Van Das

Diane Kistner wrote:I really like azolla because it multiplies so rapidly and is a good fish food (and the chickens love it). It's also supposed to be a superfood, but I haven't tried to eat any of it yet: https://www.treehugger.com/green-food/experimental-recipes-with-azolla-super-plant-and-future-space-food.html  

Azolla has high oxalate content and will result in organ damage and kidney stones if regularly consumed by humans

Trace Oswald wrote:Could I spend years breeding specifically to breed chickens that could fight off predators?  I think a person could breed chickens that did better than the current ones, but I don't believe people can breed chickens that can ward off a coyote attack.  Put the best game cock in the world up against a coyote or a big raccoon, my money isn't on the bird.  

There are already essentially a number of perfect survival chickens out there. Mostly gamefowl and landraces. However it's not necessary that any chicken can beat up a dog or any other predator, but merely that they can disengage tactfully. Sometimes this does entail fighting, but usually that's the exception and not the rule

Over my years with chickens I've only witnessed a handful of predator fights, and not in a single instance has a chicken been injured. The most poignant example I can recall is an American Game hen fleeing from a fox with her babies, then she suddenly spun around and tackled the fox in the face. This surprised the predator enough that her babies made it through my perimeter fence just fine and then she flew over as well. The entire scene lasted mere seconds

Berserker chickens fighting to the death against significantly larger animals is completely non-essential. My chickens fly away when they encounter predators, and they fight if required only until the opportunity to get away presents itself. The former event (fleeing) happening occasionally and the latter event (fighting) being quite rare

For the most part the foxes have entirely given up on trying to catch my chickens and the two species co-habitate fine. Basic predator mitigation and some natural selection will fine-tune a flock over the course of years into very fit and tough specimens, if the flock is reproducing that is

Those of my chickens that choose to leave my part of the forest and venture out into the wilderness willingly subject themselves to natural selection and I'm fine with that

Trace Oswald wrote:I give them run of my fenced gardens and my approx 1 acre food forest, but that is only in the fall to help me clean up.  Are they more restricted than if they were free range?  Absolutely.  Are they being deprived?  I don't think so.  Are they safer than when they free ranged?  No question.  

There's no doubt in my mind that your chickens are far happier than the average chicken and they're lucky to be there

Trace Oswald wrote:"too long, didn't read"/ Individual circumstances are everything in permaculture and I don't think there is a one size fits all solution to any of it.  

Yes, we're all dealing with dramatically different circumstances and environments from one another. What works perfectly in one location could cause disaster in another

I'll never let anything other than a game hen hatch and raise young. I've had hens fight off foxes, hawks, and dogs to protect their young. They're truly noble and gallant animals

I believe that mint would thrive in soil like this and create a lush, fragrant lawn everywhere. You could probably grow shampoo ginger everywhere too if your climate is warm enough. These two plants alone would create a heavenly (and useful) environment

Trace Oswald wrote:I have chickens for two primary reasons, making soil (compost) and for eggs.  It seems to me that this would negate both of those things.  

I've never used a coop and I have a profound abundance of eggs. All domestic breeds and most landraces will prefer to lay their eggs in areas where they feel safe, which typically means near humans because they deter predators

My own chickens lay their eggs here in the morning in some nests I made, just feet from my front door, before they go wandering off into the forest throughout the day. Then they come home at dusk to roost in trees next to my house. It's a profoundly simple operation

In fact I suspect this free-ranging is closer to how chickens were used for the majority of their 10,000 year history with humans. It's imprisoning chickens into cages and breeding all vigor and survival instincts out of them that's new

The era of industrial farming has erased much knowledge from humanity, particularly so in the first world

Josh Hoffman wrote:My takeaway from reading the book was that I have the following 3 options:

1-Fence the chickens
2-Fence the garden
3-Move the garden far away from the chickens or vice versa  

There's a fourth option, which is to garden with plants that chickens wont bother. Many plants are inedible to them for one reason or another, such as the texture or flavor. As just one example, I have a large garden of prickly pears that the chickens will never bother in the slightest

Most species of quail are nomadic or semi-nomadic, meaning they can't be free-ranged. On this basis alone chickens are far superior, given that they can provide themselves with a portion of their daily calories

I planted a bunch of willows around my pond. They got around 15 feet tall when some beavers arrived and began eating them all. I divided the downed portions into hundreds of cuttings and continued to spread them. Since their arrival they've built a large dam on the opposite side near the outflow and they've raised the water level about two feet. It's mildly annoying how they eat my trees but the manner in which they've improved my pond makes it a price worth paying. Truly lovely creatures in how they create and improve wetlands