Chickens play an important part in the operation of my garden. Not only do they provide fresh eggs that are superior to anything that you can buy in a store, they are can be vital in processing weeds, bugs, trimmings, and culled fruit into fertilizer that in turn, feeds my plants. My chickens are not free ranged because of the dogs in my neighborhood, so I bring the range in to them. They do love the pig weed, purslane and mallow that grow so well and numerous in my soil. They will often leave their regular feed to feast on a fresh batch of weeds that I have just pulled. One of their favorite foods is fresh cut lawn grass. I empty my catcher on the floor of the hen house, and what the chickens don't eat outright, they move around and mix it up with the existing litter, which is a combination of leaves, sawdust, and shavings from my wood shop and garden waste the chickens did not eat. This makes an excellent soil amendment. In the fall, my kids and I go to work, and we then empty hen house litter with a shovel and five gallon buckets, and spread the material out in the garden for the litter to be tilled in and cure out over the winter. Being that fresh chicken manure can burn plants, the fall rain and winter snows mellows the manure into a state that can be beneficial to the plants. Chickens are also fun to watch. I recommend chickens to anybody who is able to keep some.
