@ron stetz I actually find that comment by @TylerSmith really odd. It would be a very weird & scary world if people were incapable of gauging their own level of happiness or sadness. It's just really bizarre and concerning to me that some people believe depression is only valid once it's been diagnosed. It just makes me think of books like Brave new world and controlled societies
Very good video, Mark. I want to add a little something to your information. I'm 73 years old, country raised, and I love chickens. Our Granny lives here with us and she loves chickens too and she was sure country raised, too, and Pa and I also have grown kids, Grandkids and Great Grandkids living here too. I'm telling you all this for one reason. The health factors when it comes to chickens. Chickens love people and their poop is valuable. But never breathe in their poop dust. It causes a serious lung infection that mimics TB. Back in the old days that lung disease was confused with TB and people were hauled away to sanitariums where they were never treated properly. Wear a mask when you rake out or clean the coop or when you are working with the pile of dry poop and wash face, hands and arms when you are done handling the dry poop. You will be fine. You are doing a great job with your feather babies and a great job with your gardening as well. Thank you for all you great videos and all the work you put into them. It matters. Good health and happy farming to you and yours. (We re here in Texas USA)
You are very welcome. I should have added that because of Texas heat, all our generations wore hats when cleaning out the chicken coops, as well as kerchiefs tied around our faces before the invention of face masks, and I think hats were a good idea for another reason -- those hats also kept that chicken poop dust out of our hair too. You might think about wearing a hat too when you are doing that. I don't want to cause a stir or anything, just want to give you some ideas. You are doing a great job and I thank you very much.
Sounds good, but don’t do what Mark has done. Adding vulnerable young pullets to an existing flock is a recipe for disaster as the older hens will bully them. I would like to have seen them go into a clean shed with plenty of litter to scratch in. Orpingtons may be big but they are very docile breed.
Did you know that a Chickens natural habitat is woods and forests. Their poop is one of the most natural foods for tree roots to take nourishment from as it decomposes and washes deep into the soil by the tropical rains. It seems to be perfect for Guava trees as well. The scent of fully ripe Guavas in the Jungle where Jungle Chickens rare totally wild is just amazing.
funny you mention Guava trees .. i recently added some chicken poop compost to a Guava tree, i have in a pot .. its magic, the tree has increase in size and color in just a few days
@@Selfsufficientme I've been reading up on compost tea and how its good for your plants but what about chicken manure tea? It gets rank fast if left open to the air.
The spring after my husband and I gave our chickens away, we dug soil out of the chicken pen and put it in the holes that we were planting our tomatoes in. We had so many tomatoes that year! It was incredible. I only had 8-10 plants but I had more tomatoes than I knew what to do with. I canned some, I gave a lot of them away. I took them to church and asked people to please take some. We had mild weather that Fall and I still had tomatoes on the vine in November. It was amazing! So YES! Chicken poop makes excellent fertilizer. I have seen the proof, first hand.
Hi Mark! I wrote to you last week saying I can't wait to start my veggie garden with my dad. Well, I now have 2 big low beds and 3 raised beds using the Hugelkultur method :D Dad has an excavator which saved us heaps of time! Can't wait to do lots of experimenting over the next couple of years :D Thanks for all the great tips and motivation!
Mark, another great and informative video! We've got 9 hens but have not ever thought about using their manure. Your video has changed that. Thanks for all the great tips.
Great answer to the nay sayers. Not everything is about money. Some times lifestyle & own valuations of what is important to you is more benifical. Besides worked out a while ago, my 4 chooks pay for themselves in several ways. 1. Eggs. Can't get cheaper or better for their cost. Free range for a doz where I live you look at $7-8. Per doz for my girls is $3-3.5. 2. Fertilzer. Power to the plants. 3. Insect control. In my orchard I can't keep up with the bugs without them. 4. Weed control. They eat almost all my weed problems within my orchard. 5. Entertainment. Each with her own querks, they can give you a smile or laugh.
Point #5 was essential for me when I was going through a workcover injury about 14 years ago. Basically rendered my right hand useless at the time (for about 12 months, severed nerve damage, & I'm right handed), and depression hit hard. But my 11 girls got me outside in the sunshine daily, "to feed them" was my excuse... But I used to be out there for hours, hypnotized by their antics! I love chooks! And mine were just rescues from the local egg place. Apparently they "didn't lay an egg every day", so were headed for the "ultimate sacrifice" room. They lived their lives out with me instead, & they "cracked me up" every single time I looked at them! Worth more than their weight in gold, to me! ❤❤❤ **Oh, & my front lawn was really, really green, and I had PLENTY of eggs for my daughter & I. I often made extra brownies & fratatas/baby quiches etc for school fetes & money raising causes. They never lacked in egg laying ability when they lived with me, it was as if they just didn't WANT to stop! Even when they did slow down & some stopped... they STILL kept giving, because I STILL never had a spider or a snake anywhere near our living area (we lived on a block house, in rural Sth Aust)! It doesn't matter your reasoning, one of the most worthwhile animals a person can own, either in the rural areas or in suburbia, is a chicken (preferably 2 for company, or more). They provide all that you stated, Eleni & Mark.. and sooo very much more! 😍👍😎 🐔🥚🐔🥚🐔🥚🐔🥚🐔🥚🐔🥚🐔🥚🐔🥚🐔🥚🐔🥚🐔
How much is a bag of feed? We buy these $13 bags, and I think we are break even on the eggs. I can't let them roam by themselves or they get attacked by hawks.
