Intro to Backyard Chickens

If you have a garden space where you would like to incorporate manure from your own chickens, saving on fossil fuel consumption, off-farm fertilizers, and inputs. While receiving a massive helping hand in weed and pest control, and adding biodiversity to your farm or garden space. Or if you are concerned where the pre-packaged meat wrapped in plastic and pink styrofoam containers is coming from and how it's "raised", and would like raise and process your own food insuring them the best life possible. Or if you just love the rich taste of fresh eggs. Then raising a few chickens may be for you. Not to mention the escape they offer from a stressful job and city life, the entertainment they'll bring to your backyard, and a healthy dose of animal companionship will make it all worth it. Raising your own flock is a simple way to begin raising livestock. They are easy to raise and relatively cheap to buy, feed, and house. Especially if you start out with a small number of laying hens for a backyard flock.

Chickens are really an interesting bird; here are a few facts:
Folks have been raising chickens for at least 5,000 years. Charles Darwin traced chickens back tens of thousands of years to the wild red jungle fowl. This breed (Gallus Gallus) is native to Southeast Asia but is now extinct. They are much like the Brown Leghorns of today and were homebodies that liked to live and forage in one place as long as possible. In 1868 Darwin took an inventory of the worlds chicken population finding only 13 breeds. Today we have many times that number and most were developed in the 20th century. There are three basic types of chickens. Layers (for eggs), broilers (for meat), and dual purpose (for eggs and meat). There are some really amazing rare breeds that make superb dual purpose birds. One example is the Buckeye.

Chickens need housing to protect them from winds and harsh weather. 8 by 12 ft. is plenty for 30 regular sized chickens. An old tool shed, a barn corner, or other out-structure could be perfect. If these don't already exist, one can easily be put together with scrap wood or pallets. I think one of the best ideas is to build a mobile "chicken tractor" if you have, or can easily find, the resources. construction sites and grocery stores are a good place to find them. There are many examples of these types of coops online, youtube etc. Try to position your coop on a slope or hill for good drainage. Careful to insulate and heat structure for your chickens in the harsh winter if you are in a cold climate, so their combs don't freeze. In most situations in the Southeast a light or two may be all you need. They will also need a perch (an old ladder will work), nesting boxes (one nest per four hens), and litter for the coop floor. Use sawdust, shredded paper, wood shavings, wood chips, rice hulls, peanut hulls, chopped straw, soft hay, ground up corncobs, and any other soft, or other absorbent materials. Place 4 inches of litter beneath the nests and coop floor. And keep the coop very clean of any eggs, especially broken ones. Once a chicken gets a taste of fress eggs they will begin to peck open and devour their own.

Choosing the right breed is important. Do you primarily want eggs, or do you want to raise your own meat? Do you want to help preserve an endangered breed? Or do you simply want the pleasure of seeing chickens in your backyard as pets, having fun doing what they do best...eat bugs and greens, and scratch.

The American Standard of Protection contains descriptions and pictures of many breeds and varities. Another extremely helpful organization to get to know is the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy http://www.albc-usa.org/. They have done amazing work restoring populations of rare heritage breeds on the edge of extinction.

Having already talked a little about housing, the next thing chickens will need is good fencing. At least four feet high using chicken wire or poultry netting. A strip of electric wire at the very top and on the bottom outside is a good idea for keeping out predators. Trench it tight at the bottom so chickens can't escape. An easily moveable system is something to keep in mind. Chickens need to be periodically re-introduced to fresh pastures. and love being turned loose in a spent garden.

Feed the chickens forage, garden remnants, grade b produce. And each chicken will eat a two pound ration of feed per day. Use feeder troughs or hanging tube feeders. Protein supplementation is a must. Feed them cooked crawfish shells (not crayfish) for extra calcium and carrots, both also for a deep orange, rich yolk. That's my top secret tip of the day.

Husbandry Guidelines:
Keep your coops littered and dry. Keep the yard around the coop dry and free from standing water and puddles. This is a breeding ground for unwelcome pest, parasites, and disease. Again keep eggs collected and clean from the coop floor. Make sure water is clean and filled daily. Look for signs of illness, lice, and mites. Check fecal matter periodically for worms. Pay attention to their behavior. Eyes should be clear, and open...Legs should be clean and healthy, no or very little discoloration.

