prepping - chickens, the ultimate regenerative farming tool?

walgreens undeniable jab data - they don’t work

Welcome back all of you wild and crazy, freedom loving backyard farmers and health heretics! Thanks for all the new subscriptions and thanks for hitting that like button! It all helps.

As I’ve pointed out here many times over the past 1.5 years, the CDC’s VAERS vaccination injury tracking system is a dismal representation of reality. Now we find that the drug retail giant Walgreens, which derives no benefit by misleading the public, has been compiling data on all of it’s customers in every store across the country who walk in to get tested for covid. The results confirm what I predicted before the jabs were even rolled out - I said they will not work, that they would ultimately be detrimental. The Walgreens data verifies that in spades. It also happens to align very nicely with data coming out of countries where agencies determining such data are far less corrupt than the CDC.

The chart is self explanatory.

onward

Growing up in an extended farming family during the 50’s and 60’s had me around a lot of chickens. That was during the beginning of the industrialized chicken production era when many farmers began viewing chickens as nothing more than a way to produce meat and eggs.

Before that period, during the 1920’s and 30’s, chickens served a much higher calling. They were often kept in portable, horse drawn coops on pastures. But they did more than just lay eggs out on those pastures. They were purposely put onto pastures on the heels of a rotation of cattle, pigs or sheep to clean up fly larvae that developed in the manure, as well as any parasites that may have been excreted (parasites that might exist in four legged animals cannot survive in chickens). Additionally, they were able to glean a significant portion of the nutrients they need by foraging for worms, grubs, bugs, insect larvae, weed seeds, grasses and forbs, which, in turn, greatly benefited the pastures and the four legged animals that would soon return, come the next rotation.

From a nutritional point of view, eggs and meat from hens allowed to forage on the natural diversity found in pastures like this are vastly superior to the eggs and meat from confined birds fed a monodiet of commercial chicken feed, which is mostly genetically modified corn and soy, both of which have been modified to tolerate the glyphosate used in the herbicide RoundUp (made by Monsanto, now owned by Bayer). And yes, 80% of the gmo corn and soy grown is used to feed livestock, primarily chickens, pigs and cattle finished on grains.

The exception to this is organic feed, which, by law, cannot contain gmo products or ingredients treated with pesticides of any kind. However, buying organic eggs is no guarantee of getting high quality eggs. Commercial chicken farms using organic feed that provide no access to verdant pastures will produce eggs and meat inferior to meat and eggs from pastured birds being supplemented with a diet of organic feed.

The ‘free range’ moniker is even more meaningless. Today, in our crazy mixed up world, eggs and meat coming from birds that never see the light of day - because they range freely inside of warehouses - are allowed to be labeled “free range”. Not only will those eggs and that meat have inferior amounts of vitamin D due to the fact that the birds never get any sunshine, they’ll also be lacking the wide spectrum of trace nutrients found in meat and eggs from pastured birds.

Having said all of that, we need to keep in mind that even the term “pastured” is being abused by the big, commercial producers. Eggs and meat from birds that are labeled as “pastured” may be ‘pasturing’ on lifeless, bare ground where they gain no benefit whatsoever.

It’s because of the increasing awareness of all of these issues that backyard chickens have become so popular across the US. Still, a big problem exits in this regard as well. I see far too many people making the mistake of setting up a backyard chicken coop… only to keep the birds confined in a small pen and fed the cheapest commercial, non-organic feed available, which, of course, will be tainted with glyphosate. The nutritional profile of meat and eggs from those home grown birds will be no better than the cheapest commercial versions available at grocery stores.

What follows is a how-to guide to bypass all of these issues, so that you can produce nutritionally dense chicken meat and eggs, all while improving the overall fertility and productivity of your property in the process.

what’s old is new again

Several decades ago farmers like Joel Salatin (Polyface Farms), who failed to find any benefit in becoming a slave to corporate chicken monopolies like Tyson Foods, began to research how chickens were raised back before corporations gained a stranglehold on food production. In Joels case, he found the information I mentioned at the onset of this piece and began incorporating it into his overall livestock rotation program.

He soon realized that this pastured based, rotational system was highly effective at doing three critically important things; generating fertility on his depleted soils, cutting his feed costs and producing much higher quality meat and eggs. So he quickly ramped up all aspects of his pastured livestock operations and never looked back. Of course he also went on to become an outspoken critic of the industrial food system and a passionate spokesman for regenerative agriculture.

In spite of the fact that it was always clear that most of what Joel was doing would never work on my farm, I’ve read a number of his books and continue to follow his work to this day. Why? Because he makes me think about how to adapt regenerative techniques and make them work in the difficult environment here on my farm.

more than meat and eggs

Because for so many years I primarily grew row crops, I put off getting chickens because of their notorious reputation to tear apart gardens. It wasn’t until the late 90’s when two back to back years of grasshopper plagues destroyed all of my crops that I began considering chickens in a new light. What brought them to my attention were some neighbors who told me their garden was untouched by the grasshoppers. What was their secret? They had numerous bantam chickens that kept the grasshoppers at bay around their house and garden. After that second plague year I determined that I needed some chickens.

