9 Things Chickens Bring To A Permaculture Garden

Chickens are often the gateway animals for permaculture gardeners. They are one of the best ways to gain an introduction to keeping livestock, and may well, space permitting, give you the bug for incorporating other types of creature into your site. There are many things that chickens bring to a permaculture plot. These are considered the chicken’s products and a very varied. As long as you provide for the birds’ needs, you will enjoy all the following benefits of keeping chickens.

Food
One of the primary reasons to keep chickens is that they provide food. Given the right sort of conditions, many species will produce eggs on most days. The Rhode Island Red, for example, averages 300 eggs per year per bird. Not only does this give you a consistent supply as tasty food, you can be sure of exactly what has gone into the production of the eggs, from the welfare of the birds to the food that has been processed by them. In modern egg production facilities, cramped unnatural conditions and the use of antibiotics are common.

Chickens can also provide meat. It can be quite a confronting thing to consider killing animals you have raised, but you can be secure in the knowledge that you have given them a happy life, one that met their needs and allowed them to live as natural a life as possible.

Recycling
And what is it that these birds are processing to become food in the shape of eggs and meat? Well, one of them is the scraps from your kitchen. Chickens are omnivorous and are a very good way of recycling so-called ‘waste’ material. They will eat most fruit and vegetable scraps (although onion and citrus peel should be avoided to prevent tainting the taste of the eggs), as well as red meat. It goes without saying that you should not feed chickens the remains of their own kind.

Manure
Once the chicken has eaten its food and its physiological processes have extracted the parts it requires to sustain it as well as produce eggs, what happens to the remainder? Well, it becomes manure. But even the chicken’s waste product is a valuable product that the permaculture gardener can utilize. Chicken droppings are rich in urea, meaning the have good levels of nitrogen. This chemical element is one of the essentials ones required by plants in order to grow and produce fruit. Providing sufficient nitrogen to plants is one of the key things to ensuring a good harvest. Chicken manure added to the soil is one of the best ways to achieve this. However, the manure should be composted first as used directly on garden beds it carries a risk of burning plant roots and stems.

There are other uses of chicken manure as well. Some permaculturists use it to sustain fish in an aquaculture system. The fish feed on the nutrients in the manure and then the fish droppings are used as food for plants in vegetable beds. Some gardeners have made this ecological cycle even more self-sustaining by siting their chicken coop over the aquaculture tanks, meaning the droppings are fed directly into the water, rather than being manually distributed. In such a system, all the gardener has to do is feed the chickens and harvest the crops.

Heat
Chickens, like all warm-blooded animals, give off heat, which is another prod cut of the chicken that can be utilized by the permaculture gardener. One common way of doing so is to site your chicken coop either inside a greenhouse (you will need to ensure droppings don not build up too much as the ammonia they release can be detrimental to the plants inside) or next to it so that while the birds do not access the greenhouse, the heat they give off radiates into it. Another option is to place you chicken coop next to the outside wall of your bathroom in order to help heat it, thus saving on your energy bills.

CO2
Another product that the chicken produces just by virtue of being alive is carbon dioxide. Like all air-breathing animals, chickens use oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide. Plants use carbon dioxide to grow and give off oxygen. Siting your chicken coop inside or next to the greenhouse allows you to make use of chicken breath as well as body heat.

Soil Turning
One of the natural behaviors that permaculture gardeners should ensure that their chickens are allowed to exhibit is scratching at the ground. The birds do this to uncover worms, insects and seeds to eat, but is helps the gardener too, turning the topsoil so it aerates and improving the structure so nutrients and moisture can penetrate. The Sussex breed is well regarded for its soil-turning abilities. They can also be used to help turn compost.

Pest Control
As chickens scratch at the ground, they uncover insects and other animals to eat. Not only is this a natural source of food for the birds, the behavior can help the gardener by keeping pest populations under control. For instance, chickens eat slugs and snails that can damage vegetable crops, while in an orchard will eat fruit fly maggots in fallen fruit and help prevent this insect, which damages fruit crops, from breeding.

Enjoyment
It must also not be forgotten that having chickens in your permaculture garden will also bring you enjoyment and pleasure, simply by their presence. Different species are known to have different characteristics (such as the Orpington being known to actively seek human company), but individual chickens have their own personalities as well. Some may be shy and need time to develop a trusting relationship, while others can be upfront and demand attention.

Learning
Keeping chickens is also a very good way not only of providing children with the pleasure of observing and interacting with the animals, but also of teaching them about where food comes from. If you have young children, an easy-going breed is recommended. Consider the Wyandotte or the Delaware as species known to have placid natures.

