Sami Grover
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As Jasmin wrote before, keeping backyard chickens is a complete joy—but it's not just about fresh eggs and companionship. If managed well, chickens can become a vital part of your garden as an ecosystem, making use of waste food or spoiled crops, producing fresh manure for the compost heap, and perhaps most pleasantly—providing a natural form of bug control.
Most notably, my chickens seem to LOVE Japanese beetles—and I do mean love them! As I noted yesterday, my strawberries have been devastated this year by a plague of the shiny, green little monsters. So every morning I go out with a paper bag, shake the plants so the beetles drop in the bag (they are dozy little buggers first thing in the morning), and then go let the chickens out. As soon as I rip open the paper bag and place it in front of the ladies, a frenzy ensues.
I'm not sure that my efforts with a bag and some hens will be enough to save my strawberries this year—but it does make the loss of these plants so much easier to deal with. After all, now when I see a beetle, I don't just think "pest." I also see "free food." If you think about it, I'm now eating scrambled Japanese beetles for breakfast. It's a funny old world...
For those looking to take up keeping chickens, but are worried about the hassle—why not take a look at some of the ultra-modern critter-proof coop designs out there, like Omlet's Eglu chicken coop—in some areas it even comes with chickens included.
Related Posts:
How Green is Your Garden?
Omlet Home Chicken Coop
Eating Locally: Backyard Chickens
"Weird" Eco-habits Sneak Peak: Urban Chicken Coop
Got a tip or a post idea for us to write about on Planet Green? Email pgtips (at) treehugger (dot) com.
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