I second the eggs thing. During our current climate I can't find eggs in any of the shops. keeping chickens makes you less vulnerable to the fluctuation availability/prices of eggs.
I dont have chickens as we live in a Retirement Villiage, but we do have quite a large garden plot. I buy a bag of chicken manure from the local hardware. I put about 6 garden trowel full of the chicken manure in a 60 litre garbage bin, and top it up with water. To use, I stir it up with a stick and then pour it around my plants with a watering can with the nozzle removed. Works a treat. Hope this may be of interest to someone who may not have access to chicken poop. Works equeally well with cow manure - fresh or dried.
Love it! We use a rabbit tractor followed by a chicken tractor. Weeds, scraps, bugs and prunings are getting converted to fertilizer on the spot. Since this is the first season doing it I haven't seen the benefits... YET! They'll come!
from experience I was raised around chickens all my life and they've always told me that if you're going to bring in new chickens with old chicken it's the better to put them in there at dark cuz sometimes they will not get along and they don't see good at night time so you put your new chicks in with the chickens at night time just thought I'd let you know that
Great video Mark. We live in Sydney, have a large veg garden and 5 hens and do the same. What great manure these beautiful birds produce for our food forest. It’s invaluable. ED
In the 1970 books on chickens they'd have trays under the roosting perches to harvest the poo daily. I use deep litter & eight Wellsummers have only made about three inches of composted bedding, in an eight by twelve foot coop&run, in the two years I've had them.
You are so right about chicken poop. I decided to put some on my roses last year and within one month, they were growing bigger, faster and more beautiful that they ever have. Now I put it on them at least twice a year. I also put chicken manure on all my vegetables and fruit trees. I am sold, but it is nice that some other gardener like yourself says so too! I think people are so conditioned to not put this on because of the horror stories of burning their crops. I have yet to have anything burnt. And I grow everything I can here in the Seattle area.
13:53 "We don't see it as an economic transaction". Agreed! So many things nowadays seem to be about the raw numbers and money. But, sometimes you need to do things for yourself that might not be the most economically viable. It's ok to have projects etc that don't generate an income so long as you balance the books overall.
I haven't read all of the comments, so if I'm repeating some info, my apologies. I just wanted to mention that I have a lawn mower with a bagger attachment and decided to bag grass clippings and use it as a "free" alternative to wood shavings. The chickens eat some of it but eventually "poop it up".... Every week or so, I clean out the coop and put it in my compost piles and mow up more clippings and continue the cycle. When the grass stops growing, I mow up leaves in the fall and throw them in there. Eventually, I purchase more shavings as needed. It works great! Just an idea I thought others with chickens may want to try.
I feel your pain on the rain interrupting your working momentum… but… hailing from California with our MISERABLE drought, what we wouldn’t give for a blessed downpour like that… my chickens would be dancing around in it like yours were! Love your info, thank u!
Fertilizer for my garden, keeping weeds down between my rows (where the chicken runs are), and soil improvement are why I got into chickens for the first time. This year I began a 15 dual purpose chicken flock.
Love my Orpingtons. They started laying after 20 weeks. Very friendly. I've been using a quarter strength manure tea for my seedlings. They are growing really well. I use the chickens as the first step in the composting process. I give mine mower trimmings in their coop. They love it and after a week or two I rake it up and add it to the compost pile.
You are 100% correct and I'm so glad you made this video for Americans here so they don't use pesticides or chemical fertilizers so they would return to their original country values that's where you produce your own things on your own independence not through mass production that's one that screws everything up when you have to get everything on a mass productive level....
Definitely, many of us could all grow more and use the natural world around us to help. Not too hard to attain for most and better for the environment and our health overall I reckon. Cheers :)
Hi! From Puerto Rico.Came across your videos,learn a lot from them.I have a vegetable patch,been growing corn,tomatoes,brocolli,potatoes,celery,peppers and besides all the tropical fruits here in the island.I also have chicken and use the poop too...Keep up does great videos.👐🏝🏖🐤🐥🐓🐔🦃
In Medieval England pigeon poop was so highly prized as fertilizer that armed guards were posted on large coops at night. And of course, modern warfare would be impossible without discoveries made by combining the saltpeter from guano with sulfur and charcoal. In the city where I live your allowed to have 5 chickens if you have at least 2000 sq ft, but my landlord would square off more than my feet if I tried it. :D Still, very informative and I hope my recent subscription continues to pay off with "little nuggets" like this one. Thanks!
Thank You! I've got my first batch of chicken poop brewing! My oranges, grapefruits, and lemons, are grown indoors during winter in my plant room until my greenhouse gets built. Hoping to see some fruit on my four years olds this summer with the chicken poo!
I have some buff orpingtons, they are big girls and very fluffy too which is great in the US where I am as they do tolerate cold weather. In the summer I have to look out for them making sure there is loads of shade and giving them frozen treats (like watermelon) to help them when its very hot and humid. They are sweet and friendly but do go broody, not a problem for me. I covered my whole garden with chicken poo straw to keep weeds out and hope when I plant this spring the poo will have done its thing :) Great video and I understand the damn rain, it has rained like crazy forever here on the east coast.
