Using Chickens to Create Compost Easily
One of the great tips in the Permaculture Soils DVD is how to use chickens to do a lot of the composting for you. We all know chickens like to scratch and break the pest cycle but did you know how to harness chickens to direct their scratching to create compost for you?
One of the little known facts is that chickens will direct their scratching downhill as they forage for insects, seeds and grubs. Siting your chicken coop on a downhill sloping site will direct the chickens to scratch in the downhill direction. You’ll end up with a bigger pile downhill of old mulch and rotting vegetation.
The rotting heap will attract worms and other microbes to break down the underlying layer of mulch turning it into great compost. Chickens wont be able to scratch down to this bottom layer. All you need to do is periodically turn over the upper mulch to get to the good stuff underneath. Geoff Lawton has his larger chicken coop built this way to allow the chickens to scratch and push the mulch downhill.
Digging up worms out of reach to the chickens
He describes it as his straw yard. A place where you dump all your excess organic matter for the chickens to process. “Weeds and vegetable waste matter can be a problem for the gardener – but here they are turned into a solution.” He says. “The chickens are turning waste into wealth.” Geoff digs under the heap and lifts up a large wriggling worm. The compost he digs up looks great too.
Working with a garden fork he digs up the good compost and use it straight on the fruit trees of an emerging food forest planted just outside the chicken coop.
A simple and effect way to build compost using chickens.
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