Change and modifications, not giving up

Change is constant in our lives. We're always reacting to the good and the bad in our backyard and while the good results in smiles and a feeling of achievement, the bad makes us think about change and modifications, but never giving up. And such is the case now. We've had to have a good look at our backyard because it's not working as well as it could.  The main problem is that since we increased the number of chooks we have, they're impacting more on the backyard and most notably, the grass.

Looking very important, here is Lulubelle.

Many of you will remember that I'm a complete fan of grass. Some people aren't, they think it's a waste of resources, but grass can be grown sustainably. We never water or fertilise our lawn, the sky and the chooks do all the necessary work and we leave it to grow and provide a cool and soft area for grandchildren to play on. It helps remove carbon dioxide in the air and releases oxygen, just like trees do. We also use it as one of the main components of our compost. So as well as providing free feed and omega 3 oils for our chooks, which gives us omega 3 enriched eggs, it helps provide valuable organic matter and soil conditioner for the garden in the form of compost. It also helps filter water runoff before it reaches local waterways and on a hot day, it helps cool the air around the house in a way concrete never can. I would never live in a house that didn't have a lawn.

This is the area the chooks are sitting in all day and you can see in the photo that the grass has died off. When it rains, it's very slushy walking through here to go to the chook house. In the background, you can see where Hanno has placed the posts for the chook run extension.

But! Those chickens of ours love sitting close to the back wall of our house, right near the gate that stops them coming closer to the house and onto the back verandah. That area just outside the gate is now stripped of lawn - mainly due to their droppings burning it off, but also because of their scratching and all the rain we've had this year. We need to move the chooks away from that area without cutting off their access to grass.

The last of our Barnevelders was killed by a fox last week. It was such a sad loss. She was a beautiful girl, she'd just started laying and she held so much potential. I emailed Julie, where we get all our chooks now, and she'll have some little Barnevelders, Welsummers and an Araucana ready for us in early Spring.

This is the area we're extending the chook run out to. That first fence will go and the run will extend out to the second row of posts. The fence in the background is the start of our little orchard and the dense growth on the right is the rainforest that lines the creek just a few metres beyond.

So we've decided to enlarge the chook run so it goes right out under the fig and pecan trees, providing shade and sun, as well as the all important grass. But they'll be behind a fence so they won't be able to wander around like they can now. There will be a large square space between the end of the chook run and the orchard, so Hanno's decided to put in an extra vegetable garden there. It's virgin soil there, so it will need a lot of enrichment before it amounts to anything but we'll start on it soon and expect it to be producing decent crops within two or three years. The key to virgin soil, especially in Australia, is to add a lot of compost, all sorts of manures, lime, rock minerals and worm castings. It will also need some cultivating and watering and although that sounds like a lot of work, it's good work and worth the effort we put in. We don't like the no dig method - we are soil people, we like the opportunity for the plants to send down their roots into the soil to mine the minerals and to bring them up into the leaves, vegetables and fruit.

The last piece in this equation is mulch. Lots of mulch on the garden that will break down over the months, to be replaced by new mulch. It all adds to the organic matter in the soil. As soon as the soil is moist and the organic matter is there, earth worms will come to live there and a healthy cycle in the new garden will begin.

This is the interior of our chook house. We're thinking of painting the exterior walls lilac. :- )

I've included some photos of the chooks and our chook house here. I'd love to see where your chickens live. I'll set up a thread at the forum and I invite you all to post photos of your chicken palaces there. Let's collect a lot of photos to show the incredible diversity of chook accommodation all over the world. Click here for the forum thread.