Been raining like that for weeks here Mark, so frustrating when you have projects to finish. great looking build and the Orpingtons will love it and give you plenty of manure. I had 6 buff Orpingtons over the years. great heavy birds
We use chicken along with the straw used as bedding makes an awesome garden additive. Also rabbit poop is amazing for those where you can raise them. along I also till in broken down leaves from the previous fall and I have never need to used fertilizer in 7 years.
I do most of this, but with my indoor guinea pigs. They are like little hay vacuums that spit out amazing manure. You can do the same with any herbivore pets waste, pretty much. Compost it with the bedding and your plants will thank you!
G'day Mark! Love your new chooks! What an interesting breed. Will have to research them. Yes, I enjoy having chooks too, they make me smile.. they are smarter than most folks realize. I love it when the chooks and quail follow me about the property, I'm doing chores and they are too..getting bugs, weeds, seeds, and dust bathing..😁🐔🐥. God bless.
I'm so envious!! We're only allowed 4 hens here in my subdivision! I'm currently looking for a bigger, more sustainable property where I can have 15 or 20, and also raise meat birds.
I have just recently got my first 4 chooks, is it ok just to throw the poo on the garden. as you just said I am going to try mixing it with water and just pouring it on the garden. this is all new to me but I am loving the chooks as they all have their own personality.
Hiya!! Really really nice! Meraklis!!! Do you pick up the manure after a few months thats been in the coop and use it right when you need it OR you store it first for more months and then use it?
The chickens are my favorite part of our small family farm in Florida - USA. I have been watching your videos for several months and help guide me in my journal toward deciding to use raised beds in our new garden. Been trying to get it in for 2 years - now all the other honey do's are done - so I can begin working on what I want to work on. Thanks for all the information you freely and wisely share. If you get a chance, please check out our small family farm channel and consider subscribing. Thanks and keep up the excellent work.
I love my girls tooooo Mark, always say the eggs are a bonus! Again I have learnt something.....love your videos so much. I dont have a big back yard but trying to turn every inch into productivity building up the soil as Im on clay in western victoria. Happy girls happy life :)
All I use.. 60 odd chickens makes a lot of great compost. Add some sugar cane mulch as bedding material and it makes an even better raw mix for the garden..
I am on 4215 meters of sandy soil. I got 50 chickens, sold most of the eggs, which gave me free feed. The dozen eggs I had each week, the chicken poop for free & best of all the chickens free ranged & now I can grow all sorts of plants. Chickens are the greatest gift for the backyard gardener..just keep the little buggers away from the veggie patch....
I love orphington chickens are not only larger than most but are the most friendly chickens. They are docile sweet natured egg machines and definitely poop a lot.
Greetings from Portugal! I 💖 my chookas SOOO much too... we just made a chicken tractor and they love working for us. I have a small flock of five bantams but a few are little old ladies now...One is nearly nine...so am thinking about a couple of full size hens for some bigger eggs and now you mention it..extra poop!! Thanks for all your informative tips whilst I'm doing my washing up...have subbed. ☀🙏☀
When we introduce pullets, we coop train them for a few days first. Let them see it as home. Then we put them all together with the rest of the hens at night so they all wake up smelling the same. It helps the older hens accept them faster.
You mentioned liq fert. In Texas, they have chicken houses with 16,000 "fryers" In the winter where the temp might drip to 0 to 10 get C, the windows of the house are closed. They are heated wuth huge pripane heaters. This generates lots of Nitrogen based gas. At times it cillects in the ceiling and ia very dense. I believe this gas could be pulled out of house with exhaust fans, scrubbed through a water tower and the water could be used as a liq fert. 2 problems solved: 1. Chicken gases not cintaminated the outside air. 2. Great fertilizer produced. Btw ...in Texas, ranchers have ground up chicken manure into cattle feed to boost the N2 level. Those cows love it! So do the bacteria in the cow rumen.
Love the new chickens Mark, you choose fantastically well !! Great video today, full to the brim with awesome information and not forgetting Poop......🥰🐓💩👍💚🎥
If you turn over the logs once in a while those hens will go wild for the exposed bugs underneath that log. The egg shells in your scrap are also great source of calcium for plants. The foraging chickens also are great at weed management.
And I have been throwing it all away! I use sand as the base of my 12' X 24' coop. I live in Florida USA and am very low, so often get wet. Sand lets the water drain away quickly. But I'm been cleaning my coop by shaking the raked sand through a sieve of sorts, and throwing the collected matter away. Well no more! I'll save that gold and put it in my garden. Thanks!
You have a good amount of room there, mate ! LOVE the background greenery of all those outstanding, beautiful citrus ! Wish I had the room ! I do have nearly one-half acre here in downtown Metro Phoenix (Tempe) in the good ole USA...but property is bordered on 3 sides (so some setbacks) and with Home & 3 patio's, etc & lots of plants outside (I have eclectic gardening interests), not quite as much space for so many larger fruit trees (I have close to 40 though, though many are dwarf varieties). of those, I do have roughly 10-11 citrus, but many are a little smaller--several kumquat varieties, limequats, 2-meyer lemons, sanguinelli blood orange, etc. Love your video's ! :)
Sounds like you're making great use of the land you have Jeff! I just planted a Kumquat the other day myself - Don't have a limequat though... going to have to search for one of them now! All the best :)
I was watching this video with headphones and a chicken made a loud noise subsequently blowing out one of my eardrums. Il accept compensation in the form of a self sufficient me t-shirt, black in size medium. Thanks 👍
in doing chickens and getting the manure it is very good I like to make certain that it is properly composted so that way when putting directly on plants it wont give plants a nitrogen burn given how much at one time your putting on.
