@@reason5591 That was a great example of how herbivores alone on a landscape is detrimental because they loaf around in the same places and eat the landscape clean. Introduce predators (or ranchers who'll actually move them) and the land starts resting and healing. You need the herbivores to prune and fertilize, but left to themselves they prune until they kill the grass.
@@JeffGray Absolutely, an ecosystem must be maintained by both predators and herbivores. Limiting the time they spend in an area is crucial in the healing process.
This is not just about chicken feed! It is a real life experiment in revitalising the soil and conserving it. Great idea. I remember seeing another video on how grazing animals helped improved pasture land in Australia.
Grow out kunekunes or Gloustershire Old Spot pigs on that pasture...great heritage pork, without destroying the pasture. They forage well with the chickens and help deter chicken predators.
I discovered something when i laid down about 3 inches of aged wood chips outside my coop. A few months later, a beautiful crop of wheat came up! The scratch grains had sprouted in the wood chips. It’s an easy way to make a quick, no dig, small-scale crop of wheat.
I only have 3 chickens and it's amazing how they can change the area they are in no pest insects no weeds the grass stays green and some of the kitchen waste becomes feed for chickens which helps keep down feed cost unlike most people who think you have to spend a lot of money.
I have found that another great benefit of chickens on the ecology of the soil is the scratching. when chickens scratch they are basically tilling up just the surface of the soil.
You had to break the surface the first time to plant. I have the same type of soil. Sprayed all the weeds. Tilled it up 3 weeks later as it rained and then planted. Sprouted
I just tried something, I found your channel and liked this video, and subscribed. Wish all of life was this easy. Thank You, for the content and time you took for sharing. I loved you were just normal, I get tried of drama lures, and crazy music. Love to hear natures sounds, including roosters. Thanks Again, I'll check out the rest of your channel for sure.
Brilliant! We have been somewhat sustainable for 50 years. This year with the current shortages at the feed store we were thinking about seeding one of our pastures just like this for our chickens and geese. Its so great to see you've done this successfully. We are old and always learning.
Great video, @jeff. It's so cool to see once barren land being revitalized with something as simple as running some chickens through it. Keep up the great work!
Awesome discovery video. I too, have left a few acres 'go to seed' (I did not seed these acres). I just left them alone, no cutting. Free range our flock of Chickens, turkeys, ducks and geese during daylight hours. The next year these acres exploded with grasses 4 feet and higher. We have a lot of deer as well, so manure is everywhere. Going to get a few goats, and cattle next year and they will now have tons of fresh grasses n seeds to share with the flock. Do not forget all the wonderful insects that supplement their diet as well while they free range or tractor range them. Proteins abound. Undigested seeds pass through their tract and end up on the ground as fertilized seeds, that have a great start the following year. Woot, woot! Thank you, Jeff. God bless.
Exactly what I have been looking for! Thanks so much! Broadcast millet and sorghum for the first time ever and it grew so easily. Didn’t know it was so hardy.
Awesome! Just found you and subbed! My homestead was nothing but clay and rocks when I moved here.....started the deep litter method in my barn and harvest the compost annually....I would leave mounds of compost to break down naturally by time and chickens working on said mounds in the pasture.....I now have a lush pasture. Love your video! Thank you!🙏🏻
Do not discount the chickens are small rototillers. They help cultivate the top most topsoil so the seeds you scattered find loose enough dirt in which to germinate!! Talented little buggers (pun intended).
Soil Kee in Australia have some very interesting info on pasture renovation crops and methods. The increase in their soil carbon, soil life (which aerates the soil, builds humus vital for water retention, and binding the soil with mucilage that greatly reduces topsoil loss, all whilst making soil nutrients bioavailable to plant roots without the need for fertilisers), water holding capacity (and thus drought resilience) is truly awesome. They use mixed crop seed, just as this chap has, including things like a large long radish type that helps to create ground aerating divots that capture rain and keep it from running off the pasture. Very much worth a look.
Love this! Just try something. I wish I would've done this when we first got the property. My favorite hobby is over thinking. 😒 There's no better way to learn than by doing. I have so much swampish land and clay but nothing will change just by shaking my head at it.
Try adding beavers. They might reroute the watershed and give you some fertile ground you can use. (Might want to get some qualified consultants first...)
I saw a video from a farmer in Vermont who got compost donations from nearby restaurants and he just let the chickens roam on the compost eating was still edible as well as the bugs and worms from the compost pile.
