Now that I have little money to do anything with, other than feed myself, I’ve been focusing on taking care of those animals that are taking care of me. I’ve been enjoying goats milk and eggs for a while now but have been wanting to get the chickens in with the goats to test and see how well they would work together within an enclosed environment.
With virtually no money aside from some wire to bind the pieces of wood together I’ve put together a chicken pen inside the goat house using branches of burnt wood from the last fire and other recycled material. My soil building companions are now working together …
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| The goats; Jeronimo and Luci |
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| The integrated chicken house |
The chicken pen has a perching area on the right hand side, the roof covered over with blackberry cuttings and then broom brush with some plastic lining in between so that no rain get’s through. There is also a laying area on the far side with another one in the process of being built. At present there are 6 chickens in total. The spaces in the chicken perimetre are wide enough so that the chickens can get through and scratch through anything in the goat area, however the (two) goats are limited to their area only.
Every morning now I’m encouraged to go out and clear areas of black berry and any other vegetation that is overgrown. Anything that is suitable for goat fodder get’s put aside and given to the goats and anything else is mulched. I’m still feeding the chickens with feed that I have to buy in but am also getting some food from food scraps, grasses, worms from the worm farm and larvae from composting.
It’s still a work in progress but this is how it is for now. Working on improvements.
Update 1st Nov 2012
Sweet mama Luci’s babies, Billy and Joey are enjoying the social ambience in the animal house. They like to hang out in there with the chickens and get away from mama some times.
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