We've been getting smashed by that rain here as well. All my seedlings are under plastic and camping tables to keep them from getting waterlogged! 😡 Some one near me is selling large bags of chicken manure for $3.50 👌
Self Sufficient Me I have been adding the pelletised Rooster Booster when I have been transplanting recently, am I weird to say I quite like the smell of it lol. But when I saw the bags stacked out the front of the house on my way past, I made a mental note to stop on the way home. It's been raining nearly none stop for 3 days that it is still in the back of the ute. We had a months worth of rain here in one day, some of the seedlings needed arm bands on it was that bad 🤣 Also been putting the pellets in water and making a chicken poop "tea" and watering the established plants with it. Will use the fresh poop to condition the raised beds with and turn it in to the soil.
Hello Thank you for your great videos which are so helpful. How do I use chicken poop on garden? I'm putting it around plants and attracting lots of little flies. Do I need to dry right out for a few weeks? Thanks
Some plants can handle a to high level of chicken poop. Their roots can get burned. It is safer to mix is very well with soil, if you want to use it directly in a garden.
Hi Mark love your videos! Have a question for you I live in Perth and loose most of my oranges and mandarins to fruitfly what natural products would you suggest please? How did you introduce your new chickens to your old ones don’t the old ones attack the new ones?
I've been suffering from depression and your videos really brighten up my day! Thank you friend!
@Kyle Castloo I needed to hear that. thank you
Did a doctor diagnose you a depressed? Or did you diagnose yourself
@@tylersmith9868 you can feel depressed without being diagnosed as having depression. It's a feeling...
@ron stetz I actually find that comment by @TylerSmith really odd. It would be a very weird & scary world if people were incapable of gauging their own level of happiness or sadness.
It's just really bizarre and concerning to me that some people believe depression is only valid once it's been diagnosed. It just makes me think of books like Brave new world and controlled societies
@@scarlettrubyrose you do need a medical professional to diagnose you its that simple. Anything you say contradictory to that is just insane
Very good video, Mark. I want to add a little something to your information. I'm 73 years old, country raised, and I love chickens. Our Granny lives here with us and she loves chickens too and she was sure country raised, too, and Pa and I also have grown kids, Grandkids and Great Grandkids living here too. I'm telling you all this for one reason. The health factors when it comes to chickens. Chickens love people and their poop is valuable. But never breathe in their poop dust. It causes a serious lung infection that mimics TB. Back in the old days that lung disease was confused with TB and people were hauled away to sanitariums where they were never treated properly. Wear a mask when you rake out or clean the coop or when you are working with the pile of dry poop and wash face, hands and arms when you are done handling the dry poop. You will be fine. You are doing a great job with your feather babies and a great job with your gardening as well. Thank you for all you great videos and all the work you put into them. It matters. Good health and happy farming to you and yours. (We re here in Texas USA)
Great advice Bertha and be assured I have noted it! Thanks for sharing your wisdom and experience. Cheers :)
You are very welcome. I should have added that because of Texas heat, all our generations wore hats when cleaning out the chicken coops, as well as kerchiefs tied around our faces before the invention of face masks, and I think hats were a good idea for another reason -- those hats also kept that chicken poop dust out of our hair too. You might think about wearing a hat too when you are doing that. I don't want to cause a stir or anything, just want to give you some ideas. You are doing a great job and I thank you very much.
yes i have that lung decease, from not protecting myself from years of chicken raising, there is no cure.
@@user-np1ch6bs6t I've known a lot of people with that lung disease. You take good care of you for all of us. Hugs from Texas USA.
@@berthayellowfinch5471 Bless you!!
I'm getting 11 chickens for the first time next month. I just built their roosts today. I'm so excited!
Best of luck with them they really are wonderful animals :)
Sounds good, but don’t do what Mark has done. Adding vulnerable young pullets to an existing flock is a recipe for disaster as the older hens will bully them. I would like to have seen them go into a clean shed with plenty of litter to scratch in. Orpingtons may be big but they are very docile breed.
Did you know that a Chickens natural habitat is woods and forests. Their poop is one of the most natural foods for tree roots to take nourishment from as it decomposes and washes deep into the soil by the tropical rains. It seems to be perfect for Guava trees as well. The scent of fully ripe Guavas in the Jungle where Jungle Chickens rare totally wild is just amazing.
funny you mention Guava trees .. i recently added some chicken poop compost to a Guava tree, i have in a pot .. its magic, the tree has increase in size and color in just a few days
The biggest draw for chickens is there ease of caring for. As long as they have food they are happy and produce eggs. Cant beat them.
Yes they are easy to look after - I would say easier than a cat or dog. Cheers :)
@@Selfsufficientme I've been reading up on compost tea and how its good for your plants but what about chicken manure tea? It gets rank fast if left open to the air.
