Friday, March 16, 2012

Pastured Poultry


We have built our second tractor for pasturing our hens. 

Last season we had built two pastures with four foot fencing and rotated between the two pastures. We also had built a smaller tractor for young pullets or just a couple hens. It worked okay but this new design is excellent. The 10x7 foot structure is moved every morning and the hens scratch thru all the native grasses eating bugs and fertilizing and aerating soil along the way.

 We have eight of our twenty one hens in this prototype, if we build two or three more like this we can have all our hens pasturing on a daily and then raise some new chicks in the shack.



In other news, we have planted two potato beds and built a bed for carrots, basil and tomatoes. We have all  lots growing under cover right now, including but not limited to: lettuces, kales, chards, broccoli, beets, radishes, cilantro, cabbage and mizuna.