Ten Chicken Species to Consider for your Permaculture Plot

Chickens are often a permaculturist’s first entry into keeping livestock. An ideal addition to zone 2 of a permaculture property, chickens offer a number of benefits. Besides eggs and meat, they can help keep the soil healthy via their scratching and scavenging, they can aid in controlling insect populations. Their droppings are a great natural fertilizer, they will eat most of the scraps you’re your kitchen, and even their body heat can be utilized to warm a greenhouse or bathroom. Not only that, but chickens require relatively little maintenance and provide a lot of pleasure for the gardener, as they have different personalities and character traits.

There are several species of chickens that are suitable for backyard permaculture gardens. While the specific climate and environmental conditions, as well as what you wish to get from your chickens, will impact upon your choice, here are a few species that are suitable for most locations.

Rhode Island Red
This species is often the first that gardeners obtain, when starting to experiment with keeping poultry, as they are tough and hardy birds. They have dark red or rust colored feathers and are relatively large. Their size makes them good for adding heat to a greenhouse if you place the coop adjacent to it. The other reason they are a popular choice is that they are among the best layers of all breeds, with healthy hens regularly producing between 250 and 300 eggs a year. They are reasonably well behaved, although can be bossy among the flock as they assert hierarchies. Just be wary about exposure to frost, as their large combs can make them susceptible to frostbite.

Sussex
A breed that originated in England during the nineteenth century, have a distinctive coloring of white feathers, a black tail and a speckled black neck. It is equally happy as a free-range bird or in a coop or tractor. They are excellent foragers and so popular with permaculturists as they turn the soil and keep pest numbers down. A good all-rounder, with plenty of eggs and a good size for meat, Sussex chickens rival the Rhode Island Red as the perfect first chicken.

Wyandotte
Wyandottes are very pretty chickens, with a lacy appearance to their feathers, typically either silver or gold against black. The thick ruff of feathers they carry around their necks may mean they need cleaning more often than other breeds, but as a docile species, they are comfortable being handle for such maintenance tasks. They produce medium-sized eggs roughly every two days, and have well-developed breasts, making them good eating birds.

Delaware
Originating in the state of the same name, Delawares have a unique pattern of feathers, being predominantly white but with a speckling of black running down the back from the neck. They were originally bred as meat birds but are also good layers. One of the main reasons they make good backyard chickens is their easy-going nature. They are docile and friendly, and one of the quieter breeds so good for gardens in more built-up areas. They are a hardy breed, so are adaptable to many climate conditions.

Leghorn
While their feathers come in many colours, the most striking feature of the Leghorn’s appearance is their robust, bright red combs. They are a relatively small size and have a more flighty disposition. However, given a suitably stress-free environment, they can be very good layers, producing around 280 eggs a year, on average.

Orpington
Sometimes known as the lapdogs of the chicken world, Orpingtons will actively seek out human contact, particularly if free range. It is a heavy breed that looks even larger thanks to its thick feathering. Producing eggs roughly every three days throughout the year, Orpingtons also mature quite early, making them a good dual-purpose species.

Plymouth Rock
This species is commonly used commercially for both meat and egg production, and it is this dual purpose that can make them attractive to the smallholder. Another benefit of the species is their hardiness, making them good for environments that have large swings in temperature through the seasons. They are also a good choice for those with smaller plots, as they adapt well to confinement – they will be perfectly happy in a chicken tractor.

Brahma
Despite their large size, Brahmas are a very calm and easy to manage breed. They have a thick covering of feathers, which extends down their legs, making them a good choice for cooler climates. They are slower to mature than many other breeds, so are better as egg and breeding hens than meat birds. The breed originated from India, and takes its name from a river there. There are three main types, white, dark and buff. The white has, obviously, white feathers, but with a black tail; the dark has a dark grey speckled body, while the buff is predominantly gold coloured.

Cornish
Predominantly a meat bird, Cornish chickens grow quickly, developing good coverage on the breast and leg. They are very active birds, so are more suited to plots with a good amount of space, which might also be good for the neighbors, as they have a tendency to be quite loud. You may get around 50 eggs a year from a mature hen, but if you are looking for a meat bird, the Cornish makes an excellent choice.

Australorp
Regarded as the national breed of Australia, Australorps are new bred around the world. They have glossy black feathers and are medium-sized chickens. They have a docile character and generally don’t mind being handled. This means they are adaptable additions to flocks containing other species, and can be a good breed to introduce to children. They are predominantly an egg bird, typically producing around 250 pale brown eggs a year.

There are many other species of chicken available to the permaculture gardener that may be suitable for your plot and your needs. Most chicken breeds will do well as long as their needs are met. Provide a chicken with shelter, food, water, protection from predators, and companionship (keeping single chickens is considered cruel as they are sociable creatures), and they can be a valuable and pleasurable addition to the garden.