Yea, women used to be like that! Lmao
The spring after my husband and I gave our chickens away, we dug soil out of the chicken pen and put it in the holes that we were planting our tomatoes in. We had so many tomatoes that year! It was incredible. I only had 8-10 plants but I had more tomatoes than I knew what to do with. I canned some, I gave a lot of them away. I took them to church and asked people to please take some. We had mild weather that Fall and I still had tomatoes on the vine in November. It was amazing! So YES! Chicken poop makes excellent fertilizer. I have seen the proof, first hand.
Hi Mark! I wrote to you last week saying I can't wait to start my veggie garden with my dad. Well, I now have 2 big low beds and 3 raised beds using the Hugelkultur method :D Dad has an excavator which saved us heaps of time! Can't wait to do lots of experimenting over the next couple of years :D Thanks for all the great tips and motivation!
Just found your channel, i believe you have a small piece of paradise around you! Be healthy and have happiness
I have plans for having chicken in the future and this truly helps, thanks
Mark, another great and informative video! We've got 9 hens but have not ever thought about using their manure. Your video has changed that. Thanks for all the great tips.
Great answer to the nay sayers. Not everything is about money. Some times lifestyle & own valuations of what is important to you is more benifical. Besides worked out a while ago, my 4 chooks pay for themselves in several ways.
1. Eggs. Can't get cheaper or better for their cost. Free range for a doz where I live you look at $7-8. Per doz for my girls is $3-3.5.
2. Fertilzer. Power to the plants.
3. Insect control. In my orchard I can't keep up with the bugs without them.
4. Weed control. They eat almost all my weed problems within my orchard.
5. Entertainment. Each with her own querks, they can give you a smile or laugh.
They have alot more personality than most realize
I agree with all 5 of your points - so very true! Thank you :)
Point #5 was essential for me when I was going through a workcover injury about 14 years ago. Basically rendered my right hand useless at the time (for about 12 months, severed nerve damage, & I'm right handed), and depression hit hard. But my 11 girls got me outside in the sunshine daily, "to feed them" was my excuse...
But I used to be out there for hours, hypnotized by their antics! I love chooks! And mine were just rescues from the local egg place. Apparently they "didn't lay an egg every day", so were headed for the "ultimate sacrifice" room. They lived their lives out with me instead, & they "cracked me up" every single time I looked at them! Worth more than their weight in gold, to me! ❤❤❤
**Oh, & my front lawn was really, really green, and I had PLENTY of eggs for my daughter & I. I often made extra brownies & fratatas/baby quiches etc for school fetes & money raising causes. They never lacked in egg laying ability when they lived with me, it was as if they just didn't WANT to stop! Even when they did slow down & some stopped... they STILL kept giving, because I STILL never had a spider or a snake anywhere near our living area (we lived on a block house, in rural Sth Aust)!
It doesn't matter your reasoning, one of the most worthwhile animals a person can own, either in the rural areas or in suburbia, is a chicken (preferably 2 for company, or more). They provide all that you stated, Eleni & Mark.. and sooo very much more! 😍👍😎
🐔🥚🐔🥚🐔🥚🐔🥚🐔🥚🐔🥚🐔🥚🐔🥚🐔🥚🐔🥚🐔
How much is a bag of feed? We buy these $13 bags, and I think we are break even on the eggs. I can't let them roam by themselves or they get attacked by hawks.
I second the eggs thing. During our current climate I can't find eggs in any of the shops. keeping chickens makes you less vulnerable to the fluctuation availability/prices of eggs.
I dont have chickens as we live in a Retirement Villiage, but we do have quite a large garden plot. I buy a bag of chicken manure from the local hardware. I put about 6 garden trowel full of the chicken manure in a 60 litre garbage bin, and top it up with water. To use, I stir it up with a stick and then pour it around my plants with a watering can with the nozzle removed. Works a treat. Hope this may be of interest to someone who may not have access to chicken poop. Works equeally well with cow manure - fresh or dried.
Love it!
We use a rabbit tractor followed by a chicken tractor. Weeds, scraps, bugs and prunings are getting converted to fertilizer on the spot. Since this is the first season doing it I haven't seen the benefits... YET! They'll come!
Rabbits and chickens tractors sound like a great system! Cheers :)
I'm from Texas and was taught early to NEVER complain about rain.
I am from Childers. I was surprised when you mentioned our small town. Love watching your videos.
Young ones don't know where there's rain there's worms ☔
Better and more real than better homes and gardens.
Absolutely spot on with the information! I agree the little chickens pay for themselves in so many ways 😊
Thank you for your videos, I truly appreciate how you break everything down step-by-step because for someone like me, I have no idea about gardening
We are now running Orpingtons exclusively down here in Canberra. Great birds with great personalities and very hardy. You will enjoy them Mark.
AWESOME thanks for the heads up on the Orpingtons! Glad to hear they also hardy. Cheers :)
from experience I was raised around chickens all my life and they've always told me that if you're going to bring in new chickens with old chicken it's the better to put them in there at dark cuz sometimes they will not get along and they don't see good at night time so you put your new chicks in with the chickens at night time just thought I'd let you know that
Great video Mark. We live in Sydney, have a large veg garden and 5 hens and do the same. What great manure these beautiful birds produce for our food forest. It’s invaluable. ED
200k subs!!! Wowwww congrats! I remember when you had only 5k yahooooo keep it up!