Market Products:
Select breeds for broilers or eggs (or dual purpose breeds for both) know them and what products you expect from them. Do you want to sell eggs and meat at your local Farmers' Market? Or do you just want to feed your family and friends? There are processing methods to consider. Like, will you do this yourself, at home? (Which is legal to do for under 100 birds in NC.) What kind of materials and set-up will you need to do this?

Services Chickens Offer:
Weed management, pest management, free fertilizer, great companions, and much more.

More to come...
All my best!



Interesting chicken facts and other info taken from Barnyard in Your Backyard.

Mom and Pops'

My Dad has been making do-nuts since 1962. That makes 47 years this June. Hand-mixing up to 100 quarts a day for a nice chunk of that time, hand-cutting every do-nut for 13 years, until the Moline machine came along, offering a great deal of help. But many of the varieties he makes by hand, still to this day. Me and my four Brothers have all spent many years right there by his, and each others' side, learning and working very hard. In fact, I am the only brother not there today. Tommy, Bruce, Lundy, and Matthew all work in the family business. For about the last five years we have been living with the fear that we might have to close the doors for good. All this to say...Please support people and family businesses that are intimately involved with our food, and other basic needs. Shop at your area Farmer's Market and talk to the people who grow the food you eat. Local crafters, artisans, and artists. You will be amazed at the good people you'll meet and the stories you'll hear. And from time to time stop in at your local family owned and operated do-nut shop...You might be pleasantly surprised at the community there waiting for you.

Big business and corporate chains have been slowly killing us at the core. It's way past time we fight back...

All my best

Links To Sustainable Agriculture

Here are a few sites that get me through the day.
Enjoy!

SARE - Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education
"What is Sustainable Agriculture?"

Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group

Carolina Farm Stewardship Association
lots of great info here!

Growing Small Farms
This is a site local to me but so much information.

World Wide opportunities on Organic Farms

Local Harvest
Here you'll find your local farmers' markets,
sustainable farmers you can get CSA shares from!
Organic food, Grass fed beef, and much more...

The Greenhorns
A documentary film, in progress, that explores the lives of America’s young farming community—its spirit, practices, and needs. Be sure and check out the trailer!

American Farmland Trust
Protecting farmland and the environment

The Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance (FARFA)
Protecting our food security by saving farms, and individuals, from unnecessary
government regulations and surveillance. Stopping NAIS (National Animal Identification System)!

LAND LINK
Beginning farmer resources; Internships, incubator farms, etc...

American Livestock Breeds Conservancy
Working to conserve Historic livestock breeds.

National Sustainable Agiculture Information Service
A wealth of info!

Polyface Farm - "The farm of many faces."
A family owned, multi-generational, pasture-based, beyond organic, local-market farmand informational outreach in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley.
Profiled in Michael Pollan's book, 'The Omnivore's Dilemma'.

I Love Mountains
Environmental: Stopping Mountain top removal

Cricketbread
A blog on eating local, community bulding, and starting a sustainable farm here in the Chatham County area, etc....

Cropmob
A group of young agrarians coming together, offering their services to positively impact local sustainable farms in need of a helping hand. All the while learning new skills, sharing old ones, and building community.

All my best!


Technical support:
Sean Michael Hart

Food Traditions

For most of my memorable life, I have been surrounded by good food. Of course, I'm not referring to nights out at gourmet restaurants, or lobster bisque prepared by our personal chef. No I don't have any memories of anything like that. But I do have treasured memories of my Grandma, her sisters, Mothers, Fathers, Aunts, Uncles, and a lot of kids huddled up in the kitchen cooking and preparing amazing food for everone.

I'm talking about real food grown by real people, real close.
I also have very fond memories "helping" my Grandfather in his garden, when I was young. And how I have never tasted a tomato so sweet as those days. The ones he grew with so much love and dedication. Skills that his ancestors passed on to him, and I was lucky enough to pick up just a few.

Some would argue that food traditions have been lost on our generation and I would have to whole-heartedly agree. I hope now that we can seize any opportunity presented to learn about the origins, and amazing life and characteristics of food; All the way from saving seed to preparing loved dishes with our family and friends for a local potluck. These are things we can enjoy doing together instead of living a life of isolation in front of a television. Let's arm each other with these skills and do everything we can to keep our food traditions alive, all the while strengthening our bonds with each other and the land that cradles us.

