on YT, and I think Sean has a BSFL video on this channel. All the best to you!
I still have a question about rat pressure. With a lot of feed outside overnight I get rats. Do you get any rats and how do you attempt to control them? Thanks for your honest answer :)
We get rats once in a while, but they help to create a more aerated compost by digging down deep in the pile and have never attacked the hens or caused problems for them. They also get so much hate in this world that to have a safe space for them to try to make a life for themselves seems like a good thing.
EdibleAcres fair enough. I. Think I understand your point of view. Not sure that I agree with such a, what I would call, a liaise fare attitude but I can see what you mean for sure. I shoot them and the chickens then have another meal. I am attempting to move my chickens further from our house and then maybe I will be a little more chill about them. Thank you for your honest comment. I love your you tube channel, even though again, I don’t always agree with your philosophy. I have build a wood storage space from pallets and other scavenged lumber etc. And I will post you a couple of pictures soon. It has kept our wood in good dry condition for 2 years now. It also houses my ATV as well. Thank you again. Please continue what you are doing - I think I learn at least one new idea from every one of your videos, that coming from a much older man :)
Mice are all eaten by chickens, so 0 problems there. Rats showed up in the past but left after a bit. They were helpful in aerating the compost actually!!
I go dumpster diving at the grocery store if they run you off talk to the produce mngr nicely and try to work a deal with them my mom used to give him a few bucks for hiis cigarettes
I believe Sean uses mainly wheat. But chooks will eat most any seed: barley, oat, sunflower, milo, etc. On a side note, if you feed whole oats, you're bound to get some volunteer oat growth around the place. And mycorrizal fungi, the good stuff, like oats. Why? I'm not sure but for some reason oats promote mycorrizal presence and health.
How many years will chickens lay their eggs for you? Also, can you eat the hen after it has stopped producing or do you just let them live for years without providing eggs anymore?
Our hens average 4-6 years old (quite old) and we are now getting 16-20 eggs a day as it warms up... Low production for 55 hens, but fine for us. We do harvest hens as we need them for meat, and the quality is amazing, but we haven't harvested a bunch in a while.
Are you kidding me!?! That is an amazing statement and really misses an opportunity... From our front yard, .1 acre space with heavy shade, deep root competition from trees and high water table we get around 20 eggs a day. That is an incredibly significant amount of complete nutrition, from our front yard. Our hens have a very good life, we love them and treat them well, and they transform other waste streams into mountains of compost. I'd like to see a .1 acre vegan system that provides deep food security.
Revered AI... Clearly you have zero experience with farm animals and gardening. The myriad contributions of properly managed animals makes the whole system exponentially more productive. Orders of magnitude more! While also reducing workload, eliminating pest pressures (and therefore any kind of pesticide use, chemical or "organic"), and entirely eliminating any need for purchased fertilizers of any kind. Animals are THE key to sustainability and crazy levels of productivity! Open your mind a bit and learn a few things from Mother Nature. I am firmly convinced that chickens could terraform Mars, having seen them at work time and again consistently able to turn barren dirt into rich fertile soil.
@@keralee No it doesn't. Every calorie produced from animals requires much higher inputs of time, energy and wealth than grains, potatoes or beans. Most people don't know how to farm, though.
@@allencrider You still don't get it. The animals make ALL other ag systems 20 times more productive, with zero chemical inputs. If you let the critters do what they enjoy doing naturally (I am referring to permaculture, not factory farms) they will happily till, weed, and fertilize for you. Greatly reducing your labor. This is regardless of whether you eat the animals or their eggs or milk at all! Has nothing to do with eating them, and everything to do with having a fully-functional ecosystem! Your garden will produce considerbly more food, of better taste and quality, with much less effort, if animals are intelligently included. I have tried it both ways and personally would not wish to garden without at least chickens! Its so much less work, for so much more fruits and veg!
Seeing folks like you and Sasha gives me hope for the future. I love what you are doing and thank you for doing it. I'm not talking merely about the videos. I like those. But the example you are setting and the sanity you are injecting into our planet, a sorely needed inoculation.
@Westley Philip Definitely, been watching on flixzone for months myself :)
@Westley Philip yup, I've been using flixzone for years myself =)
I love how you treat your chickens. They look very happy, and are of course so adorable. 😍
I hang often a cabbage on a string with a metal hook srewed in under a tree, the chickens love it.