Thank you for the quality information. My family is trying to go more organic and grow our food. Our pasture and the property around the house does not grow very well so I will be giving this a try. By the way, I love hearing the roosters in the video. 😉
In order to cut costs further, around here, a person can purchase "sweepings" from the floor of our local grain mill. These huge sacks are sold very cheap for livestock feed. Just need a good strong pick-up to go get it and someplace to protect it from mice and moisture.
Nice to see the result, this definitely wouldn’t have happened without you over seeding. I’m sure that from an agronomy perspective that the nitrogen and phosphorus from the chicken manure played a major role in your results, additionally chickens scratching and incorporating your seeds into the soil gave you better germination. We are doing this with our 45 layer chickens this summer in a larger tractor, 30x15. I’m deliberately seeding the ground 2 weeks before the chickens start grazing
Bless all the incredible content creators out there sharing important ideas while showing proof those ideas work. Gratitude! This video is amazing for anyone with a homestead. I plan to try this. Inspiring! Subscribed. ❤️🙏🏼
Great video--- I might add that doing this method will probably be safer with a chicken tractor ..Tall grass is how Ive lost most of my chickens by coyotes and eagles.. . Also, FYI,,,,,My brother once had a garden where he had a tiny chicken hutch in the middle until he planted corn. Where the hutch was ,, the corn grew at least a foot taller .
One note about oats. Last year I did purchase a large bagged bale of 'horse bedding' that is oat hulls. Many viable seeds survived in the mix and grew in my vegetable patch as I used the oat hulls as a less expensive soil amendment and mulch. Right on the coast here, it's never really warm enough to grow most grains, or corn, millet or sorghum. But there is a widespread native weed that is closely related to quinoa, or perhaps I'm thinking of amaranth. In any case, thanks for the advice. I will be encouraging at least those weeds while I'm pulling, trying in vain to destroy the Veldt Grass during the rainy season and Spring. Only problem, we just have had so little rain. Practically non existent these last several years. Nevertheless, the Veldt grass is persistent as ever.
Thank you for sharing this.....I was actually hoping to do something like this myself. We will not have a ton of money for feed when we live on our off grid property (no steady income)....I was hoping that I could feed my chickens naturally like you have done, this gives me hope.
Very good and helpful video-this is something I really need to door bc our fields are just like you described yours USED to be. Thank you. But you know, I find it amusing. that so many yt producers seem to be so self-conscious about their roosters crowing. It’s not as if he was standing right next to you. And you know, I don’t think I even noticed the crowing until you mentioned it. It’s just typical ambient homestead background sound. I wouldn’t give it another thought.
UA-cam needs to have a love button! Thank you so much, that was so helpful! I now know what I need to do with our soil! We have an area of our property that would be perfect for this and I didn’t know how to transform the soil. I think we have the same soil as you. Thank you so much!
Thats brilliant. Thanks for sharing. We got a similar improvement using compost tea, a noticeable, wonderful improvement. We grazed the whole area with cows and sheep as well.
Really awesome video. Good looking birds too.. I’m definitely going to do this method on my land. Love the idea of not buying organic layer feed anymore lol
Clover, first. If you have a tractor, churn the grown clover back into the soil while you sow your grain seeds. Birds do help germinate seeds; the digestive enzymes weaken the seed shell, allowing it to crack open and grow more easily. You could alternatively (or additionally) soak your seeds in some 1% solution of hydrogen peroxide for an hour, or put your seeds in the freezer as freezing and thawing them has the same effect.
I tried clover one year for the bees, nothing happened. Scattered amongst the grass. Dandilions won't grow either. Maybe the soil is too acid? There are alot of live oak trees.
sorry but this is bad advice. One of the soil health principles is Minimal Disturbance. And as if anyone should soak seed in chemicals or put them in the freezer! Seeds have no trouble germinating all on their own. Mother Nature doesnt need our help!
I planted bird seeds in a certain area. put rabbit fencing around it until it grew and then I pulled up the stakes and started somewhere else in my yard. I also started several sunflower patches around the property and when they got past the I will eat you phase I removed the fencing because they are great at keeping out bug's. I also had two separate worm bed's growing. I would take the board off for about a hour hour and let them have breakfast and since I crushed my egg shells and put my veggie peal's in them I had such delicious egg's.
Natural corn may be diffcult as chicken feed, but still plant some corn, it attracts a lot of insects and when the plant dies it makes good mulch that attracts more insects.
