Lynn Wu

I am planning to do this year round in Southern California, in the Los Angeles area. They would be egg layers. The fresh food scraps would get mixed into a fresh pile for the chickens to feed on - feedstocks would be brought in on dump trucks. I imagine the eggs would be collected by hand. Manure would be moved by tractor/bucket loader. I don't have a site at the moment, but I would want it to be on fairly flat slope with well-drained soil.

I'm working on a design for a compost and chickens business model. I'm thinking 500 chickens to start with, and am wondering if anyone knows of where I can find an appropriately sized chicken coop for this many chickens? A place to lay eggs and sleep. They would be foraging food scraps outside the barn.

My parents are interested in redoing their backyard - they want to take down the deck and put in some brick, leaving space for growing plants and flowers and possibly a veggie garden. I want to help them design and build their new garden, but I have zero experience with carpentry or construction. In theory, I could just read books and watch Youtube videos on deck destruction and brick-paving, and hustle my way through. I would plan to ask some permie friends for people that would be interested in helping out. But I'm not sure if that's really a great idea. What would you recommend? Should I hire an experienced consultant/construction company to do the deck destruction and brick paving? Or could I just go for it myself?

What I do have experience in is building veggie gardens and permaculture design, so I am confident I can fumble my way through that part of it and emerge successful.