Gene GeRue

Jami, as with cows and horses, the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. Does your run area get eaten down to dirt? If so, enlarge it, provide more feed or keep fewer chickens. If it is small, you can lay old boards down on the ground just inside the fence. From time to time flip one over with a hoe or rake; there might be slugs or worms there, yummers!

One of the things I learned about the moat that is applicable to any chicken run is to use heavier wire than poultry mesh. What here in Southern Missouri is called dog run fencing works great. I put it down on the ground but do not bury it or fold it at the bottom. Grass grows up into the bottom of the fence, making it tight down there.

Gene GeRue

Paul, I am crushed. You make no mention of my chicken moat invention. Please see
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Sustainable-Farming/1988-05-01/Garden-Pest-Control.aspx

Permaculture to me is designing my place so that everything is interrelated and does more than one thing. Paddocks are a nice idea but too labor intensive for my old body's tastes and they seem to have only the chickens in mind. The chicken moat is primarily for the purpose of feeding the chickens a varied diet including all those pesky grasshoppers and other bugs that seem obsessed with getting into a garden, but it also protects the garden from rabbits, armadillos, deer, etc. The moat surrounding the garden gives the hens maximal opportunity to have a fair shot at getting the bugs before the bugs get the veggies. As it surrounds the garden it also makes it very easy to toss weeds and veggie rejects into it. Fruit trees planted around the garden perimeter also make it easy to toss in rotten fruit.

The moat should be designed for a certain size flock. Should one wish to increase flock size it is easy to expand the moat in any direction. Your paddock idea can be easily accommodated by building extra attached sections, each with its own gate that opens from a small yard outside the henhouse. Or the moat can be partitioned.

As for chicken poop, you seem to see it as nasty, odiferous yucky stuff. That leads to waste. I see it as garden gold. In our henhouse, which we call the Taj Mahen, I long ago abandoned using sawdust or straw. The litter consists entirely of old, dry chicken poop. With low-back and high-front ventilation, the coop stays dry. Hens cannot resist scratching and they keep their litter nicely aired out. All I ever do is shovel out what I need to feed the garden beds. The fresh poop lands on dry poop, so it dries quickly. Minimal smell, maximal fertilizer.

Keep up the good work. You have many good ideas and I feel certain you are helping a lot of people who are new to the world of permaculture.

Gene GeRue
Author: How To Find Your Ideal Country Home
Inventor: The Chicken Moat