Yup. Years back, for nearly 5 years I took on 40 acres with 3 dead pastures. We had just over 100 chickens, free range, and a couple horses. For the first year we fed them regularly. Year two they had conditioned the pastures in such a manner that we planted hey & alfalfa on one pasture, hay and clover on the other, one we left as tall grass for grazing. Never had to purchase feed for the horses following that, and with the exception of winter or during storms, drastically reduced the amount of feed going to the birds. From useless pasture to square bails folks stated were too heavy...lol
You did well on the video. You did well relaying your experience. I enjoyed your video and appreciate your time putting it together. I hope you and yours are well.
Just found your channel...and crazy youre from the upstate...im in Pickens and have been watching homestead channels for years and NEVER was once recommended your channel! Awesome videos!!
bro! This was dope! the algorithm knew what was up when it suggested this video to me. instant sub. gonna start doing something like this in my backyard.
Haha the rooster crowing I know how you feel I feel like every time I'm trying to listen to a good video mine starts crowing! Great information to know giving me some good ideas for my place and my chickens thank you so much!
I just moved my chicken tractor to the bad parts of my yard. In the parts of my yard that I have put chicken on it did truly change. So keep those chickens moving.
Good idea. I don't have chickens, but I own a guinnea pig. I grow my what grass in the bottoms of empty water bottles in my apartment windowsill. I put the container in the cage for a few hours. She eats the wheat grass...then I place the container back in the window and it regrow!
Wonderful video! I'm guessing it's not just the chicken manure, but the manure in combination with their scratching. They work that ground tirelessly, digging it up and working the manure into the dirt or clay. Soil-making machines that give eggs and meat! I want to try this with my hens. They love scratching for food as much as they like just eating. It's how they're made.
Wonderful! That's what our poor planet really needs - not artificial food, but chickens and other animals, as it always was before the agricultural revolution!
I have rocks and rocks . My father n law said my land would have suited well for a Quarry . Been growing some fodder boxes , experimenting on different things . Chickens don’t seem to mind the rocks so much, raked up all I could .
Great vid Jeff, Before man , large herds would move through an area on their migrations eating and pooping as the went, never staying in one spot for too long
I was wondering about this. When we buy our homestead. How to one get the pastures alive again (in case we buy land that needs help). And how could I feed chickens and some smaller livestock. like goats & maybe a milk cow or two later on. Thank you for confirming this Idea I have been wondering about for a few years now.
Your intro got a sub! Haha, I ilke your sense of humor. Chicken manure is the miracle of plant life. I don't know why people say it needs to be aged. It doesn't. I use it fresh and mix with potting soil for EVERYTHING I plant. Just don't use so much manure. All plants THRIVE on it.
WOW! I've watched a ton of video's this week on this subject! This was by far a good one. Thank you... Do you have an update on this same subject...any more helpful hints? I'm going to get seed today. Hurray!
Just a cautionary tale about letting your hens eat long pieces of grass.. We had a hen that developed sour crop after being out on our lawn before it was cut the first time in spring. Not really tall grass. She couldn't eat. I had to flush her crop every day and syringe feed her gruel and give her dulcolax. Finally 3 weeks later she pooped out a clump of long grass that looked about 8" long. It isn't wise to let your hens feed on tall grass. Especially if they are pets. If you plan to cull them if they get sick I guess it wouldn't matter, but not if you want to keep them alive. My hen was lucky.
I really admire the way you worked to save that hen. I didn't know they could be saved. I had a hen die from gorging on dry spring grass after being let out off the coop after a long winter. Her crop was stuffed and couldn't empty.
@@bwaldners we had our good and bad days. Days I cried in exasperation as I felt like I was fighting a losing battle but she pulled through. My daughter and I cared for her. Cooked her some eggs, oatmeal, corn..whatever she would eat to put weight back on her. I joined the Backyard Chicken forum. That is a wonderful place to get information on care and treatment for your hens. Someone there helped me save that hen, even though she only had another 2 years with us.
That’s some really good advise, considering how green you are. Here, we have had 2 inches of rain since last September and we’ve been in triple digits for a couple of months, now. Nothing is growing out here. We planted oats and rye grass. Nothing came up.
I think that along with the manure chickens contribute to the soil, the scratching action that chickens do also contributes to the ecology of the soil, breaks it up so seeds can take hold and germinate, Good little chickens! I just love them! But also we have a Great God Who thought of everything and made all our ecological systems to work together for our good…I hope more people will quit fighting Him! Glad to hear you are seeing Him work. I hope you know the One who made it all possible
I assume that if you live in a climate that gets heavy snow, like Vermont or New Hampshire, in the winter, you would try to harvest enough seed to get the flock through the winter? I guess a basket or bucket that you could just snip off the seed heads into?
