wynn williamson

thanks guys for all of the suggestions! The fly in coop sounds like something right up our alley. I'll look into this a bit more!

I like the permaculture ethic of putting lots of intelligence and initial design in initially in order to be lazy in the long term. I'm always surprised because it seems that animal incorporation always looks like a crapload of work (plus I feel that people are often penning up and/or exploiting the animals which doesn't quite seem right to me but that is a separate point).

thanks guys. the plot we have has a great fence around it as the previous owner bred dogs and put in some serious hardware which goes down into the dirt a meter or so. the concern i have is that foxes, etc could go over the fence no problem especially since there are lots of trees.

i am more than happy to let nature takes its course and let the food chain develop but i also dont want a slaughter.

don't chickens naturally fly up into low branches to protect themselves at night. is this a silly scenario to bear in mind?

I don't know why I can't find an answer to this question? Maybe it is assumed that anyone thinking of owning chickens has some level of responsibility - perhaps much like it is assumed for any human parent?

I have a relatively large plot of land and would really like to have chickens, ducks, etc. The problem is that we travel quite regularly and also often get back home from the City late at night (12 am, 1 am, etc.) and are often away from home during the day. Plus, we have four children which are pretty demanding in their own right!

Right now we don't have any pets but we'd like to start incorporating SOME animals into our developing garden. We are vegetarian (borderline vegan) and don't like the idea in general of penning up animals, clipping wings, etc.

I've learned from our plant experience is that we have had the most luck when we spend a bit of time thinking things through, designing, putting in concentrated effort and then let things manage more or less on their own (e.g., automatic watering system, swales, etc.) I suppose this doesn't apply to animals?

Sorry, long ramble, basically wondering if there are any "hands off" ways to raise chickens or similar. If I don't clip their wings it's not like they can sleep at night in the trees or anything, right?

Not sure if you are still looking to sell this. I live in madrid and often see things like this listed in some of the magazines found in eco-restaurants and bookstores such as Verdemente. Maybe worth a shot with some of these.

I have been reading, listening and learning about permaculture for a number of years and recently moved out of the city (in my case, Madrid - Spain) into the mountainside. We live on a modest plot of 0.25 acres, although large by Spanish suburban standards and behind the house is a protected nature reserve.

I have hopes of creating a mini-food forest and growing a portion of our own produce. We are getting some chickens in the spring and preparing compost to improve the soil.

The main concern I have is that the land here is very clay-heavy and has a ton of rocks (see pictures). In fact, for a large chunk of the plot once you get past a shallow earth layer, it is all just rock. Other than cry for a while and then move, does anyone have any suggestions on how to work with this site? I am thinking about just doing alot of soil-building up there as if it were urban.