   Backyard Poultry Flocks - February 25, 2004 Jeff Schalau, County Director, Agent, Agriculture & Natural Resources Arizona Cooperative Extension, Yavapai County Many gardeners live in rural areas with space (and zoning) that can support small poultry flocks. Poultry can benefit gardeners in several ways: 1) food from eggs and/or meat; 2) weed control; 3) insect/snail/slug control; and 4) nutrient-rich manure that can be used as a garden soil amendment. Beside these benefits, home food production is fun, educational, and rewarding. I think everybody should do more of it! For gardening and manure production, a small flock of chickens is ideal. Manure can be collected inside the pen and the night roosting area (chicken house). Free ranging chickens also fertilize the area, but it’s difficult to collect the manure (except on the bottoms of your shoes). Fresh chicken manure is high in nutrient content. On average, it will have about 1-2% nitrogen, 1-2% phosphorus, and 1% potassium. If chicken manure is directly incorporated into soil, planting should be delayed for about a month. If composted, the nitrogen in the manure will enhance biological activity and consequent breakdown of other materials. Composting is recommended for bedding that contains shavings or straw. An egg producing chicken flock should be replaced every two or so years to maintain production levels. Buy chicks from reputable sources. Feed stores will be getting chicks soon and catalogs ship day-old chicks. Some suppliers will determine sex of the chicks (with about 95% reliability) for a little extra money. By the way, you do not need a rooster to produce eggs. In fact, the absence of roosters may be greatly appreciated by your neighbors. Young chicks need lots of care for the first few weeks and you should be prepared for them when they arrive. Reputable suppliers will provide feeding and care instructions. The smaller the hen, the more efficient her production which also lowers your feed cost per dozen eggs. Leghorns and sex-link crosses have been developed for egg production and disease resistance. Most pullets come into egg production at 20 to 24 weeks or age. You can expect about get a dozen eggs from each four to five pounds of feed. My wife and I have a flock of 10 hens (four Aracaunas, four red sex-links, and two brown leghorns). We use pine shavings as bedding inside the chicken house and compost the manure and shavings with our other garden and household waste. We also rake out the pen and compost the manure we collect. Our chickens free-range about half the time in our fenced yard and are shut in each night to protect them from predators. Our vegetable garden is fenced to exclude the chickens, but they have access to the entire garden perimeter. I like to think this arrangement helps control insects. Turkeys are great for meat production and are usually marketed when they are 20-30 weeks old. Young turkeys need a little additional coaxing to get them to eat and drink. Ducks and geese are easy to raise and grow very fast. By the time they are 5 or 6 weeks old, they will eat lots of fresh green grass if it is available. Swimming water is not necessary, but fresh drinking water must always be available. For more details about poultry care, feeding, space requirements, facilities, there are many resources available. I have an excellent book called Storey’s Guide To Raising Chickens by Gail Damerow. It has lots of excellent information about all aspects of raising chickens for meat and eggs. A good on-line publication called How To Keep A Small Poultry Flock is available from NMSU at: www.cahe.nmsu.edu/pubs/_circulars/Circ477.html. The University of Arizona Cooperative Extension has publications and information on gardening and pest control. If you have other gardening questions, call the Master Gardener line in the Cottonwood office at 646-9113 ext. 14 or E-mail us at mgardener@verdeonline.com and be sure to include your address and phone number. Find past Backyard Gardener columns or submit column ideas at the Backyard Gardener web site: http://cals.arizona.edu/yavapai/anr/hort/byg/. |