Tyler Amphlett

I made a Sketchup version of some of the ideas listed on this thread. I hope it helps. You can add more to it if you wish, I made this simply for design/shapes. I didn't feel the need to elaborate my design on toilet seats and coat hooks because that is for the builder to decide.

Also, it seems as though it is already coming along nicely, so keep up the good work!

Thank you for the link!

I saw the 7 minute food forest video of his, and then he popped up in a few other places and I started wondering who he was. This is such a convenience to find out that it is Geoff Lawton. I need that DVD!

Cj Verde wrote:You can have permanent paddocks but it probably doesn't make sense just for chickens. I will be trying it this summer in a cow, sheep, chicken rotation. I think I still need a mobile coop.for them to roost & lay eggs in.

Yes! That is exactly what I was thinking. I would love to see it work with a multiple livestock rotation. I think it would be a great method that way. I also agree that a mobile coop is always going to end up as the best option too.

Thank you for your input on this idea.

I understand what you are saying about how the areas closest to the coop would be threatened. I still wonder about the bottom idea though with basically the same idea as paddock shifting, just with permanent paddocks. The gates between would be more towards the middle of the fencing, which would hopefully be better than the coop example. It could also be rectangular shapes, but in the image I just went around the trees instead of removing them. Maybe it is more worth it in the end to just move the paddocks each time. Thank you for mentioning that.

David Wright wrote:And I thought of one more question...

10. If thousands of people get started with a savanna perrenial staple crop farming, which I think is a great idea, prices for chestnuts and hazelnuts will necessarily go down. Right now you're getting $5/lb for chestnuts, but it seems very conceivable that *if* every corn farmer in the US switched to chestnut/hazelnut, then the market would be saturated and prices could fall to $0.50/lb pretty quickly. New Forest Farm is in a great spot to enjoy the high prices for the next 15 years while the rest of us are waiting for our first crop, but then we finally get the crop and we're bringing in a tenth the projected revenue. I know this isn't very realistic (near impossible to convince corn farmers to switch, let alone changing the eating habits of an entire country), but the principle still applies even if the affects aren't quite as dramatic: prices go down when production increases. Suddenly, you're in a commodity market instead of a niche market. Any thoughts about what to do about this?

I have thought about this same idea since researching and planning permaculture. I think the goal of most permies is to have everyone switch to a sustainable lifestyle. So, if everyone is farming, what will we do then?

I have at least one brainstorm solution that sounds ethical. Our society would at the bare minimum need every local city/township to be fully supplied with true permie organic foods in every store/market. That would require a LOT of farmers, which is a good thing for the trade and income. If and when we finally reached that reality, we could then branch out and have people specialize in other fields like natural crafting, handyman work and whatever else is necessary AND sustainably ethical. These people who branch out from farming would be pioneers in living naturally on the grid without homesteading.

Just an initial idea, but interesting hopefully.

I like the idea of pastured paddocks, and wondered if it would be logical to set up permanent fencing around the different "paddock sections". If you had 4 of these set up with gates between, you could then simply switch the chickens to the next one when needed. This could also work with co-grazing? It could have a central coop or none at all. If you made it a "sectioned free range", it would be a possible solution for the worry of egg age. Each area would be closely swept for eggs after the chickens move on, and then you would always know when the area was last harvested.

Another question for paddocks/free range. I noticed that Paul warned of chickens scratching up mulch around trees. Would the only solution be to put a mini fence around the area? Hopefully the chickens could still peck at any bugs or foliage inside the fencing (if there were any) without stepping beyond the mini fence.

One last concern. When they have a while to forage the areas of each paddock, how can you prevent them from taking all the veggies or fruit that is growing?

Chicken Paddock Rotation Idea


Chicken Paddock Rotation No Coop

*I forgot to add gates between sections on this concept image.