Chickens have helped me garden for years.
That statement may invoke images of hens gently setting seeds into the ground or munching on weeds. As idyllic as that would be, it’s not reality. Chickens would rather eat those seeds and munch on the tomatoes. And if you don’t keep them out of the garden during germination time, they’ll devour the seedlings!
Their work happens before those seedlings sprout. After fall’s killing frost, and after I set a grate over the garlic mulch to keep happy hens from stripping it away, I open the garden gate. Roaming chickens break up cold-killed organic matter, scratch it into the soil, consume a bug or two, and then top it all off with nitrogen-rich fertilizer.
That potent manure kick-starts decomposition and then mellows before planting time. It dissolves with precipitation and filters downward, offering nitrogen alongside decomposing roots from last year’s vegetables. And chicken claws scratch up the surface perfectly for my seeds. The birds help self-sow crops, such as amaranth. And those seeds they do eat? Often, I didn’t need that many seeds anyway, and the chickens helped me avoid thinning seedlings.
Everyone benefits from this process – except perhaps the bugs and a few surface-level worms. My chickens engage in their natural habits of scratching, foraging, and dust-bathing while eating nutritious plant parts that don’t make it into our meals. We don’t have to heed the rule of “compost the chicken manure first,” because Mother Nature does that. And the chickens greatly reduce my workload.
When I started no-till gardening, I worried about the hardpan clay I cultivated at the time. How would I loosen the soil for sowing if I didn’t till? But after some research, I learned that “no-till” avoids exposing the mycorrhizae dwelling beneath the soil. Loosening the soil and roughing up the surface are just fine. So, with the help of a broadfork, a few fowl, and a hori-hori, I get by, and so do the worms and those beneficial fungi. (To go beyond the broadfork and learn more about no-till implements, check out “Low-Till Farming with Technology,”.)
Is there a downside to this process? I’ve experienced a few, such as when I built a small “chicken tractor” over my garden bed so a hen could teach her babies how to forage before I sowed. I offered a constant ration of chick feed, and that’s how I learned it only takes a speck of corn germ to grow a plant. I pulled several corn sprouts out of that tomato bed. Plus, I learned chicks can squeeze through poultry wire during their first week of life. Thankfully, nobody was harmed.
My experience gardening with chickens is why I love Dave Perozzi’s article about “Seed Starting with Chickens”. Though Dave writes about no-till fields and sowing forage crops, the concept is the same – and so are the benefits. Dave keeps his chickens in a tractor, moving them as they do the work. His article emphasizes the “full-circle” focus of organic farming. And Chris Lesley offers tips for an environmentally friendly flock, which includes carefully allowing them into the garden so nothing goes to waste, including their waste. Everything has a place and a time, and if you integrate those processes together, the benefits multiply.
How do you use animals as partners in your organic gardening projects? Write to us at Letters@MotherEarthNews.com!
May your chickens be healthy and your garden abundant,
Marissa Ames
