Is there anything better than fresh eggs?
But what if, in addition to the eggs, your chickens could provide an extra hand (or foot, as it were) in your gardening efforts? Taking advantage of their natural desire to forage is a smart way for gardeners to get a little bit of free labor, and the chickens will love it!
Put them in the garden.
Let your girls scratch and peck their way through your planting areas before you plant your crops. They’ll help eliminate pests in the soil and quickly knock down the weeds, making garden prep easier on your back. And if you’re planning to add any natural amendments to the soil—manure, compost, blood meal—sprinkle it on the ground before you move the girls in and they’ll distribute it for you.Let them work your compost.
If you’ve had a compost pile for any amount of time, you know how it teems with bugs and grubs.
Those creepy crawlers are a great natural source of protein for the girls. And in their efforts to find those delicious little nibbles, they’ll scratch through your pile, helping to break it down even faster. If your compost is ready for use and you’ll be spreading it in an area that doesn’t need to be protected from chickens, all you need to do is put the compost in a pile where you want it. In no time flat, the chickens will have it spread out for you.
This is a veritable chicken buffet!
Have them shred for you.
Chickens confined to one area can still be a big help in your gardening system. When the garden generates lots of leaves and small trimmings, instead of putting them in the compost pile, toss some into the chicken pen and let your girls go to town. Entertainment for them, and nice shredded yard waste mixed with chicken manure for you.
(Once it’s all shredded, you’ll need to set this lovely mixture aside for a month or so to age in order to avoid burning your plants with the fresh chicken manure.)
Let them tackle tough yard areas.
If you have an area of very aggressive grass with lots of clumping roots that needs to be eliminated, put your girls to work! Moving your chickens into a portable fenced area so they can happily scratch and gobble up what’s there, all the while loosening the roots and eliminating a ton of work for you.Turn kitchen waste into eggs.
You could compost your kitchen scraps, but by feeding them to the chickens, you save on feed and get an egg for the breakfast table the next morning.