Hi 👋 Jamie here! Another fellow South Carolinian! Your video just popped up across my feed. With all the food disruptions going on we’re looking into getting some chickens. We have 18 acres and some pasture land within it. I’m a nonGMO and organic person and was concerned about how to feed the chickens. Don’t like using anything commercial/synthetic based products on our food garden. And with the prices on the rise, cheap is my biggest goal! Thanks for this video!
Thanks to my townie neighbors insisting my hens be enclosed, I've ended up with a barren pen , a fortune spent on feed and rats eating more than the hens. I'm going to see if I can make a smaller pen that I can move around and buy whole grains then see if I can get a pasture like this going. Of course I'm sure my neighbors will then complain about the long grass!!
I was about to suggest a chicken tractor too. If the Joe Salatin tractors are too big for your yard, there are UA-cam tutorials on how to build a smaller chicken tractor for ~$100 with cattle fencing panels and wood. I have varying sizes that I use to rotate chickens, ducks, and turkeys
I take my weeds, cut grass and yard waste and throw it in my coup. The chickens eat some of that stuff also. They love chickweed, they eat the Japanese knotweed and other things. This stuff decomposing also brings up bugs and things.
Grasshopper's beware in our chook yard! They will fight to the death for ANY bug! But I am going to get some greens growing in there this spring for sure!
I have chickens my side lawn and whole back yard was like that when i moved in. Then i cut some down for a garden but left the side lawn up for a couple of years. This year i cut it all down now i regret that i did. I was afraid of losing eggs cause thats how i buy my chick feed by bulk is selling my eggs. Will my side yard come back my chickens free range. I really miss my tall grasses. And i really think the chickens and duck and both turkeys do to. Maybe i wouldn't have lost 11 chickens this year and some injured ones as well. I've never lost that many chickens at all in 7 years of having them. I lost them within 2 weeks. I think they where using it as a hiding place also when danger was around. Thanks for your video.
Absolute proof we need animals on the land. Great presentation of how animals can heal the land. Thank you have a wonderful day.
The wolves in the northwest healed the land once they returned to that area
@@reason5591 Was just about to mention returning the wolves to Yellowstone.
@@reason5591 That was a great example of how herbivores alone on a landscape is detrimental because they loaf around in the same places and eat the landscape clean. Introduce predators (or ranchers who'll actually move them) and the land starts resting and healing. You need the herbivores to prune and fertilize, but left to themselves they prune until they kill the grass.
@@JeffGray Absolutely, an ecosystem must be maintained by both predators and herbivores. Limiting the time they spend in an area is crucial in the healing process.
@@JeffGray yes sir indeed! Nature is wiser than humans. Nature is completely balanced to work as things should work. No need to go messing that up.
This is not just about chicken feed! It is a real life experiment in revitalising the soil and conserving it. Great idea. I remember seeing another video on how grazing animals helped improved pasture land in Australia.
Yes and they help protect the native animals on the land.
Checkout the Savory Institute!
Only humans would forget..
I was hoping to see a jumbo Bobwhite Quail jump outta there.
@@djt7387 I’m tired of you aliens always ragging in us humans.
When my chickens are in full forage they go from at least a cup a day of feed to about a tablespoon. It's amazing
OK, I have the feeling of 'they have grass/hoppers, worms flies... But will they cont/sent?
@@laszlonemet4425 ?
@@자시엘 all day out but devour their portion as usual
We love that rooster crowing brings me back to my childhood when every farm in Ireland had chickens !
Grow out kunekunes or Gloustershire Old Spot pigs on that pasture...great heritage pork, without destroying the pasture. They forage well with the chickens and help deter chicken predators.
Love the phrase “Just Try Something”. Thanks for sharing. Lord’s Blessings,
Seth
I discovered something when i laid down about 3 inches of aged wood chips outside my coop. A few months later, a beautiful crop of wheat came up! The scratch grains had sprouted in the wood chips. It’s an easy way to make a quick, no dig, small-scale crop of wheat.
Wow this is so cool!
Any area I exclude my chooks from for a while... Bloody tomatoes spring up everywhere 😁
@@emceeboogieboots1608 free plants
5 chickens running around in my backyard. They keep the weeds down and grass is growing dark green and thick.
Why you remove weed? Roll a joint and chill man. Let the weed grow.
How large is your property? I'm on a half acre & I was wondering whats a good number
@@rf5101 regular city lot. So nowhere near your half acre. You could get as many as you want to deal with.
