| Grenkes' Acre | ||||||
| Chicken Tillers | Compost | |||||
| These are a neat alternative to the traditional chicken coop. We have constructed 4 this summer. Well, three chicken tillers and 1 modified version for the ducks. What is a chicken tiller you ask? Basically it's a portable cage for your fowl that you move around. In our case they are 4'w x 8'L x 4'H A-frame cages with perches/roosts in the middle and a nest box at each end. A huge improvement over the flat roof box tiller we built when we first got the idea. We'll have pictures soon, I hope. We have the cages set in the big garden and move them daily. This size will house 24 chickens in the summer and 12 comfortably through the winter. We are also making a mini-tiller for someone who just wants a couple laying hens. That one will be 4x4x4. The tillers have steel roofing over the top 32 inches and wire fencing on the bottom. There is a feeder at one end and a waterer at the the other. There is also a door for collecting the eggs from each nest box. The kids love that. No fighting with the hens in the coop to get the eggs. It's awesome, I never have to ask anyone to collect the eggs now. |
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| The big garden didn't give us much this year. But next year should be great. We are fertilizing and cultivating with the chicken tillers and we're also composting everything we can. From old newspapers and shredded junk mail that the in-laws give us to carrot peels, a few ashes from the wood furnace, and the grass clippings we don't use for hay in the nest boxes. It all goes into a 4' square bin that was made from used 2'x8's stir it up once in a while, then turn it and move it out of the first bin to another space the same size. Always put what is on the outside of the pile into the center of the "new" pile and obviously what is in the center of the "old" pile will manifest itself on the outside of the "new" pile. Keep it watered. When you have stirred and moved the pile about 6 times it should be ready to be put in the garden. |
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