Some of the amazing benefits that backyard chickens keepers worldwide are enjoying!
1: Fresh Eggs
When you raise chickens in your backyard, you know exactly where your eggs came from. Not only you get the satisfaction and excitement of collecting them every morning, but nutritionally they are better for your health! Your eggs contain higher levels of Omega-3 fatty acids, beta-carotene, vitamin E, and vitamin A. They are also lower in saturated fat and cholesterol than conventional. It’s so important to know what you’re really eating.
2: Natural Pest Control
Chickens absolutely love to devour all the backyard pests that can wreak havoc on the hard work of gardeners. They are a free natural pest patrol for the Garden. Rather than using harmful chemicals and pesticides in your backyard and garden, use chickens instead. Chickens are known to reduce or eliminate populations of grasshoppers, termites, ants, slugs and fleas, by cleaning up food sources that might attract them. They eat various beetle pests like the Colorado potato beetle that can do a lot of damage. Beneficial nematodes and earthworms live far enough below the soil surface to escape chicken scratching, while the unwanted surface pests are eliminated.
Chickens can also do a lot of damage to newly planted gardens with their foraging and dust baths, so it is a good idea to let them range around the outside of the garden or in garden rows with chicken wire protecting the beds.
Chickens can also do a lot of damage to newly planted gardens with their foraging and dust baths, so it is a good idea to let them range around the outside of the garden or in garden rows with chicken wire protecting the beds.
3: Chickens as Soil Savers
The health of our food is tied directly to the health of our soil. And chickens perform multiple functions that can turn parts of our boring old yards into fertile garden patches. Their natural scratching and digging tendencies serve them well and can help you create top-notch garden beds. They are expert in mixing manure with mulch to create raised beds, which allow you to grow more produce in a smaller space and use less water, which is particularly useful to urban gardeners.
Watch The Benefits Of Rising Chickens Video
4: Free Organic Fertilizer
Chicken manure is the feces of chickens used as an organic fertilizer. When you are raising chickens in your backyard, this fertilizer helps your garden grow lush and beautiful. Chicken manure fertilizer is very high in nitrogen and also contains a good amount of potassium and phosphorus. The high nitrogen and balanced nutrients is the reason that chicken manure compost is the best kind of manure to use. Chicken manure for vegetable garden fertilizing will produce excellent soil for your vegetables to grow in. You will find that your vegetables will grow bigger and healthier as a result of using chicken manure fertilizer.
Chicken manure is a great fertilizer for your garden. It is one of the most valued manures because of its high nutrient content.
Composting Chicken Manure
While chicken manure is indeed full of powerful nutrients for your plants, it should never be added immediately or directly to your gardens as the high nitrogen content would burn your plants.
Composting chicken manure is simple. If you have chickens, you can use the bedding from your own chickens. Take the used bedding and put it into a compost bin. Water it thoroughly and then turn the pile every few weeks to get air into the pile. It takes about six to nine months, on average, for chicken manure compost to be done properly. The exact amount of time it takes for composting chicken manure depends on the conditions under which it is composted. If you are uncertain how well your chicken manure has been composted, you can wait up to 12 months to use your chicken manure compost. Once you have finished chicken manure composting, it is ready to use.
When the composting process is complete, the material should consist of a fine, spongy mass that is dark chocolate brown in color. Simply spread the chicken manure compost evenly over the garden. Work the compost into the soil with a shovel. Composted chicken manure will improve yield, water holding capacity and build soil carbon. You can also add it to your compost to give it extra nutrients.
Watch How To Fertilize Garlic With Composted Chicken Manure Video
It’s estimated that having between 5 and 10 chickens should produce enough fertilizer to take care of your vegetable garden for the year.
Watch How To Fertilize Garden Soil With Composted Chicken Manure Video
I have owned chickens for over twenty years, and i have learned as much there is to learn about chickens in that time. Chickens require many needs, and the owner has to be willing to care for them and make sure they receive adequate nutrition. I continue to tend to my chickens' everyday needs, including giving them food and water in the mornings.
The Backyard Chicken Handbook is an authoritative guide, from a fourth-generation chicken keeper, bringing simple yet practical knowledge which covers all aspects of raising healthy and happy chickens. This handbook covers: selecting the perfect chicken breed, feeding your hens, healthy egg laying, chicken behavior (including bullying) and how-to treat common chicken health issues. The handbook is suited to both first time-keepers and veterans by providing varying degrees of detail to keep both readers engaged. Full color photos and illustrations throughout provide specific examples of chicken anatomy, health and behavior.
Keeping chickens in your backyard is a great way for kids to learn about nature, agriculture and the responsibility of caring for animals. It’s also a fantastic way for both kids and adults to gain respect for these intelligent creatures that produce food for us!
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