Permaculture Chooks

Our chook runs have been designed to feed the chooks.

In our chook runs we grow:

* Tagasaste Chamaecytisus palmensis * Almonds
* Wormwoods 1 * Coprosma repens 2
* Grapevines on fences 3 * Fig 4
* Black Mulberries 5

Also Native plants:

* Local Acaias * Local salt bush (they eat the berries/foliage) 1, 2

* Kangaroo Apple Solanum aviculare 3, 4
* Quandongs 5

We grow just for the chooks:

* Sunflowers * Strawberry Spinach 1
* Ethiopian Cabbage 2 * Silverbeet 3
* French Sorrel 4 * Russian Kale 5

Plenty of Winter grasses and weeds:

* Dandelions 1 * Horseradish 2
* Comfrey 3 * Purslane 4
* Nettles * Lucerne

Newly planted these all need protection from the chooks and so do the root zones from constant scratching.

Rocks and wire cages come in handy...

As does shade cloth along the fences for the edge beds outside.
Occasionally these rocks are moved (by me) to expose bugs that the chooks love to srcatch up


We also run chooks under our fruit trees to clean up the fallen fruit

Links to other chicken keeping topics:
Sunflowers and Purslane: Area planted just to grow chook food:
Grain plantings:
Sprouted wheat:
Mash recipe:
More on Tagasaste: Weed Warning: Consider local acacias instead.
Doc's Simple Chicken Tractor:
Re-use in the Chook Run:

Australian books on this subject I've found useful include:
Backyard Poultry - Naturally by Alanna Moore
The Permaculture Home Garden by Linda Woodrow
Jackie French's Chook Book
Earth Garden's Chook Wisdom
Chookwise by Linda Marold
Introduction to Permaculture By Bill Mollison with Reny Mia Slay
Permaculture Two by Bill Mollison