Great video! Thank you!
The crowing roosters are NOT an issue for the viewers!
I only have 3 chickens and it's amazing how they can change the area they are in no pest insects no weeds the grass stays green and some of the kitchen waste becomes feed for chickens which helps keep down feed cost unlike most people who think you have to spend a lot of money.
You're very smart man that's how you feed the world if you do that on a small scale it spreads all over the country you're teaching the right way!!!!
Enjoy the laid-back style you used for your presentation some folks appear to make it more complicated than it really is.
I have found that another great benefit of chickens on the ecology of the soil is the scratching. when chickens scratch they are basically tilling up just the surface of the soil.
You had to break the surface the first time to plant. I have the same type of soil. Sprayed all the weeds. Tilled it up 3 weeks later as it rained and then planted. Sprouted
I just tried something, I found your channel and liked this video, and subscribed. Wish all of life was this easy. Thank You, for the content and time you took for sharing. I loved you were just normal, I get tried of drama lures, and crazy music. Love to hear natures sounds, including roosters. Thanks Again, I'll check out the rest of your channel for sure.
You are a chicken & pasture grass genius. Old ways brought back with modern systems thinking methodology. Love it! Subscribed
Brilliant! We have been somewhat sustainable for 50 years. This year with the current shortages at the feed store we were thinking about seeding one of our pastures just like this for our chickens and geese. Its so great to see you've done this successfully. We are old and always learning.
Comfrey can be grown and chopped up and roofing’s separated to grow like crazy
This video was very helpful! It answered the questions I've been trying to ask of homesteaders that make pasture super complicated. Many thanks!
A big thank you from Vancouver Island Canada! 🐔🐓
Just try something!
Great video, @jeff. It's so cool to see once barren land being revitalized with something as simple as running some chickens through it. Keep up the great work!
WISDOM ! Thankyou for sharing !
Awesome discovery video. I too, have left a few acres 'go to seed' (I did not seed these acres). I just left them alone, no cutting. Free range our flock of Chickens, turkeys, ducks and geese during daylight hours. The next year these acres exploded with grasses 4 feet and higher. We have a lot of deer as well, so manure is everywhere. Going to get a few goats, and cattle next year and they will now have tons of fresh grasses n seeds to share with the flock.
Do not forget all the wonderful insects that supplement their diet as well while they free range or tractor range them. Proteins abound.
Undigested seeds pass through their tract and end up on the ground as fertilized seeds, that have a great start the following year. Woot, woot!
Thank you, Jeff.
God bless.
Exactly what I have been looking for! Thanks so much! Broadcast millet and sorghum for the first time ever and it grew so easily. Didn’t know it was so hardy.
Hi pretty
Awesome! Just found you and subbed! My homestead was nothing but clay and rocks when I moved here.....started the deep litter method in my barn and harvest the compost annually....I would leave mounds of compost to break down naturally by time and chickens working on said mounds in the pasture.....I now have a lush pasture. Love your video! Thank you!🙏🏻
We are also in SC and I’ve been planning to try this. Found your video when I was researching and it really helped. Thanks!!
Do not discount the chickens are small rototillers. They help cultivate the top most topsoil so the seeds you scattered find loose enough dirt in which to germinate!! Talented little buggers (pun intended).
Soil Kee in Australia have some very interesting info on pasture renovation crops and methods. The increase in their soil carbon, soil life (which aerates the soil, builds humus vital for water retention, and binding the soil with mucilage that greatly reduces topsoil loss, all whilst making soil nutrients bioavailable to plant roots without the need for fertilisers), water holding capacity (and thus drought resilience) is truly awesome.
They use mixed crop seed, just as this chap has, including things like a large long radish type that helps to create ground aerating divots that capture rain and keep it from running off the pasture.
Very much worth a look.
Love this! Just try something. I wish I would've done this when we first got the property. My favorite hobby is over thinking. 😒 There's no better way to learn than by doing. I have so much swampish land and clay but nothing will change just by shaking my head at it.
I overthink everything too. And then realize I never get anything done
Ain't that the truth!
Try adding beavers. They might reroute the watershed and give you some fertile ground you can use. (Might want to get some qualified consultants first...)
I struggle to build a good chicken tractor!!! And think on designs lol
Plant some trees😁
Loved your show. I was amazed at how nature on nature works. From lifeless
Bone acres to a lush paradise🙉!
You could make some good whisky mash from those grains.
I saw a video from a farmer in Vermont who got compost donations from nearby restaurants and he just let the chickens roam on the compost eating was still edible as well as the bugs and worms from the compost pile.