I remember the old folks always tending gardens and growing delicious food. Spending hours shucking, shelling, freezing, and canning. Not to mention the cooking! Preserving, in the truest sense of the word. Trying to teach us, but we wouldn't listen. But nowadays I would rather spend the majority of the time that makes up my life doing something truly nourishing, in every way. Growing and preparing my own food, saving heirloom seeds, varieties that are rapidly being lost everyday. (Not even mentioning the seeds some families have worked so hard to preserve and pass down for many generations that have been lost, only to reappear patented and monopolized by huge corporations and agribusinesses, only to feed a montser global food system.)


Doing these things with family and friends, people I really enjoy and love, and need in my life may be the most important thing. The more time we spend together growing our own food, the less time we have to spend working some meaningless job, for some company that is sucking the life out of us. For a boss who couldn't care less.

Don't be afraid to refuse to eat bad, processed food that was grown who knows where, from genetically engineered seed, drowning in toxic chemicals and preservatives, and shipped across the world. We can do much better.

A good look at the big picture tells me we had better make the decision to take control of our own food security and independence before it really is too late.

I wish I could go back in time and learn everything I could from the people before me. The essentials like growing, dressing game, storing, preserving, seed saving, Environmental stewardship, and connection with a place. Thinking about it now, It wasn't that I was lucky to pick up on a few of these things. Maybe that's just how things were, and should be again. So, I'll continue on this path that leads me in and out of friends' kitchens and up and down garden rows. With any luck I will continue to be surrounded by good food, family and friends. And who knows? Maybe one day I'll come across one of my Grandfather's tomatoes again, in my garden.

Pest Management Basics

Simple strategies to control pests in a sustainable farming system:

"Controlling pests and disease organically means much more than simply changing the types of sprays and dusts you use. Organic gardeners strive to develop a balanced system where problems are regulated naturally and where there is little or no need to use even the safest organic sprays to control pest problems."


The majority of plant life will be strong and healthy by simply growing them in healthy soil and a suitable location. By growing plants within their natural conditions they will magically thrive. There are usually greater problems with pests in monocropping situations, where only one type of tree or plant is grown in a concentrated area, than there are in a diverse cropping scheme. Many pests and diseases can be prevented by site selection alone.

Healthy soil is a must. It should have a good tilth for the roots to flourish by finding and accessing the nutrients the plant needs. And of course a healthy pH is key. This affects the availability of certain nutrients to the plant affecting it's overall vigor and pest resistance. What is the natural soil pH, and what are the plants' needs? You can have your soil tested by your local Cooperative Extension Service. Use the results as a guideline. Soil pH can easily be improved by incorporating compost, mineral fertilizers, mulch, lime, and soil amendments as needed. Help the soil balance by growing green manure crops, adding organic matter each season.

Opt for transplanting over direct seeding whenever possible. Choose the healthiest transplant when selecting for your garden. This will make all the difference. You can usually tell a strong transplant by a few details: Choose straight, strong looking plants with bushy, compact growth, and green healthy leaves, making sure the plant is not too big for it's pot and that root formation is not too compacted or tightly spiraled.

Companion plant and have as diverse a garden as possible, avoiding monocultures. Mix strong smelling herbs like rosemary and basil in with your crops, and flowers like merigolds. These will confuse and deter many pests...and disease. This is one reason tomatoes do so well with basil. Basil repels pests like tomato hornworms.

Providing an environment for beneficial insects will be immeasurably helpful! This includes birds too. Help create a enjoyable habitat for them; birdhouses etc. Letting a small percentage of your crops flower helps this process greatly, plants like arugula and radish.

Rotating crops takes away pests' previous home and you get a fresh start with that plot each season. Knowing plant families and their relatives is very helpful. For example, you want to keep Solinaceous crops moving. Don't plant tomatoes where you had the peppers the season before because they are in the same family and will attract the same pests. Another example is the mustards and cabbage family, Brassicaceae or Cruciferae. This includes broccoli, cauliflower, turnip, mustard, radish, horseradish, rapeseed, cress, and watercress. A three year rotation is a good rule of thumb.

Develop a keen eye for scouting. Keeping an eye on plants when they are very young puts you ahead of the game when it comes to weed control. And, excellent record keeping helps you to know what pests to expect and when to expect them. You'll know exactly what to do next time, and will have a good jump on any problems.

Avoid handling plants when they are wet. Moisture provides the perfect magnet for mold, disease, etc...

(Right now I sound like the plant guy on HGTV reading this back to myself...)