Grass clippings from yards, neighbors, and fields are an excellent source of nitrogen-rich material that often goes into the waste stream. Just be sure the neighbors aren't using weed killers. The clippings can be collected with a push or riding mower with a bagger. Neighbors often put clippings on the curb after mowing their lawns, to be picked up by the city. Same with leaves.
Nothing more than grass clippings and sawdust makes great compost. Chickens love the fresh greens and they make the egg yolks dark yellow and rich with omega-3.
I love this system! I love ya'll for these videos and trying to help people. We have some girls that are 5yo and they know that when I have a shovel, they get treats sometimes. They get our leftovers, and pumpkins. We found a few varieties that are vine borer resistant and we focus on stocking up on them every year. We live in bugville, so as soon as it warms up their feed gets augmented with protein, and then produce from the garden that has bugs or bug damage. We also have ducks, so I've been working on fencing off the garden so they can eat bugs without fear of the neighborhood fox. I will be starting a brassica plot out in the chicken run, keeping it fenced off until the cabbage moths come out :)
Could this channel be any more badass?
With your encouragement and information I have gotten some some chicks and began planning where the compost run and coop shall sit! I feel so bad seeing them stuck in a little brooder, so I made a mini yard and put the brooder in it a few times a day. They play and romp and get wore out and retreat, it's such a wonderful site right now!
Wonderful, inspiring, encouraging and as usual calming. Thanks Sean & Sasha.
I live in a very dry hot climate with very little rain and no snow. I feed my turkeys/quail/chickens a high quality pellet thats suitable for all three, with as much greens from the garden and food scrsps as i can source. Composting has proven very difficult without water. I keep layering anything I can, woodchips, branches, green pruning, weeds, bedding etc in the chicken yard. Its too dry for worms naturally, but we have a lot of other critters that have moved in. Slaters, termites, woodroaches, millipedes etc that that help break everything down and are food for the chickens. Any rain, water spillage and moisture from food scraps soaks into the deep mulch and stays there. I'm planning on introducing worms when I feel it's deep enough to provide them protection so they stay.
I love you system! I don't think I've seen another Channel with such healthy happy looking chickens that go out all year round and if I ever get the chance to get the property that I want I'm definitely going to be using the ideas that you guys have set out because it looks like a wonderful system and thank you so much for sharing your ideas.
Our pleasure to share.
About the only whole grain I can get around here is oats. I want to try and sprout those out for the girls when things are a little further along. right now we are being held up by the need for more fence posts. For people, who are concerned about rats and mice. I put my feeder away at night and I have owls around. I have planned my chicken yard so it is longer and narrow and I will also put up flight wires so the owls should never be a threat to the girls. But you can tell by wing patterns in the snow where they have been hunting mice all winter. there are owl nesting box plans on the internet.
Careful with oats...it gives chickens diarrhea. I used to have a huge problem with poopy butts, cut out the oats, and now no more problem.
Renaissance Woman Farm Oats are sprayed with Roundup before harvest. I wouldn’t feed that to my animals. I just heard Jeffrey Smith talking about it.
If mice or other rodents want to feed on the abundance in the evenings, we're fine with it. Haven't had a single issue with that mentality in 6 years, but folks can do what feels comfortable for themselves...
I use sprouted oats with no problems as part of my chickens feed, but i am careful about where i buy them. Not all farmers use pre-harvest glyphosate.
@@edibleacres We have a barn cat that loves to give up a present of a dead rat from time to time!
I also use whole grains and seeds to feed the hens in my chicken tractors. as I move them through the orchard any seeds that get buried by their scratching grow during our mild winter and produce free feed the next summer. Just pull the plants as the seed matures and throw it in the tractor. Right now I am pulling cleavers that will climb the trees if they get a chance but are a favorite green for the hens.
No better time to start than now ❤️. I just got fencing from a friend yesterday and I plan to widen the chickens pen and start the composting pile!!! I don't have a whole lot to start with but I look forward to starting anyway!!! Thank you for the idea and sharing the success and learning curves of it all!!!!!
You got this!
The farm I work at has a constant stream of produce and whole grain bread that we compost and feed to our hogs. I bring some home for my hens whenever I can, reach out to local farms and I'm sure everyone will leave happy! Great video as always
You … your voice.. make your videos enjoyable & wanting to hear what you have to say till the end. It’s all important 👵🏻👩🌾❣️
Love seeing your setup! Looking forward to doing this at our house.