Thank you for the quality information. My family is trying to go more organic and grow our food. Our pasture and the property around the house does not grow very well so I will be giving this a try. By the way, I love hearing the roosters in the video. 😉
In order to cut costs further, around here, a person can purchase "sweepings" from the floor of our local grain mill. These huge sacks are sold very cheap for livestock feed. Just need a good strong pick-up to go get it and someplace to protect it from mice and moisture.
Nothing to do with grains or hens but my your face lights up when you smile.
Loved the video of course .
That intro was hilarious! This is my first video from you, it popped up in suggested. I’ll keep watching!
Nice to see the result, this definitely wouldn’t have happened without you over seeding. I’m sure that from an agronomy perspective that the nitrogen and phosphorus from the chicken manure played a major role in your results, additionally chickens scratching and incorporating your seeds into the soil gave you better germination. We are doing this with our 45 layer chickens this summer in a larger tractor, 30x15. I’m deliberately seeding the ground 2 weeks before the chickens start grazing
Bless all the incredible content creators out there sharing important ideas while showing proof those ideas work. Gratitude! This video is amazing for anyone with a homestead. I plan to try this. Inspiring! Subscribed. ❤️🙏🏼
Great video--- I might add that doing this method will probably be safer with a chicken tractor ..Tall grass is how Ive lost most of my chickens by coyotes and eagles.. . Also, FYI,,,,,My brother once had a garden where he had a tiny chicken hutch in the middle until he planted corn. Where the hutch was ,, the corn grew at least a foot taller .
what a fascinating experience!! thank you for sharing your observations!! invaluable
You put into words (and results!) exactly what I was thinking of doing. Great stuff. Can't wait!
Now if you bush wacked or cut it down about foot high. Would that not spread the seed as well as feed the chickens.
One note about oats. Last year I did purchase a large bagged bale of 'horse bedding' that is oat hulls. Many viable seeds survived in the mix and grew in my vegetable patch as I used the oat hulls as a less expensive soil amendment and mulch. Right on the coast here, it's never really warm enough to grow most grains, or corn, millet or sorghum. But there is a widespread native weed that is closely related to quinoa, or perhaps I'm thinking of amaranth. In any case, thanks for the advice. I will be encouraging at least those weeds while I'm pulling, trying in vain to destroy the Veldt Grass during the rainy season and Spring. Only problem, we just have had so little rain. Practically non existent these last several years. Nevertheless, the Veldt grass is persistent as ever.
Thank you for sharing this.....I was actually hoping to do something like this myself.
We will not have a ton of money for feed when we live on our off grid property (no steady income)....I was hoping that I could feed my chickens naturally like you have done, this gives me hope.
Very good and helpful video-this is something I really need to door bc our fields are just like you described yours USED to be. Thank you.
But you know, I find it amusing. that so many yt producers seem to be so self-conscious about their roosters crowing. It’s not as if he was standing right next to you. And you know, I don’t think I even noticed the crowing until you mentioned it. It’s just typical ambient homestead background sound. I wouldn’t give it another thought.
Great idea, will plant grains in the backyard and raise chicken there ...
UA-cam needs to have a love button! Thank you so much, that was so helpful! I now know what I need to do with our soil! We have an area of our property that would be perfect for this and I didn’t know how to transform the soil. I think we have the same soil as you. Thank you so much!
Thats brilliant. Thanks for sharing. We got a similar improvement using compost tea, a noticeable, wonderful improvement. We grazed the whole area with cows and sheep as well.
I had this idea a few years ago and I'm thrilled to see someone do this and have success.
Really awesome video. Good looking birds too.. I’m definitely going to do this method on my land. Love the idea of not buying organic layer feed anymore lol
God bless you even more
Great video on creating an ecosystem. Thinking about applying this in my country, Australia, I’d be really wary of snakes. They love grassy cover.
Clover, first. If you have a tractor, churn the grown clover back into the soil while you sow your grain seeds. Birds do help germinate seeds; the digestive enzymes weaken the seed shell, allowing it to crack open and grow more easily. You could alternatively (or additionally) soak your seeds in some 1% solution of hydrogen peroxide for an hour, or put your seeds in the freezer as freezing and thawing them has the same effect.
I tried clover one year for the bees, nothing happened. Scattered amongst the grass. Dandilions won't grow either. Maybe the soil is too acid? There are alot of live oak trees.
sorry but this is bad advice. One of the soil health principles is Minimal Disturbance. And as if anyone should soak seed in chemicals or put them in the freezer! Seeds have no trouble germinating all on their own. Mother Nature doesnt need our help!