Write a book!
❤️ David
This guy gives out the best dad vibes. I lost it when the music started playing as he drove to McDonald's, and then - kangaroo!
My chooks run like hell if I turn the hose on them in the heat but will stand out in the pouring rain all day long.
In the 1970 books on chickens they'd have trays under the roosting perches to harvest the poo daily. I use deep litter & eight Wellsummers have only made about three inches of composted bedding, in an eight by twelve foot coop&run, in the two years I've had them.
You are so right about chicken poop. I decided to put some on my roses last year and within one month, they were growing bigger, faster and more beautiful that they ever have. Now I put it on them at least twice a year. I also put chicken manure on all my vegetables and fruit trees. I am sold, but it is nice that some other gardener like yourself says so too! I think people are so conditioned to not put this on because of the horror stories of burning their crops. I have yet to have anything burnt. And I grow everything I can here in the Seattle area.
13:53 "We don't see it as an economic transaction". Agreed! So many things nowadays seem to be about the raw numbers and money. But, sometimes you need to do things for yourself that might not be the most economically viable. It's ok to have projects etc that don't generate an income so long as you balance the books overall.
Thanks! That was another great video. I enjoy every one you make. It was nice to see your wife too! Hello to you and yours from Pennsylvania, USA
Thank you Susan! Nina thought she was out of camera but I was filming from inside the pen lol... Cheers :)
I love your garden and your channel! I just put chicken poopoo on my little garden recently
I haven't read all of the comments, so if I'm repeating some info, my apologies. I just wanted to mention that I have a lawn mower with a bagger attachment and decided to bag grass clippings and use it as a "free" alternative to wood shavings. The chickens eat some of it but eventually "poop it up".... Every week or so, I clean out the coop and put it in my compost piles and mow up more clippings and continue the cycle. When the grass stops growing, I mow up leaves in the fall and throw them in there. Eventually, I purchase more shavings as needed. It works great! Just an idea I thought others with chickens may want to try.
I feel your pain on the rain interrupting your working momentum… but… hailing from California with our MISERABLE drought, what we wouldn’t give for a blessed downpour like that… my chickens would be dancing around in it like yours were! Love your info, thank u!
Great video. So glad I found you. Have 1/4 acre in northwest Sydney and a few hundred acres down south. Can't wait to put your tips to good use.
Fertilizer for my garden, keeping weeds down between my rows (where the chicken runs are), and soil improvement are why I got into chickens for the first time. This year I began a 15 dual purpose chicken flock.
Love my Orpingtons. They started laying after 20 weeks. Very friendly. I've been using a quarter strength manure tea for my seedlings. They are growing really well. I use the chickens as the first step in the composting process. I give mine mower trimmings in their coop. They love it and after a week or two I rake it up and add it to the compost pile.
You are 100% correct and I'm so glad you made this video for Americans here so they don't use pesticides or chemical fertilizers so they would return to their original country values that's where you produce your own things on your own independence not through mass production that's one that screws everything up when you have to get everything on a mass productive level....
Definitely, many of us could all grow more and use the natural world around us to help. Not too hard to attain for most and better for the environment and our health overall I reckon. Cheers :)
Penning hens inside of a covered compost area can do really well. Glad you got more girls!
Good tip - something I am yet to try but it makes sense! Cheers :)
Great video Mark, we copped all the rain/storm here in the Redlands too.
Thanks Nicola! Yeah, I shouldn't whine too much because the rain is always welcome... Cheers :)
Hi! From Puerto Rico.Came across your videos,learn a lot from them.I have a vegetable patch,been growing corn,tomatoes,brocolli,potatoes,celery,peppers and besides all the tropical fruits here in the island.I also have chicken and use the poop too...Keep up does great videos.👐🏝🏖🐤🐥🐓🐔🦃
In Medieval England pigeon poop was so highly prized as fertilizer that armed guards were posted on large coops at night. And of course, modern warfare would be impossible without discoveries made by combining the saltpeter from guano with sulfur and charcoal. In the city where I live your allowed to have 5 chickens if you have at least 2000 sq ft, but my landlord would square off more than my feet if I tried it. :D
Still, very informative and I hope my recent subscription continues to pay off with "little nuggets" like this one. Thanks!
That's a really cool bit of trivia! If only I knew that before this video I would have used that info... ;) Thank you!
@@Selfsufficientme See you on the next one. I can tell I'm gonna learn a lot from your channel!
Thanks for the information mate! Very informative. I have a few chickens so I can collect the manure for my fruit trees
Thank You! I've got my first batch of chicken poop brewing! My oranges, grapefruits, and lemons, are grown indoors during winter in my plant room until my greenhouse gets built. Hoping to see some fruit on my four years olds this summer with the chicken poo!
All the best with your greenhouse build and I hope they fruit well for you this summer! Cheers :)
I have some buff orpingtons, they are big girls and very fluffy too which is great in the US where I am as they do tolerate cold weather. In the summer I have to look out for them making sure there is loads of shade and giving them frozen treats (like watermelon) to help them when its very hot and humid. They are sweet and friendly but do go broody, not a problem for me. I covered my whole garden with chicken poo straw to keep weeds out and hope when I plant this spring the poo will have done its thing :) Great video and I understand the damn rain, it has rained like crazy forever here on the east coast.