My gram milked her cows and made cheese. She would soak old whole grain wheat, oats, corn or barley, whatever grains that were rancid, for a day in the whey and feed that to her chickens and pigs who shared pastures. Love the work you, Sasha and the girls are doing!
allonesame thanx Very helpful I make cheese and wonder what to do after making ricotta cheese with the whey
@@jacolubbe9364 Use it in baking for breads and flat breads instead of water
ludicrous one i have 50 liters every eek, so more than ample for baking and everything else
Happy days
the chickens look happy and healthy
I believe they are!
thank you for this!! I've had such success using a similar system. we're about to get chickens again after a 2 year break and am grateful for the refresher! I truly value your contribution here
Glad it helped!
You are so motivating….we want to move to a farm ! Thank you for all your help! Our chickens are healthier thanks to what we have learned from you. 🐓
Your videos are respite.
Breeding and incubation of our own birds is huge in our flock. We eat roosters and use roosters from our best hens to breed back to increase the quality of our flock, meat and eggs. Also we cull hens to increase quality. We have birds now that are similar in carcus to broilers but grow slower and don't fight or pick on youger birds because it's bred out.
Sounds like a really great and resilient system.
The holy bondage of life is through what you do truly works for all the ripple effect would be nothing but good the birds and the bees that beautiful butterfly effect y'all are spiritually beautiful God bless
So timely, thank you so much for sharing the information. "If the flow of industrialized products is minimized "... it seems close.
Not much room needed to feed them this way huh?
We have a lot of birds in not too much space and they seem happy with all this happening.
You have a beautiful flock of chickens! Thanks for great content!
Thank you so much for your information my parents just bought 40 acres and we are going to be doing a homestead over there. We have 13 chicken that are going to be moving on the property. Then I have four chickens at my house.
Awesome, hope this is super helpful to you.
another relaxing morning for me watching the chickens love it lol
Love seeing the hens get so excited when you turn over the compost :)
Hello,
Glad I found your channel. Just got chickens and a worm bed again. Going to be home binge watching. I bought pellets and seeds. I'm going to copy you!
Got some pecans shelled locally and they have a huge pile of shells that still have some pecans in them and it’s waste for them. My chickens love pecans. Maybe shellers of all types is a good friend to make.
My system is 6 hens free ranging my homestead of 3 acres or so. Garden area and trees and yard grass. They love it all!
That would be a great resource to have access to, wow!
Ask local schools and Cafe's as well. If there is a small scale abbotior or traveling butchers ask them for the offal. If you live near the river and know anglers ask for the fish guts/heads. If you know anyone that runs traplines ask for the carcasses they don't plan on eating.
Great suggestions here, thank you!
Get mine at the silo when they clean the silos. When I go out with the big spoon or fork the chickens all show up.
Those are some happy hens
I'd hope so!
Brilliant system bro, excellent advice. Your eggs must taste really good - I'm envious!
The hens do amazing work out there and produce some beautiful eggs.
When would you consider the compost to be finished? I've seen the total time in your videos when it goes through the system, but not when you'd consider it to be finished compost.
Maybe as a follow up, is there a rule of thumb you follow for what you can apply your unfinished compost to?
Thanks so much for your videos! I've replaced watching UA-cam for video games to watching your videos instead. Grateful to you for showing me wonderful things.
I don't consider it 'finished' I consider it ready to move on. Used as a rich mulch it can be fine in almost any application. I don't generally try to seed directly into it when applied on the garden, but side dress crops with it.
@@edibleacres Thanks! And when would you feel comfortable directly dressing crops with it? I'm assuming the issue is how potent the chicken manure is.
Your videos are so helpful and inspirational. I love the idea of sprouting seeds in the layers of chips/straw/sawdust/food scraps for food and compost. I'm wondering if you have experienced any issues with rats? We live in a semi-urban area, so we have a terrible time with rats if we don't keep our chicken food & water very contained (which makes it hard to provide interest and snacks for our girls). Any experiences or thoughts on rats?
We saw rats for a while but they actually just seemed to help turn compost. Everyone got along actually. They went away and we haven't seen them again, but they were helpful and fun to watch when they were there.
