Tomke Roolfs

Hi there,
we made the great mistake of mulching with unknown leaves and then discovered they were walnut. They have been on one bed for around 4-6 weeks, on the other for maybe 2 weeks. AI has informed me that it would be best to get some of the topsoil off to make sure no juglone that might have leached is left. What is your human advice on this? This was such a mistake, I am so sad
Thank you in advance!

Thanks everyone, that clears things up a bit.

Matt, I am still confused about this because my chickens scratch around in it like crazy. They turn their own compost heap several times daily I think. They're not coming out all day yet, they're still a bit shy, so that's what they do while sitting inside. If I add more carbon, that will definitely not keep them from coming into contact with whatever they have to battle with right now. Is that still a good idea?

It's me again... I'm really confused because whenever there is some sort of illness, even diarrhea, all the recommendations are to change bedding and disinfect. But is that true for deep litter as well?

Right now, I am dealing with three out of three chickens who caught a cold and I am unsure whether to change bedding now. They have only been in there for about 10 days, so there probably isn't much of a microbial life in there right now.

First week of chicken keeping... several sorts of diarrhea, turned out to be infested with mites, and now caught a cold, making noises that scare me and let me fear for them. This is NOT what I imagined when I got chickens!

Ok so here is the set-up, the other three paddocks are basically the same. Is that an entryway for the fox? The fence goes around the whole area like that. How much distance should I keep? The yard is not huge, so every metre takes from the chickens.

That is amazing news! So far it seemed like losses were unavoidable. So no jumping foxes for you, Gray? Thanks for the photo as well! Mine are shifted in an orchard though, right now there is no way I can imagine a hawk getting in. Do you know if that is more of an issue in winter? The trees are quite close (so close that their crowns are growing into each other at some points). Or ist there a reasonable solution for hawk protection in orchards?

Thank you Matt, I was hoping it was going to be like that. Maybe I will post pictures tomorrow of how it is set up and the two of you or whoever joins can tell me if it seems like well enough protection the way I have put it into our yard? I found it surprisingly hard to find a good solution for a fenced in suburban front yard.

I've read that they can jump up to 1,8 metre from the ground, that makes the electric fence irrelevant, doesn't it?

I'm scared for my new chickens that I've fallen in love with and I want to protect them very badly. But I don't want that to cost their freedom or quality of life with regards to paddock shifting, that's why we have decided to buy a portable electric fence (112 centimetres specifically for poultry).

I have gotten my first accidental shock today and it was quite uncomfortable and still tingles a bit, so a smaller animal than me will definitely remember that encounter, but I keep wondering if a fox wouldn't just jump over it and kill them all on a hard winter day or so. The coop is absolutely fox-proof, but if the chickens are outside is what I mean.

There are other fences nearby, so if he can really jump 5 metres (what??), he would have no trouble jumping from there. Our automatic door lets them out in the morning, and if a fox really used an elevated point to get into the net and then would not be able to get out again, he would be trapped and the chickens would be served to him as breakfast. I really see them more as pets than resources and I really want to protect them. Can you tell me your experiences and/or solutions to my problem?

We mostly got them to love them as pets with an occasional egg, so pasture improvement is not my top priority at this point

Oh, I didn't know there was a difference between herbivores and omnivores in that regard. Why is that?

The ground is like playground sand with a very thin layer of topsoil with mosses/grasses and many dandelions (which seem to be the ice cream) and wild herbs. It is an orchard in a front yard. The soil gets quite dry in the summer and the grass mostly dies. I hope this will get better with critters getting some moisture in there.

I intend to let our new chickens graze like Paul describes in the chicken presentation that can be found on Youtube. I want them to have a lush green paddock while getting around 5 times more growth on the recovering ones. We have 3 Orpington chickens right now and they will probably be 5 in the long run. How often do I shift? Is it really once a week, even with so little chickens?

Used a homemade mix of oxygen bleach, curd soap and soda. Vinegar in the last phase. So happy with how clean they are now