Mark, besides using the manure as a tea, how do you compost your chicken manure? How long does it need to age before using it on the garden?
Hello from southeastern Kentucky USA! I enjoy your videos.
I just cleaned my coop yesterday. Ohhhh, did you say more chickens.... ok. Lol, I love my girls.
Great video! I can now justify having 22 chickens because its free fertilizer!! Awesome!
Beautiful work I love chickens .
Been raining like that for weeks here Mark, so frustrating when you have projects to finish. great looking build and the Orpingtons will love it and give you plenty of manure. I had 6 buff Orpingtons over the years. great heavy birds
Great to know that you give the Orpingtons a thumbs up Tony! I'm looking forward to seeing how they go here. Cheers mate :)
I also take time to finish stuff,life happens...love your practical sensible approach. Greetings from Cape Town☺
I'm seriously thinking of raiding my neighbor's hen house now!
You can come get some out of mine anytime. Free clean out. Lol
Just offer to clean it out, but wear disposable rubber gloves.
Me too
They probably wouldn't mind the help, I say go for it
be careful of chicken poop , it can burn your plants its hot , dont put too much for plants
Love your Wife’s reaction. It’s like ‘yer what ever they are blood chooks’
LOL... yeah that's about right too! Cheers :)
I JUST WANT TO THANK U FOR EVERYTHING YOU TAUGHT ME
My friend just got some chickens so she’s saving me the manure for my new garden I just started this year! I can’t wait for the harvest:)
Great stuff Lindsey! All the best with your new garden and harvest! Cheers :)
Good to know I'm not the only one enjoying watching chickens :-)
Great Video Mark, Love your video's, wish you could send some of that lovely rain down to central NSW.
Hi Mark. I'll swap your rain for our dry in Victoria any time. Keep up the good work mate.
So true... I shouldn't complain about the rain ever! Cheers :)
We use chicken along with the straw used as bedding makes an awesome garden additive. Also rabbit poop is amazing for those where you can raise them. along I also till in broken down leaves from the previous fall and I have never need to used fertilizer in 7 years.
I do most of this, but with my indoor guinea pigs. They are like little hay vacuums that spit out amazing manure. You can do the same with any herbivore pets waste, pretty much. Compost it with the bedding and your plants will thank you!
G'day Mark! Love your new chooks! What an interesting breed. Will have to research them. Yes, I enjoy having chooks too, they make me smile.. they are smarter than most folks realize. I love it when the chooks and quail follow me about the property, I'm doing chores and they are too..getting bugs, weeds, seeds, and dust bathing..😁🐔🐥. God bless.
G'day Linda! I've never kept Orpingtons before so I'm keen to see what type of birds they grow into. Cheers :)
I'm so envious!! We're only allowed 4 hens here in my subdivision! I'm currently looking for a bigger, more sustainable property where I can have 15 or 20, and also raise meat birds.
4 hens are still better than none Carol but best of luck on your search for a bigger property! Cheers :)
Just subbed to your channel! You are amazing! I cant wait to be able to buy some chickens 🐓😀
I have just recently got my first 4 chooks, is it ok just to throw the poo on the garden. as you just said I am going to try mixing it with water and just pouring it on the garden. this is all new to me but I am loving the chooks as they all have their own personality.
Hiya!! Really really nice! Meraklis!!! Do you pick up the manure after a few months thats been in the coop and use it right when you need it OR you store it first for more months and then use it?
The chickens are my favorite part of our small family farm in Florida - USA. I have been watching your videos for several months and help guide me in my journal toward deciding to use raised beds in our new garden. Been trying to get it in for 2 years - now all the other honey do's are done - so I can begin working on what I want to work on. Thanks for all the information you freely and wisely share. If you get a chance, please check out our small family farm channel and consider subscribing. Thanks and keep up the excellent work.
I love my girls tooooo Mark, always say the eggs are a bonus! Again I have learnt something.....love your videos so much. I dont have a big back yard but trying to turn every inch into productivity building up the soil as Im on clay in western victoria. Happy girls happy life :)
All I use.. 60 odd chickens makes a lot of great compost. Add some sugar cane mulch as bedding material and it makes an even better raw mix for the garden..
Nice video. Can you make chicken manure tea from fresh chicken manure, or does it have to be aged?
And can that be put on root crops such as garlic?
I am on 4215 meters of sandy soil. I got 50 chickens, sold most of the eggs, which gave me free feed. The dozen eggs I had each week, the chicken poop for free & best of all the chickens free ranged & now I can grow all sorts of plants. Chickens are the greatest gift for the backyard gardener..just keep the little buggers away from the veggie patch....
I love orphington chickens are not only larger than most but are the most friendly chickens. They are docile sweet natured egg machines and definitely poop a lot.
Greetings from Portugal! I 💖 my chookas SOOO much too... we just made a chicken tractor and they love working for us. I have a small flock of five bantams but a few are little old ladies now...One is nearly nine...so am thinking about a couple of full size hens for some bigger eggs and now you mention it..extra poop!! Thanks for all your informative tips whilst I'm doing my washing up...have subbed. ☀🙏☀
When we introduce pullets, we coop train them for a few days first. Let them see it as home. Then we put them all together with the rest of the hens at night so they all wake up smelling the same. It helps the older hens accept them faster.