When you talk about sawdust are you getting it from a mill sawing logs or a cabinet shop? And does the density matter? Fine dust va bigger chips ?
Nicer to get a coarse sawdust if possible. Super fine and it can be very dusty. But I'll work with whatever we can get. In this case it is a very coarse sawdust from a sawmill processing firewood with a circular blade...
EdibleAcres thanks, I ask as I am a cabinet maker and produce lots of sawdust. I have tried to compost the larger chips and have had very little luck, it’s often just a big clump of chips that remains for what seems like a long time. Keep up the great videos
Thank you for sharing....
Awesome job you are doing!How does rain affect this set-up since I live in the tropics with sometimes heavy rain fall? Well done and inspiring.
I think it can be tough sometimes, but overall it works quite well with heavy rains.
Love watching your channel! Are there any heritage breeds in particular you'd recommend for implementing this system?
So far most every chicken we've put into this system has done well!
Good day sir! with such method of yours, do you encounter any problems with flies and rats? How do you handle? Thank you
wow dude, that's a stinkin pile. I hope to build one like that one day
Would you mind sharing what brand of chicken feed you use? Thanks!
We don't use a brand. Check out more of our chicken videos, we mainly soak seed and offer compost...
Love the system you created! How is the odor though? I live in the suburbs and don’t want my neighbors to be unhappy
If/when there are any smells, we focus on adding a LOT more carbon and turning the pile and the smell is gone. A particularly smelly spot? Go 1' deep with woodchips right on top and you're done.
Adding enough carbon materials (sawdust or wood chips) will eliminate anything smell. The right about of carbon is when the smell is gone :)
What do you think of ground peanuts left over from peanut factory..I was given 120 pounds of them
I haven't worked with them before but seems worth trying
Shaun, great information. Thank you for sharing. Question re: sawdust...is treated lumber sawdust bad to use in compost?
I would avoid it for sure if you can. If you are in doubt, look elsewhere.
Do you have rodent problems due to food on the ground? How do you keep mice and rats from entering the yard/chicken area? Great video full of great ideas! Thank you.
Chickens eat mice.
Chickens eat mice and rats tunnel through compost helping to provide aeration. Neither are a problem in this system. Hawks also enjoy rats more than chickens so things can balance easily.
Raw food starts in my run which is dog proof and covered head to toe in 1/4 inch hard ware cloth. If you have a heavy rat problem and can’t proof a run, look for vegetable based scraps, put your chicken feed up at night and don’t scatter the seeds. It’ll be less attractive to rats. It’s when I did when we were in the city.
How do you find the egg production since there consuming the food scraps, compost, etc instead of conventional chicken feed?
I don't know... We haven't done it the other way! Many more variables to consider like the fact that our flock on average is VERY old, but overall it feels like great production to us.
Love your system!
Do you supplement calcium, methionine, or anything else that you didn't show in this video? Do you have an idea about how much grain you feed daily?
We sometimes add oyster shells crushed up, and some coarse grit. Most days we'll have a 5 gallon bucket filled roughly halfway with seed and with water poured over it overnight that we dump out for them, and then ideally lots of compost...
Awesome! TYVM! What planting zone are you guys in?
We're 5B, central NY state, Finger Lakes area.
Perfect!!! TYVM!!
Can I just ask about odour in the chicken area? Does the food decomp smell? I really want to use this system but I'm in an urban area and my chickens are kept in a plot of land behind our back yards and I just know my neighbours will complain about smell! My chickens are only a few months old and I'm a new hen keeper!
No odor problems... So long as you keep up with enough carbon and turning. As soon as you smell bad things, add more dry carbon and turn, it all works out!
@@edibleacres thankyou so much looking forward to getting it started! You are my chicken mentor! ☺
Can confirm--do not fear odors, just add more carbon if there is any trace of funkiness. Have composted humanure for years with zero odors or pests in this manner, and regular waste is super-simple to manage.
@@keralee thankyou for the encouragement! And reply 😁😁
Can you please tell me why you start in the tunnel?
During the cold months we do this so the hens have easy access to food even with freezing temperatures and winter snow.
❤ such good information
What's the estimate distance from beginning to end of the compost
Hello, wondering if growing squash up a trellis is a good idea for food, since the adult beetles over winter in soil? There would be food all summer & winter.
