This is part of this week’s chicken series. We’re dispensing a smidge of advice, but mostly swapping stories and gathering ideas. Join in and let us know your experiences in the comments below!
Find the rest of Chicken Week at Facebook, Youtube and Instagram.
Meredith and I have always wanted to create a Chicken Wonderland. But who has that kind of time when most of your time is spent creating Family Tummyfulltopia and Bill Paidville? That’s well put, right? Don’t hate, it’s late.
But we’re for real this time, you guys. No more messing around. We say this, knowing that once you reach a certain amount of chickens (and/or ducks) creating an ideal (and resilient) environment can get challenging.
The Exodus
We’ve recently moved the chickens to what we hope will be their forever home on the SSTP farm. And when I say forever home, I’m now referring to the fenced pasture that Pargin used to live in and thoroughly enjoyed breaking out of. (Where is Pargin? Let’s just say we took him to a farm upstate.)
We have started converting his old lean-to, which was originally Jenna and Ziggy’s old lean-to, into the new chicken coop. Where are Ziggy and Jenna? Let’s just say they’re in a larger pasture behind the house. This is verifiable and they say hello. The ferrier visited today. His name is Paul and he’s pretty cool.
Old habits
To drive home the message, we deconstructed the old chicken coop and are currently in the process of trying to undo their muscle memory of gathering there at the end of the day. We’ve been unsuccessful. Even without roosts, a roof, or any protection, they insist on gathering at sundown on absolutely anything they can near their old coop.
That is still obstacle #1. Closely related obstacle #2 is getting them to stay in their new larger run when it is just begging to be escaped. Aside from the exiting through the many holes Pargin created under the fence, the chickens can still simply fly over, or walk through the great distance that has developed between the gate and the post, because I was once and even more novice fenceman.
My theory is this: to keep luring them back to Wonderland with treats and more treats. A true abundance, without breaking the bank. Give them plenty to scratch. Then provide shade and shelter. The shade and shelter part is lacking, unfortunately. So that is next. But chickens don’t care about your good intentions. They want results. And there are simply to many chickens and ducks for the lean-to to be a place to safely gather. So we need more trees, more structures, more food and better fences.
Wonderland plant plan
Chickens are not happy unless they have all the food they need and they will. not. stop. exploring for it. So this year and next are years of planting, planting, planting on the SSTP farm. This means for the livestock as well. So we have plans to provide nutrient dense herbs like oregano, thyme and sage. But also foraging crops like clover, alfalfa, and kale. Along with taller plants like sunflowers, comfrey, and berries like mulberry and flowers like marigolds.
Many of these will be in larger pots that will be moved in once established. If we tried to direct sow many of these, the seeds or seedlings would be eaten before they had a chance.
Facing the facts
We may have to accept that this year, the chickens will be slow to embracing Chicken Wonderland. Such as it is.
In the meantime, let us know your ideas for improving our chances of keeping the chickens in their new run as well as how you prepare yourself and poultry for the unknown, such as feed shortages, drought, and more! We all want to know!
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