New Beginnings!

I have not posted anything for a couple of years and it is high time for some updates. Here is a quick summation of what has happened since my last post: I had my chickens for an entire year. During that year I became pregnant. In my 3rd trimester it became too much for me to look after the chickens, take care of the garden and prepare for my first child who was due in the middle of harvest time. I gave the chickens away in July, 2010. Present Day: 25 chicks are due to arrive on April 3rd 2012. We are building a greenhouse, a brooder and a super light-weight chicken tractor designed specifically for our raised bed gardens. I am so excited to teach our 18 month old daughter about raising poultry! Photo courtesy of www.aholliday.com

The Coop

Chicken Ambition

This is a sketch of what a "Chicken Tractor" can look like. It is a must have for the city dwelling hen and is most likely what will be widely used if Kamloops catches up to other future friendly cities like Burnaby, Victoria, New York, Portland, and Seattle who all allow chickens on properties smaller than one acre.

It's purpose: to be able to move the chickens to areas of your yard that you want "mowed", fertilized, weeded, cultivated and removed of insects. 

My ambition is to make raised garden beds in corresponding size to the base of the chicken tractor and fill them with kitchen and garden scraps. I would then place the tractor over a bed until the chickens have turned, fertilized, and devoured any weed seeds they could find in it. Then I would move it to the next one and so on. The beds would soon be premium, organic, locally sourced soil for growing my own fruits and vegetables. Just think of the fabulous acorn squashes I would have next fall!