Dieter Brand

After years of hesitation, we finally decided to get some chickens. Since I didn’t want a stationary chicken coop and free ranging chickens are out of questions due to predators, I decided on a chicken tractor, which seems to best meet our needs: pest control and soil improvement.

It’s not that I’m stingy, but I hate having to drive to the next village to buy all kinds of materials. Some of the neighbouring farms look like junk yards because of all the discarded materials and equipment. I therefore try to use existing material whenever possible:

- Bamboo poles from our bamboo groves as frame
- Water tubes as hoops
- A role of wire fencing I had laying for a dog kennel I didn’t build
- Fruit crates discarded by the supermarket as laying boxes
- Sheeting as roofing and other materials

The only materials I had to buy were a couple of wheels and some screws.

The wires of the fencing were rather thick, which made work difficult but provided strength to the structure. Next time, I’ll just use ordinary chicken wire and rely on the structure to provide strength. I twisted the wire ends to join adjacent panels, which provided a lot of strength, but was very time consuming.  Since I feared that the wires would start to oxidize at the places where the galvanized surface was damaged due to the twisting I decided to paint the wires, which I will never do again because it was very time consuming.

The idea was to build a chicken tractor as big as possible and as light as possible. I ended up with about 90 square feet. I planned to start with about 9 chickens and therefore decided to build 3 elevated laying nests and a number of perches. As it turned out, we got 4 chickens from a neighbour and one laying nest would have been more than enough. They all like to squeeze into the same nest, sometimes at the same time.

The 4 chickens need about 3 to 4 days to thoroughly work a plot, after which I move the tractor to another site. I guess I could get 4 more chickens without the risk of overcrowding, but we can’t eat more than 4 eggs a day anyways. The laying boxes can be accessed from the outside to retrieve the eggs. On the other side I have an opening for changing water, etc, where I can crawl in if necessary. I decided to build a low chicken tractor because it has to fit under the branches of our fruit trees. Hopefully, the chicken will decimate the fruit flies by eating their larvae.

The wheels can be easy attached for moving the tractor. I use some wire fencing all around the tractor to prevent predators from tunnelling in. The predator protection can be folded up for when I have to move the tractor.

I hope that the picture show the chicken tractor better than I can explain it.

Harvesting bamboo shoots does not harm the plant. Bamboo plants typically produce more shoots than can grow to maturity. For example, my tallest bamboo may produce 100 new shoots a year, but only about 10 new culms may grow during a season. All the others will wither and die. Thus, harvesting 90 bamboo shoots does not weaken the bamboo plant. Even when I cut down all the bamboo culms of a particular plant (I have about 15 different types of bamboo), the bamboo culms will grow again from the rhizomes.

Sometimes, leaves may turn yellow. There can be different reasons. Bamboos are perennial, but new leaves usually grow during the growing season. Typically, before new leaves grow, some of the older leaves may turn yellow, wither and drop to the ground. That's normal.

The bamboos I planted 20 years ago have grown into a sizable bamboo groove with poles of up to 40 feet in length.

I'm still learning how to preserve and use the poles. Two projects I completed recently are a chicken tractor made from bamboo and other existing materials and a compost toilet.

S. Marshall wrote:I’m curious why that may be better than cow manure, is it just easier to handle?

Chicken manure has a lot of nitrogen, which is what you want if you have too much carbon-rich brown material. It also has a lot of phosphorus. Only rabbit manure beats chicken manure in nitrogen and phosphorus content, but you would need a lot of rabbits to get a sizable quantity.

Here are the nutritional values of different types of manure:

https://www.allotment-garden.org/composts-fertilisers/npk-nutritional-values-animal-manures-compost/

Most fungi that decompose wood don't produce edible fruit body. Growing edible mushrooms is of course an added advantage, but there may be plenty of other fungi in the woods near you that are better at decomposing the type of wood you have.

I have never purchased urea fertilizer. So, I don't really have an answer for you. Using urine is obviously no problem, but as you indicated, the quantities that occur in a normal household aren't very significant.

Generally speaking, woody material doesn't break down well in a normal compost heap in which microbes dominate. Perhaps you should try separate heaps of woody material that you inoculate with fungi, which are better at decomposing woody materials.

But if you look for a natural nitrogen source to mix with the carbon-rich brown material in your compost heap, you may consider manure. Pig's or cow's manure is probably better for the purpose than horse manure. Perhaps chicken manure would also do.  

If you have a problem with bears, can't you bury kitchen scraps at the bottom of the compost heap? You could keep the scraps in buckets until you have enough. Then you could empty the buckets on the ground and turn the compost heap so the kitchen scraps are covered. I don't know if the rotting smell from the half-composted material will deter the bears.

C. Letellier wrote:My understanding was that if the lid was still sealed when you went to open it and if it was processed properly that the leakage didn't matter.  If it bridged the seal anywhere then the lid didn't stay sealed and there was a risk.  But if the lid maintained vacuum then there was no risk as there was no place the material bridged the seal.  Is this wrong?

I think this is probably correct.

I made the request in the OP because I suspected that the jars weren't properly sealed because some liquid seems have been squeezed out when I boiled the jars. However, when I opened the first jar, it became clear that there was a vacuum under the lid because it made the characteristic plop noise when I opened it.

John F Dean wrote:It is not a style of lid I have used before.

The screw-on type jars are commonly used in Europe. We have used them without problems for over 20 years. The type used in the US isn't available here.

[quote=Robin Katz]The one aspect of your recipe that concerns me is the oil. Botulism can grow in oil since the oil excludes the acid (water and oil don't mix well) and it proves an anaerobic growing condition. With this new information I would use caution as well. If it was just an acidic solution and no oil, there would be much less risk.[/quote]

I don't know anything about the conditions in which botulism can grow; however, there are plenty of recipes for preserving green peppers in oil in airtight jars for 6 or more months.

John F Dean wrote:I hope you will be fine. Judging from the picture of the lid and jar, I would use caution.  Of course, you are there in person; I am not.

What is wrong with the lid and the jar?

Many thanks for your replies. You have been most helpful! ❤😊

I will try to answer your questions:

I seem to have lost the recipe(s) I followed. I was pretty exhausted after roasting and peeling all those peppers and just had a quick look at some Youtube videos for preserving peppers. It could also be that I combined the most appealing features from different recipes. Anyways, there was most certainly a good deal of vinegar and oil together with some sugar and salt. I may also have used some other spices I can't remember.

I used sterilized screw-on jars which I boiled with the peppers inside for about 30 minutes. Then I let the jars cool upside down for a few hours.

The lid did not bulge after 2 months.

The lid was tightly closed.

For opening the jar, I had to use a screwdriver to lift the rim and let the air in with a plop.

The liquid was about 10 mm below the rim, but there was some liquid were the rim touched the lid, which confirmed my suspicion that liquid must have squeezed out during boiling.

We tasted a little. Smell and taste were what you would vinegar and oil to taste and smell.

If we are still alive tomorrow, we'll try a bit more.  😉 But my guess is that the peppers are safe to consume.

Again, many thanks,

Dieter