Because any farming venture is challenging in this difficult, South Western environment, like all farming pursuits I take on, I did a lot of research before I settled on a breed and a system. The former was easy find (coming up). Not so with the latter.

I knew I wanted to be able to let the birds forage on native habitat as much as possible, but I also knew that the way regenerative farmers like Joel are doing that - using portable coops that get moved across a pasture on a daily basis - would not work here. Portable coops are a great for those that have level, unencumbered pastures, but I don’t have any of that. In addition to being very hilly and very rocky, the native habitat here is a widely divergent community of grasses, trees, shrubs, herbs and forbs. This habitat is why I don’t raise grazing (grass eating) animals like cattle and instead raise browsing meat and dairy goats that make better use of this diverse plant community.

Additionally, I also happen to live in one of the most predator rich places in the continental US: mountain lions, bobcat, jaguarundi, ocelet, wolves, coyotes, coati mundi, eagles and hawks abound here. No, the classic portable chicken coop being pulled across picturesque pastures was out of the question here. If I was going to be able to let my birds forage on this wild, rough, native habitat I was going to have to come up with another system. What I came up with is so simple that I find it applicable to many other situations, even ones that are far less challenging than mine.

I should mention here that it became clear early on that there was no money to be made pasturing chickens in this area - the infrastructure to do so and the cost of local supplemental feed all means the local community won’t support what I have to charge to make a profit on eggs. So I’ve never kept a large flock of chickens for commercial reasons. I keep them primarily for the regenerative benefits they provide to my farm, the meat they add to my freezers, the 6 raw egg yolks I eat every day and the 6 whole eggs (shell and all) I give to my pigs every day. My flock averages 30 birds, which allows me to make good use of permanently located coops.

By the way, chickens do need to go into a coop at night for protection. Most predation occurs at night, so if the birds are in a coop they’re much safer than roosting outside somewhere… unless you have absolutely no predators (dogs and cats included).

here’s what I do

I have two permanent coops. The coops have a small chicken door which I open to let them out before the sun comes up in the morning - they’re usually waiting to exit the coop to begin a day of foraging. The small door opens to a small pen area (SPA) from which there are several gates. Each of the gates opens to different, larger, securely fenced areas in which they can forage. Some of these are areas of native habitat ranging in size from about 5,000 square feet to several acres. All are very rough, with lots of diverse vegetation. The bigger areas can support the chickens for much longer periods than the smaller ones.

I also have four sizable garden areas, all of which are connected to the two SPA’s, so I can let the birds into the garden areas at strategic times of the year. In the summer I may let them into the garden areas to go after problematic insects, which they typically prefer eating before going after any crops. In one or two days they’ll have most problematic insects cleaned up. Any longer than that and they’ll start to go after the crops.

I also let them into the garden areas during the winter to clean up debris like weed seeds, rotten crops, dying plant material and overwintering insect larvae. They turn all of that into fertilizer and freely spread it all across the garden for me.

Because I have too big of an operation to make enough compost by hand, and too small of an operation to warrant machinery, I make no compost. When I first began farming I made compost by the ton every month - by hand - and never had enough. It was exceedingly time consuming and a lot of work. It was a game changer to find that chickens enjoy making compost for me. I now throw all compostables into the SPA’s and once or twice a year I clean out all of that brown gold and spread it across the gardens.

supplemental feed

While doing all of this can provide a flock with lots of healthy, free food sources, they’ll still need supplemental feed. During the winter or dry seasons when forage opportunities are limited, your flocks supplemental feed will become crucially important.

If you have a problem with wild birds eating some of your chicken feed, try putting the feed inside the coop or using pellets, which are too large for many wild birds to consume. Otherwise, I recommend using loose feed or crumbles. I don’t use pellets because they’re compressed under heat which denatures some of the nutrients in the feed.

For many years I used large feeders to supply feed to my flock, but no longer. Because I have issues with wild birds eating chicken feed, I’ve found that mixing the loose feed into a slurry in a large feed bowl with some milk (I have dairy goats) and water deters wild birds. The raw milk provides lots of friendly microbes in the mix and the slurry quickly begins to ferment. This results in a very healthy flock. The milk also supplies the chickens with a lot of extra calcium (for their shells) and other trace nutrients, which really boosts the quality of their meat and eggs.

I’ve tried numerous brands of organic commercial chicken feed and I never really found one I liked. I now buy all of my feed through a local organic feed buying club. The feed is very high quality, having no corn or soy. In place of soy protein is fish meal from wild caught fish. It’s a loose mix and takes milk very well. Here is my local club. Look for one in your area.

forage crops

The ultimate self reliant solution to raising chickens is to also grow all of the supplemental feed they need.