A few more helpful facts and a brief review:

Lady bugs control aphids in your organic garden.
Inspect plants for weeds and pests.
Mold on plants can be defeated by a particular companion fungus.
Scouting - Being on the ground and looking, check under leaves and row covers.
Biological sprays like BT are an absolute last resort.
Crop rotation - each growin season alternate plant families in each plot.
Allow a small percentage of crops to flower, in order to create habitat for beneficial insects.
Create diversity - varietal differences, crop rotation.
Promote earthworm populaton in soil.
Promote healthy soil microbial activity, and PH levels, by introducing plenty of organic matter
Use organic mulch - incorporating 2-3 weeks after maturity, depending on crop and weather.
Using drip irrigation targets water flow beneath plants, wet plants are more subject to mold/desease
In a dry year we have less disease and lower weed pressure
Wet seasons may cause just the opposite.
Opt for transplanting instead of direct seeding when possible.
a) Much more mature and durable plants will be stronger to protect themselves against pests, weeds, and weather conditions.


Text studied, 'The Organic Gardener's Handbook of Natural Insect and Disease Control'

The Plan

The basic motivation for starting a blog in a world seemingly full of them, is propelled simply by the desire to share information, I guess. Information about oneself, and unique experiences we can convey commonly to the curious. Since I am a student again, after about a six year hiatus from that scene, many uncommon adventures and discoveries will no doubt take place here, and already have. Not simply because I am a student again, but because I am enrolled in a college program and live within a community both very unique and fascinating in and of themselves.


The college is located in small town, rural North Carolina. I would not hesitate to describe this place as sustainably focused. A vibrant community-centered place, that is home to artists, supporters of dreams, writers, fixers of problems, food preparers, sustainable energy enthusiusts, musicians, farmers, and real good, everyday folk. Everybody comes together to make this an amazing and supportive community, whatever the endeavor. I am in the Sustainable Agriculture program here. We have a Land Lab on campus which is approximately 1 and 1/2 acres in size (photos will eventually be posted). This is home to a very diverse menu of delicious, organically grown vegetables, fruits and herbs, bee hives, a Community Supported Agriculture program, and 14 friendl egg-laying hens. The chickens are incorporated into the crop rotation scheme, offering up their manure for fertilizer, as well as their weed/pest management skills. Much more on them later...


The college itself is also home to a Biofuels program, and very soon will house a Green buildings program and a Local foods based Culinary curriculum! I would really like to participate in all of them, and maybe one day I will. But, for now I am farm focused. The students in the Sus. Ag. program get to take a variety of classes, like Sustainable Livestock Management, Sring and Fall Crop Production, Plant and Soil Sciences, Agricultuaral Marketing (which of course, shows us newbie farmers how to help feed a community, while actually make money doing what we love), and Intro to Sustainable Agriculture, which among many other things, teaches us that there are other responsibilities we should accept, those of the social, political, and environmental kind. You will definately hear more on this later...


Now that we have a few facts out of the way. I would like to relay one of my distinct purposes for this blog. I remember thinking last semester (which was my first), "Wow, there is sooo much info here and it really needs to be out there for everyone to know and to share." And already, in the first two weeks of 2009, I have had many questions, from at least a dozen friends and family. All about this "mysterious" life I am living, which I have quickly grown to love. And of course, many more about simple, organic gardening/farming practices, and all aspects of life surrounding. Things like why conventional agriculture so bad and Organic so good, garden design, plant groupings, seasonality of produce, composting, soil building, preserving foods, and possibly my most favorite topic: Cooking! Recipes and how to prepare certain foods, and how these things affect and build community. Things I love to discuss and learn about, even though I am still kinda green myself. And I can tell that these concerns are more than just wanting to grown our own food. I think we are really starting to see, and react to, the disconnect with our food that agribusiness and the global food system have left us with. And how unhealthy our relationship to food has become. I would really like to share, and learn, as much as I can about all things related, in this forum. So, at the swinging gate of a fresh semester, filled with all the hope and anticipation the prospect of a new season can bring...I am looking forward...




Books read and/or frequently referred to last semester:

The Fateful Harvest Reader: The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture
The New Organic Grower. by Elliot Coleman
Building Soils for Better Crops
Barnyard In Your Backyard
The Self-Sufficiency Handbook. by Alan and Gill Bridgewater
The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved. by Sandor Ellix Katz
The Art of The Commonplace: The Agrarian Essays of Wendell Berry



Much more to come...