Weve just got 46 chickens. I'm more excited about their poops than their eggs lol. I love chickens.
You mentioned liq fert.
In Texas, they have chicken houses with 16,000 "fryers"
In the winter where the temp might drip to 0 to 10 get C, the windows of the house are closed. They are heated wuth huge pripane heaters. This generates lots of Nitrogen based gas. At times it cillects in the ceiling and ia very dense. I believe this gas could be pulled out of house with exhaust fans, scrubbed through a water tower and the water could be used as a liq fert.
2 problems solved:
1. Chicken gases not cintaminated the outside air.
2. Great fertilizer produced.
Btw ...in Texas, ranchers have ground up chicken manure into cattle feed to boost the N2 level. Those cows love it! So do the bacteria in the cow rumen.
Hi..... Mark, thank you for sharing your video homestead 👋 bye 👋 bye 👋 bye 👋🎥👍👍👍
Love the new chickens Mark, you choose fantastically well !! Great video today, full to the brim with awesome information and not forgetting Poop......🥰🐓💩👍💚🎥
Excellent tips. Thanks for sharing.
If you turn over the logs once in a while those hens will go wild for the exposed bugs underneath that log.
The egg shells in your scrap are also great source of calcium for plants. The foraging chickens also are great at weed management.
Thanks for the composting tips!
Thank you for sharing. I will now start using our chicken poo in our garden.
And I have been throwing it all away!
I use sand as the base of my 12' X 24' coop. I live in Florida USA and am very low, so often get wet. Sand lets the water drain away quickly. But I'm been cleaning my coop by shaking the raked sand through a sieve of sorts, and throwing the collected matter away. Well no more! I'll save that gold and put it in my garden.
Thanks!
You have a good amount of room there, mate ! LOVE the background greenery of all those outstanding, beautiful citrus ! Wish I had the room ! I do have nearly one-half acre here in downtown Metro Phoenix (Tempe) in the good ole USA...but property is bordered on 3 sides (so some setbacks) and with Home & 3 patio's, etc & lots of plants outside (I have eclectic gardening interests), not quite as much space for so many larger fruit trees (I have close to 40 though, though many are dwarf varieties). of those, I do have roughly 10-11 citrus, but many are a little smaller--several kumquat varieties, limequats, 2-meyer lemons, sanguinelli blood orange, etc. Love your video's ! :)
Sounds like you're making great use of the land you have Jeff! I just planted a Kumquat the other day myself - Don't have a limequat though... going to have to search for one of them now! All the best :)
You need a section in Gardening Australa.
co-host with costa
I was watching this video with headphones and a chicken made a loud noise subsequently blowing out one of my eardrums.
Il accept compensation in the form of a self sufficient me t-shirt, black in size medium. Thanks 👍
Sorry about that! Oops... :)
i always end up in your channel whenever i search about gardening wew....
Love you’re theory of keeping chicken LOL!
As a farmer i am always thankful for rain
in doing chickens and getting the manure it is very good I like to make certain that it is properly composted so that way when putting directly on plants it wont give plants a nitrogen burn given how much at one time your putting on.
My dad had chickens in the backyard since before I was born. Now the yard is clear, We grow bananas, plantains, Ñame, Pumpkins and lemons!
We've been getting smashed by that rain here as well. All my seedlings are under plastic and camping tables to keep them from getting waterlogged! 😡 Some one near me is selling large bags of chicken manure for $3.50 👌
I've lost some seedlings to waterlogging also... $3.50 for a bag of chicken manure is VERY good value! Cheers :)
Self Sufficient Me I have been adding the pelletised Rooster Booster when I have been transplanting recently, am I weird to say I quite like the smell of it lol. But when I saw the bags stacked out the front of the house on my way past, I made a mental note to stop on the way home. It's been raining nearly none stop for 3 days that it is still in the back of the ute. We had a months worth of rain here in one day, some of the seedlings needed arm bands on it was that bad 🤣 Also been putting the pellets in water and making a chicken poop "tea" and watering the established plants with it. Will use the fresh poop to condition the raised beds with and turn it in to the soil.
Nice video I too use my chickens poop for my raised beds and plants 🌱🌱🌱🙏👀
fantastic. im wanting chickens for ages!
Hello
Thank you for your great videos which are so helpful.
How do I use chicken poop on garden?
I'm putting it around plants and attracting lots of little flies.
Do I need to dry right out for a few weeks?
Thanks
I love your video it's an amazing incentive 👍
Some plants can handle a to high level of chicken poop. Their roots can get burned.
It is safer to mix is very well with soil, if you want to use it directly in a garden.
I've been using chicken poop for quite a while in my gardens. I typically till it in around 2 or 3 weeks before I plant and have good results.
Hi, Mark. How often do you use the chicken poop liquid to fertilize your gardens? Is this something you do weekly? Thank you so much. ☺️
we bought light brahma they are jumbo chickens too
Hi Mark love your videos! Have a question for you I live in Perth and loose most of my oranges and mandarins to fruitfly what natural products would you suggest please? How did you introduce your new chickens to your old ones don’t the old ones attack the new ones?
Thank you Sir for the excellent tips!