In the past I’ve grown sorghum for my birds. I cut the grain heads off and toss them to the chickens and give the rest of the plant to four legged livestock.

Sunflowers are a good option. Again, I cut the head off and toss it to the birds and let the goats forage on what remains.

Another good source of protein are field peas, lentils and other small beans and pulses. Because they grow close to the ground you don’t even have to harvest them. Just let the birds into the crop area to forage.

Green crops can also be planted. Just about any tender green crop that will readily grow in your area will work. Greens are high in carotenoids which translate to bright orange yolks in your birds.

The ultimate protein option is to grow your own insects. Black soldier fly larvae and meal worms are great choices.

Keep in mind that chickens are omnivorous, which means they’ll eat just about anything we eat. Don’t worry about tossing meat left overs or just about anything else to your birds. Nutrients that might otherwise go to the landfill can be recycled into your eggs.

I hesitate to tell you about this last option, but in terms of what chickens like and need, it may very well be one the best options, although it likely wont be available very often. Road kill or any other dead animal that has begun to draw flies is a superb food source for your birds. Once the skin is broken open and the rotting flesh is exposed, flies will propagate rapidly and the chickens will have a field day feasting on the nutrient rich fly eggs and larvae. Keep in mind that fly eggs and larvae are rich in omega3 fatty lipids which will end up in your birds eggs and meat. As the meat continues to rot it will become so easily digestible that the birds will readily consume it directly without it needing to be cycled through fly larvae.

Yup, it’ll stink for a while, but your birds and their eggs will be the better for it.

Bury the left over bones in your garden to recycle the calcium and other minerals into your fruits and vegetables.

for the back yard

For backyards I recommend a smaller, portable coop that can be moved around to various parts of the yard at different times of the year. I recently built a portable coop for a friend who lives in Tucson. She has 12 chickens and moves the coop around as the chickens need new forage areas and as she needs areas to be weeded and fertilized in preparation for gardens. She uses portable fencing to set off a new part of the yard every time she moves the coop. She throws all of her kitchen scraps and other compostables to the chickens, which adds to the overall fertility of her backyard. Because she has four dogs that can go in and out through doggy doors, she’s had some fly issues. The chickens are now dealing with that problem.

breeds

One of the pluses of living on a minimal solar system is that I don’t produce enough power to run a brooder for chicks. How is that a plus? Because it forces me to utilize traditional solutions verses relying on electricity to do everything. Buying new chicks from a hatchery every spring and brooding them in an energy-hog brooder for 12 weeks is not the traditional way of keeping a flock going. Not only is this not sustainable, it won’t even be possible when there is no power. No, the traditional solution is to raise heirloom breeds that can reproduce themselves.

Due to the hens inability to pack as much nutrition into each egg, many of the modern breeds that have been developed to lay an egg a day not only lay inferior eggs, they’ve also lost the ability to set a clutch of eggs and brood the chicks to maturity. Because I knew I wanted a breed that would be able to maintain the flock population by breeding, setting, hatching eggs and brooding those chicks, as well as a breed that was well suited to foraging, I looked for heirloom breeds with these qualities.

When I began my research, the Java breed seemed to check all of the boxes. I have to say, after several years with them, I was not impressed. Of all the breeds I’ve tried, I like Black Copper Marans, Wellsummers, Turkens and Barred Rocks the best. But even they have their pluses and minuses.

The Marans are not big-time layers but they produce the best carcass of all the breeds I’ve had, with lots of mitochondria rich dark meat. For a relatively large breed, they are also good foragers. They’re a steady, calm breed. Unless provided with very rich forage, they have a poor feed conversion ratio.

Wellsummers are very diligent about foraging and let few things get by them. They’re also among the best layers of the bunch, laying many, very dark brown eggs. But they have the smallest carcass on this list and are hardly worth the effort to slaughter. For a smaller, very active bird bird, they are quite calm. They have the best feed conversion ratio of all the breeds mentioned here.

Due to its dearth of feathers (50% less than other breeds) the Turken is best adapted to hot climates and, the easiest to pluck. They’re good foragers, but poor setters, often abandoning a clutch of eggs part way through the process. Egg production is decent and the carcass is good. Likely due to their reduced feather production, their feed conversion ratio is good. Relatively calm breed.

I have barred rocks right now. Egg production is decent, but I’ve yet to slaughter any. A few days ago the first Barred Rock to claim a clutch of eggs here began setting. I’ll let you know how that turns out. Feed conversion is average. Another relatively calm breed.

Chickens can be so much more than a source of nutritious meat and eggs. When put to their ultimate usage, chickens can control problematic insects while turning degraded yards and land into fertile areas teeming with life and productivity.

Now that I’ve had chickens long enough to fully appreciate all of their numerous advantages, I now regret having waited so long to start a flock. Don’t make that mistake!