Definitely give it a shot. We've had winter squash grow really nicely up a fence (we didn't plant them, they just showed up, but they did great! ha!)
What type of fencing do you use for your chicken yard?
We have reclaimed orchard fencing around the area with chicken wire along the bottom 3 feet.
You are such a fine example for peeps but digital media is probably going to be pulled. Do you have any written or published information on what you do?
No, sorry...
Hi, but do you also include cooked food among the scraps? Like pasta, meat, bread etc? Thanks for your advice and teachings. I am writing to you from Italy. Bye
Yes, that is all just fine to include.
@@edibleacres Have you ever had problems with country mice?
Im concidering plantning proteine Rich beans for the chicks
Our chickens don't love beans, but maybe yours will!
Love it.
How soon can one introduce pullets to a system like this?
We started our chickens as 1 day olds. As soon as it was warm enough this was their life. Almost 6 years on and they are healthy and happy still!
It only just occurred to me to ask, how do you keep your chickens contained? what sort of fencing are you using?
We've got 6' tall fencing around the space that we put in. Has worked really well for us.
@@edibleacres what sort of fencing? Chain link? something else? ;)
You mentioned butchers shops. Do you feed them meat?
yep
@@edibleacres interesting! In the U.K. you can only feed chickens from household waste if it’s a vegan household. I wonder why that is then.
How does one test the readiness of the compost as a quality finished compost? Newbie questions to be sure, sorry for that
The fastest way to make a compost. Make a pile 1 metre square layered green & brown 25:1 c:n. Let it sit for 4 days or until it starts to heat. If you put your hand in the pile and you can’t keep it there, it’s hot enough. Turn the pile inside out and do that every second day for another 16 days. Keep it covered in between turns. You’ll have usable compost at the end of 21 days. If you’re as lazy as me, you just throw the pile together and wait a year. When the compost worms leave the pile it’s ready to use.
@@samkinpommers4558 thanks for the info friend.
I don't test. I don't worry... I put the compost out as is, and generally work with it as a mulch around new transplants. I don't seed directly into it, but rather use it to support plants growing. It then breaks down over time and works just fine.
What is the smallest scale that is still functional? I am sure the hens need an ideal population
I am using a version of this system for a year now with 6 hens and a run 30x10feet . i have to empty the run quite often, after a layer of 1-2feet of almost finished compost. The best thing is your hens will be waiting for work, when you pile up every few days the chickens can't wait to get started
@@MrBrznak what kind of climate do you live in? I am in semi-arid desert, coastal sage type. Worried about "cooking" my hens in that plastic tunnel but I am sure they still need some type of structure.
@@christinemose7308 the plastic tunnel is optional for colder climates where it really freezes for longer periods , maybe a hoop construction with some shade cloth to keep the compost from drying out too fast
would be better for warmer climates
@@MrBrznak thank you.
have you put the soybeans In whey?
I don't believe so.
When i feed any kind of bean to my hens, i cook them first. Raw beans are toxic. Usually just throw in electric pressure cooker with whey and water or soured milk. Then they will eat them.
What would this operation actually look like in a warmer climate? You eluded to it for a moment but I still can't picture it.
Christine, a couple of ideas that would also fold well into a warm climate setup would be BSFL (Black Soldier Fly Larvae) and what's commonly called a "maggot bucket."
(Both can be very productive and neither are as gross as they may seem.) :-)
They are readily explored on YT, and I think Sean has a BSFL video on this channel.
All the best to you!
@@lmahypnosis7456 thank you, and I have a strong constitution, maggots better in a bucket than other places, lol.
It would be easier in many ways because you don't have to design for things freezing up!
Soybean can make soybean milk or make tofu or bean sprout is great 👍 protein resources for humans
Do you have any problems with predators?
We had a hawk once or twice but nothing too serious.
Hi can anyone please tell me how to keep water from freezing naturally?
Look up 'compost heat' in our video list. If you can make a large enough compost pile you can help generate heat for keeping water from freezing
I still have a question about rat pressure. With a lot of feed outside overnight I get rats. Do you get any rats and how do you attempt to control them? Thanks for your honest answer :)
We get rats once in a while, but they help to create a more aerated compost by digging down deep in the pile and have never attacked the hens or caused problems for them. They also get so much hate in this world that to have a safe space for them to try to make a life for themselves seems like a good thing.