I planted bird seeds in a certain area. put rabbit fencing around it until it grew and then I pulled up the stakes and started somewhere else in my yard. I also started several sunflower patches around the property and when they got past the I will eat you phase I removed the fencing because they are great at keeping out bug's. I also had two separate worm bed's growing. I would take the board off for about a hour hour and let them have breakfast and since I crushed my egg shells and put my veggie peal's in them I had such delicious egg's.
Natural corn may be diffcult as chicken feed, but still plant some corn, it attracts a lot of insects and when the plant dies it makes good mulch that attracts more insects.
Yup. Years back, for nearly 5 years I took on 40 acres with 3 dead pastures. We had just over 100 chickens, free range, and a couple horses. For the first year we fed them regularly. Year two they had conditioned the pastures in such a manner that we planted hey & alfalfa on one pasture, hay and clover on the other, one we left as tall grass for grazing. Never had to purchase feed for the horses following that, and with the exception of winter or during storms, drastically reduced the amount of feed going to the birds. From useless pasture to square bails folks stated were too heavy...lol
You did well on the video. You did well relaying your experience. I enjoyed your video and appreciate your time putting it together. I hope you and yours are well.
Just found your channel via the black soldier fly video. Great content! Keep up the great work.
Just found your channel...and crazy youre from the upstate...im in Pickens and have been watching homestead channels for years and NEVER was once recommended your channel! Awesome videos!!
That’s awesome! I’m in Marietta.
Great Idea Jeff. I hope to get a pasture to raise chickens on someday.
Ive never seen such a drastic and immediate a change in soil ecology and grass health as occurs after dense running poultry. + 1
Thanks.Good luck.
Three minutes in and enjoying it. Good information. Like your history, current to plan ratio
bro! This was dope! the algorithm knew what was up when it suggested this video to me. instant sub. gonna start doing something like this in my backyard.
Thanks for the information. It is a great idea
Haha the rooster crowing I know how you feel I feel like every time I'm trying to listen to a good video mine starts crowing! Great information to know giving me some good ideas for my place and my chickens thank you so much!
I just moved my chicken tractor to the bad parts of my yard. In the parts of my yard that I have put chicken on it did truly change. So keep those chickens moving.
Thank you for the chicken videos!
Great video. I have to modify this concept for Arizona but I am going to try this.
In AZ as well…..my “pasture” is dirt lol
Awesome video. Thank you 🌻
Good idea. I don't have chickens, but I own a guinnea pig. I grow my what grass in the bottoms of empty water bottles in my apartment windowsill. I put the container in the cage for a few hours. She eats the wheat grass...then I place the container back in the window and it regrow!
Thank you
Great idea!
Thank you for the video. I’ve been trying to figure out what to do with a patch of land that is just dirt. I now have a plan!
Wonderful video! I'm guessing it's not just the chicken manure, but the manure in combination with their scratching. They work that ground tirelessly, digging it up and working the manure into the dirt or clay. Soil-making machines that give eggs and meat! I want to try this with my hens. They love scratching for food as much as they like just eating. It's how they're made.
Wonderful! That's what our poor planet really needs - not artificial food, but chickens and other animals, as it always was before the agricultural revolution!
Great ideas here to get more grains on chicken pasture.
I have rocks and rocks . My father n law said my land would have suited well for a Quarry . Been growing some fodder boxes , experimenting on different things . Chickens don’t seem to mind the rocks so much, raked up all I could .
Excellent video and great tip about the scratch grain we are in the same boat just dropped a ton of cash on seed.
Great vid Jeff, Before man , large herds would move through an area on their migrations eating and pooping as the went, never staying in one spot for too long
I was wondering about this. When we buy our homestead. How to one get the pastures alive again (in case we buy land that needs help). And how could I feed chickens and some smaller livestock. like goats & maybe a milk cow or two later on. Thank you for confirming this Idea I have been wondering about for a few years now.
Your intro got a sub! Haha, I ilke your sense of humor. Chicken manure is the miracle of plant life. I don't know why people say it needs to be aged. It doesn't. I use it fresh and mix with potting soil for EVERYTHING I plant. Just don't use so much manure. All plants THRIVE on it.
Some great ideas 😀 just came across your channel and I’m enjoying your videos!
Awesome video Jeff
WOW! I've watched a ton of video's this week on this subject! This was by far a good one. Thank you... Do you have an update on this same subject...any more helpful hints? I'm going to get seed today. Hurray!
