Putting chickens to work

danarutan · #1 01/20/14, 07:36 PM

If i built a moveable chicken run to fit between my garden rows ( 3ft x 30ft) and each day or so moved it to a new row could my chickens ( I have 13) keep my weeding done for me?

Fire-Man · #2 01/20/14, 08:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by danarutan

If i built a moveable chicken run to fit between my garden rows ( 3ft x 30ft) and each day or so moved it to a new row could my chickens ( I have 13) keep my weeding done for me?

Sure, where they can get to. I been doing this for years but doing a whole row that Is finished. I call it "Weed and Feed.

A 30ft single pen would be a little tough to move every day unless you got packed dirt and wheels.

PrincessFerf · #3 01/21/14, 08:59 AM

I put my chickens to work every summer in that way. Just make sure they can't get to anything you DON'T want them to eat. They aren't picky and will eat everything in their path.

Marcia in MT · #4 01/21/14, 09:41 AM

Some time in the last year, there was a post -- somewhere -- of a pen a guy built that went between his rows. The chickens did keep it weeded, and it kept them from damaging the crops. Because otherwise, they will indeed eat everything!

johng · #5 01/21/14, 10:10 AM

My next chicken yard is going to be divided into two yards with the chicken house in the middle of the garden. I will swap them from one side to the other. Once the garden is spent I will let the chickens in. Then plant the side I just moved them from.

Callieslamb · #6 01/21/14, 10:53 AM

They might need shade at the height of summer but yes, totally doable.

Tabitha · #7 01/21/14, 12:02 PM

I am trying to wrap my mind around how you move this pen, Not with the chickens in it I take it. A good idea I think to let chickens do some work. And the green feed is good for them/.
Last summer I let 30 chicklets loose in my garden. I had brooded them in a defunct little greenhouse and they did a fine job catching bugs. too little to do damage. It also was fun to see a bunch of little ones congrate under a rhubarb leaf.

Steve in PA · #8 01/21/14, 03:46 PM

Check the poultry section. Lots of people including myself use their chickens in the garden. I wait until after the harvest and let them go crazy cleaning and fertilizing for me. II use them in the summer to keep the weeds down in a few places too.

danarutan · #9 01/21/14, 07:56 PM

I was thinking of making out of PVC pipe with fencing zip tied to it -- the 3 ft x 30 ft x 2 ft tall if that would be to heavy to lift and move I could always make 2 15 ft long ones. I could cover part of it with a small tarp to provide shade. I just didn't want to spend the money to make it if they wouldn't keep the weeds down enough, but if they keep me from having to pull weeds out of even 1/2 the garden I'll do it.

MichaelZ · #10 01/21/14, 07:59 PM

Make sure your working chickens know where to find the time cluck so they can punch in and out each day.

FCLady · #11 01/22/14, 08:55 PM

One year I used a small chicken tractor through the garden. I moved it 3-4 times a day. Where the ground is "soft" the chickens started to dust themselves right next to the wooden sides. This made nice "holes" in the dirt, big enough they could walk under and right out. There were also some weed stems that were too tough and they just cleaned up the weed leaves.

Patchouli · #12 01/22/14, 09:03 PM

They will definitely keep the weeds down!

solsikkefarms · #13 01/22/14, 09:21 PM

I thought about doing something along those lines. My idea was to run 2, 12 foot rows separated by a couple feet, just big enough to house a portable chicken house. On either side would be mobile runs between rows. At night when the chickens went to roost you close them up, move the house to the next row and move your runs.

mollymae · #14 01/23/14, 02:35 AM

We are thinking of something along this line. We do have restrictions where we are as far as poultry and livestock are concerned, but our immediate neighbors are quite fond of our garden!! This introduction of quail may or may not work out for us but at least we still have other family means for eggs. Id love for the quail house to be able to fertilize our garden. Its in a low spot...we call it the low garden. Its nutrients are depleted at best. We water from the river which helps the soil, but is awful on the plant itself.

Rustaholic · #15 01/23/14, 06:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by danarutan

I was thinking of making out of PVC pipe with fencing zip tied to it -- the 3 ft x 30 ft x 2 ft tall if that would be to heavy to lift and move I could always make 2 15 ft long ones. I could cover part of it with a small tarp to provide shade. I just didn't want to spend the money to make it if they wouldn't keep the weeds down enough, but if they keep me from having to pull weeds out of even 1/2 the garden I'll do it.

I would make two 15 foot ones instead.
It is not the weight as much as it would be the size and shape moving it from row to row.
Either that or get a bit more fancy and do three ten foot ones where one is their roosting place. Make them attach to each other as in once they are all in that end unit you slide down a door trapping them there then unhook the other two units and move them. Finally you move the one with the chickens in there.
If they are all up on roosts I was just thinking about an eight foot roost unit and a sheet of 1/4" plywood could slide in as a floor. Even if there were a couple on the ground it would be easy to get them to jump up on the plywood.
If I did it the grooves that the plywood would slide into would be a couple inches above the ground.

Fire-Man · #16 01/23/14, 07:51 AM

Danarutan, you can do something similiar to mine, but narrower so it will go in between your rows. Make a light weight coop section with some kind of floor on wheels---so the chickens will have some where safe and dry to get in and where you can lock them in at night when you want to move it the next day. You can also have a couple nesting boses on the coop. When you get ready to move them just close the doors at night then the next morning, set the end yards out the way, roll the "coop" down the row, set the end yards back in place, open the doors and let them out. You can have several/many(100 if you want with some 180's to work down the rows beside each other) say 10ft yards to use so you they can have more range. Then you can have your "coop" where you can roll it up to your main chicken yard and open the door to let them back in it the times you need them out the garden so you can work on it, disking, plowing etc.

Mine is used when I finish picking a row---I move it on to that row. I move mine with the golfcart----only takes minutes to move it 20ft or across the farm. My end yards winch up at a angle for moving.

danarutan · #17 01/23/14, 06:00 PM

We shut ours up in the coop at night, I was only thinking of putting them in the run during the day (if not too hot) then at night put them back in the coop, all I have to do is grab a can with a little corn in it and shake it and they will follow me anywhere. We let them free range a lot except in the spring & early summer until the garden is established-- one time I planted over 100 bulbs in the morning and by nighttime they had them all scratched up.