EdibleAcres fair enough. I. Think I understand your point of view. Not sure that I agree with such a, what I would call, a liaise fare attitude but I can see what you mean for sure. I shoot them and the chickens then have another meal. I am attempting to move my chickens further from our house and then maybe I will be a little more chill about them. Thank you for your honest comment. I love your you tube channel, even though again, I don’t always agree with your philosophy. I have build a wood storage space from pallets and other scavenged lumber etc. And I will post you a couple of pictures soon. It has kept our wood in good dry condition for 2 years now. It also houses my ATV as well. Thank you again. Please continue what you are doing - I think I learn at least one new idea from every one of your videos, that coming from a much older man :)
Your hens are in excellent condition!
Glad you think so!
never see a rooster with your hens - have any ?
Do experience trouble with rats/mice, since you add food scraps? :)
Mice are all eaten by chickens, so 0 problems there. Rats showed up in the past but left after a bit. They were helpful in aerating the compost actually!!
how do you avoid vermin
You probably meant a 'cornucopia of food'.
If I do so, rats and pigeons will eat all of those compost in my garden.
I go dumpster diving at the grocery store if they run you off talk to the produce mngr nicely and try to work a deal with them my mom used to give him a few bucks for hiis cigarettes
Awesome!
Separately sprouted soy beans would be food for a chickens
Soy bean cover crop !
I sprout my beans 5 days, then I feed him, the girls fight over them
I think we'll use some of the soy to make miso and tofu and then plant out a bunch around young trees that we get in the ground this spring...
When you say "whole seeds" is that just sunflower seeds? any others whole seeds to get?
I believe Sean uses mainly wheat. But chooks will eat most any seed: barley, oat, sunflower, milo, etc.
On a side note, if you feed whole oats, you're bound to get some volunteer oat growth around the place. And mycorrizal fungi, the good stuff, like oats. Why? I'm not sure but for some reason oats promote mycorrizal presence and health.
We use what we can get for free/cheap. Whole wheat, sometimes weed seed, etc., sometimes we buy sunflower. Most of it all works.
How many years will chickens lay their eggs for you? Also, can you eat the hen after it has stopped producing or do you just let them live for years without providing eggs anymore?
Our hens average 4-6 years old (quite old) and we are now getting 16-20 eggs a day as it warms up... Low production for 55 hens, but fine for us.
We do harvest hens as we need them for meat, and the quality is amazing, but we haven't harvested a bunch in a while.
Food security is a whole lot easier by giving up animal products.
Are you kidding me!?! That is an amazing statement and really misses an opportunity...
From our front yard, .1 acre space with heavy shade, deep root competition from trees and high water table we get around 20 eggs a day. That is an incredibly significant amount of complete nutrition, from our front yard. Our hens have a very good life, we love them and treat them well, and they transform other waste streams into mountains of compost.
I'd like to see a .1 acre vegan system that provides deep food security.
Revered AI... Clearly you have zero experience with farm animals and gardening. The myriad contributions of properly managed animals makes the whole system exponentially more productive. Orders of magnitude more! While also reducing workload, eliminating pest pressures (and therefore any kind of pesticide use, chemical or "organic"), and entirely eliminating any need for purchased fertilizers of any kind. Animals are THE key to sustainability and crazy levels of productivity!
Open your mind a bit and learn a few things from Mother Nature.
I am firmly convinced that chickens could terraform Mars, having seen them at work time and again consistently able to turn barren dirt into rich fertile soil.
@@keralee No it doesn't. Every calorie produced from animals requires much higher inputs of time, energy and wealth than grains, potatoes or beans. Most people don't know how to farm, though.
@@allencrider You still don't get it. The animals make ALL other ag systems 20 times more productive, with zero chemical inputs. If you let the critters do what they enjoy doing naturally (I am referring to permaculture, not factory farms) they will happily till, weed, and fertilize for you. Greatly reducing your labor. This is regardless of whether you eat the animals or their eggs or milk at all! Has nothing to do with eating them, and everything to do with having a fully-functional ecosystem! Your garden will produce considerbly more food, of better taste and quality, with much less effort, if animals are intelligently included. I have tried it both ways and personally would not wish to garden without at least chickens! Its so much less work, for so much more fruits and veg!