Hello from a fellow south carolinian, I'm from over in Darlington county
Just a cautionary tale about letting your hens eat long pieces of grass..
We had a hen that developed sour crop after being out on our lawn before it was cut the first time in spring. Not really tall grass.
She couldn't eat. I had to flush her crop every day and syringe feed her gruel and give her dulcolax. Finally 3 weeks later she pooped out a clump of long grass that looked about 8" long.
It isn't wise to let your hens feed on tall grass. Especially if they are pets. If you plan to cull them if they get sick I guess it wouldn't matter, but not if you want to keep them alive. My hen was lucky.
I really admire the way you worked to save that hen. I didn't know they could be saved. I had a hen die from gorging on dry spring grass after being let out off the coop after a long winter. Her crop was stuffed and couldn't empty.
@@bwaldners we had our good and bad days. Days I cried in exasperation as I felt like I was fighting a losing battle but she pulled through. My daughter and I cared for her. Cooked her some eggs, oatmeal, corn..whatever she would eat to put weight back on her.
I joined the Backyard Chicken forum. That is a wonderful place to get information on care and treatment for your hens. Someone there helped me save that hen, even though she only had another 2 years with us.
You heard of Allan Savory? He did a Ted Talk talking about using cows , and grass to turn deserts back into productive land. Video is on You Tube.
Great video! Two thumbs way up!
That’s some really good advise, considering how green you are. Here, we have had 2 inches of rain since last September and we’ve been in triple digits for a couple of months, now. Nothing is growing out here. We planted oats and rye grass. Nothing came up.
I think that along with the manure chickens contribute to the soil, the scratching action that chickens do also contributes to the ecology of the soil, breaks it up so seeds can take hold and germinate, Good little chickens! I just love them! But also we have a Great God Who thought of everything and made all our ecological systems to work together for our good…I hope more people will quit fighting Him! Glad to hear you are seeing Him work. I hope you know the One who made it all possible
Learned quite a few things this morning! Thanks 🙏
I assume that if you live in a climate that gets heavy snow, like Vermont or New Hampshire, in the winter, you would try to harvest enough seed to get the flock through the winter? I guess a basket or bucket that you could just snip off the seed heads into?
Great information, thank you so much for sharing.🐓
Hi 👋 Jamie here! Another fellow South Carolinian! Your video just popped up across my feed. With all the food disruptions going on we’re looking into getting some chickens. We have 18 acres and some pasture land within it.
I’m a nonGMO and organic person and was concerned about how to feed the chickens. Don’t like using anything commercial/synthetic based products on our food garden. And with the prices on the rise, cheap is my biggest goal!
Thanks for this video!
Thanks to my townie neighbors insisting my hens be enclosed, I've ended up with a barren pen , a fortune spent on feed and rats eating more than the hens. I'm going to see if I can make a smaller pen that I can move around and buy whole grains then see if I can get a pasture like this going. Of course I'm sure my neighbors will then complain about the long grass!!
You do you. The neighbors should mind their own damn business
I was about to suggest a chicken tractor too. If the Joe Salatin tractors are too big for your yard, there are UA-cam tutorials on how to build a smaller chicken tractor for ~$100 with cattle fencing panels and wood. I have varying sizes that I use to rotate chickens, ducks, and turkeys
I take my weeds, cut grass and yard waste and throw it in my coup. The chickens eat some of that stuff also. They love chickweed, they eat the Japanese knotweed and other things. This stuff decomposing also brings up bugs and things.
Put a fence up to keep birds out of neighbors yarda
Who cares what your neighbors say or think?
Grasshopper's beware in our chook yard! They will fight to the death for ANY bug!
But I am going to get some greens growing in there this spring for sure!
I have chickens my side lawn and whole back yard was like that when i moved in. Then i cut some down for a garden but left the side lawn up for a couple of years. This year i cut it all down now i regret that i did. I was afraid of losing eggs cause thats how i buy my chick feed by bulk is selling my eggs. Will my side yard come back my chickens free range. I really miss my tall grasses. And i really think the chickens and duck and both turkeys do to. Maybe i wouldn't have lost 11 chickens this year and some injured ones as well. I've never lost that many chickens at all in 7 years of having them. I lost them within 2 weeks. I think they where using it as a hiding place also when danger was around. Thanks for your video.
Luv it! Thanks for sharing
Wow. Best video I have seen in a long time x
Great video. Makes me want to move to a place where I can get some chickens :)
Thanks for the education. Nice approach.
Great video