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I love my chickens! We have 5 hens. Backyardchickens.com is a great resource, esp the forum.
ReplyDeleteI live down the hill from you in Berkeley and have looked into chickens because I'd love the fresh eggs. However, the law says that the chickens must be 25 feet away from any dwelling except yours. So, the coop has to be 25 feet away from your neighbors' houses, and I don't have that kind of room, so it's the farmer's market for me until/unless I move.
I ran into one person whose neighbor had a coop on the side of the house -- clearly too close to the neighbor's. They solved that problem by giving eggs to the affected neighbor in exchange for their acquiescence.
There's even a coop in someone's front yard on Sacramento directly across from the North Berkeley BART station!
Eve,
Great Article. I actually found it on twitter as Michael Pollan tweeted the civil eats post. We have come up with a special type of composter that raises grubs for chickens.
As your article mentions, chickens love to eat live insects (worms, grubs). Traditionally chickens should eat about 30-50% live insects and this becomes hard to do in a backyard setting (like Berkley). Therefore we developed a special composter that allows for the grubs to autoharvest themselves. It’s called a BioPod Plus and it uses a native species of NON-PEST grubs called the “black soldier fly”.
The Ladies (here in dallas it’s illegal to have roosters) go nuts over them and it has been a real success. People can take their leftover food waste that the chickens can’t eat and throw it in this closed composter designed for food waste. The grubs decompose the waste faster then in a traditional compost pile would and the grubs fall into a collection bucket. All you have to do is empty the bucket when you go feed your chickens.
Grubs are a great resource of not only insect protein, but there exoskeleton is rich in calcium. A second benefit that your article touches upon.
I’ve been eating eggs that are grown on chickens that have been eating the grubs raised on my leftover food waste and THEY TASTE GREAT.
Also, we have xeriscaped in natural grains on the side of the yard that are also grown for the chickens. Therefore we believe it’s practical to grow your own chicken feed within the parameters of your backyard.
All it takes is some food waste, grubs, and ecstatically pleasing grains.
great blog and I hope this is interesting.
Eve,
Great Article. I actually found it on twitter as Michael Pollan tweeted the civil eats post. We have come up with a special type of composter that raises grubs for chickens.
As your article mentions, chickens love to eat live insects (worms, grubs). Traditionally chickens should eat about 30-50% live insects and this becomes hard to do in a backyard setting (like Berkley). Therefore we developed a special composter that allows for the grubs to autoharvest themselves. It’s called a BioPod Plus and it uses a native species of NON-PEST grubs called the “black soldier fly”.
The Ladies (here in dallas it’s illegal to have roosters) go nuts over them and it has been a real success. People can take their leftover food waste that the chickens can’t eat and throw it in this closed composter designed for food waste. The grubs decompose the waste faster then in a traditional compost pile would and the grubs fall into a collection bucket. All you have to do is empty the bucket when you go feed your chickens.
Grubs are a great resource of not only insect protein, but there exoskeleton is rich in calcium. A second benefit that your article touches upon.
I’ve been eating eggs that are grown on chickens that have been eating the grubs raised on my leftover food waste and THEY TASTE GREAT.
Also, we have xeriscaped in natural grains on the side of the yard that are also grown for the chickens. Therefore we believe it’s practical to grow your own chicken feed within the parameters of your backyard.
All it takes is some food waste, grubs, and ecstatically pleasing grains.
great blog and I hope this is interesting.
We're thinking about getting some, but I need to wrangle some other stuff first. Where exactly to put them is another matter. Food for thought.
ReplyDeleteyeah, a good point. You'd have to fence in all your garden beds, basically. Does the town of Woodstock allow poultry in the village lines?
ReplyDeleteI think so. It's on my list to find out.
ReplyDeleteFun post! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Eve. I want chickens!
ReplyDeleteThis is a great post, Eve. I want chickens!
ReplyDeleteI love my chickens! We have 5 hens. Backyardchickens.com is a great resource, esp the forum.
ReplyDeleteI grew up in Berkeley (many years in North Berkeley) and am thrilled that people are keeping chickens in Berkeley.
ReplyDeleteI live in Colorado now and have chickens too, such good times.
I live down the hill from you in Berkeley and have looked into chickens because I'd love the fresh eggs. However, the law says that the chickens must be 25 feet away from any dwelling except yours. So, the coop has to be 25 feet away from your neighbors' houses, and I don't have that kind of room, so it's the farmer's market for me until/unless I move.
ReplyDeleteI ran into one person whose neighbor had a coop on the side of the house -- clearly too close to the neighbor's. They solved that problem by giving eggs to the affected neighbor in exchange for their acquiescence.
There's even a coop in someone's front yard on Sacramento directly across from the North Berkeley BART station!
I just saw that coop on Sacramento St for the first time - it's kinda cute how it just sticks out of their house like that. I guess the city is not too strict about enforcing their regulations?
ReplyDeleteEve,
ReplyDeleteGreat Article. I actually found it on twitter as Michael Pollan tweeted the civil eats post. We have come up with a special type of composter that raises grubs for chickens.
As your article mentions, chickens love to eat live insects (worms, grubs). Traditionally chickens should eat about 30-50% live insects and this becomes hard to do in a backyard setting (like Berkley). Therefore we developed a special composter that allows for the grubs to autoharvest themselves. It’s called a BioPod Plus and it uses a native species of NON-PEST grubs called the “black soldier fly”.
The Ladies (here in dallas it’s illegal to have roosters) go nuts over them and it has been a real success. People can take their leftover food waste that the chickens can’t eat and throw it in this closed composter designed for food waste. The grubs decompose the waste faster then in a traditional compost pile would and the grubs fall into a collection bucket. All you have to do is empty the bucket when you go feed your chickens.
Grubs are a great resource of not only insect protein, but there exoskeleton is rich in calcium. A second benefit that your article touches upon.
I’ve been eating eggs that are grown on chickens that have been eating the grubs raised on my leftover food waste and THEY TASTE GREAT.
Also, we have xeriscaped in natural grains on the side of the yard that are also grown for the chickens. Therefore we believe it’s practical to grow your own chicken feed within the parameters of your backyard.
All it takes is some food waste, grubs, and ecstatically pleasing grains.
great blog and I hope this is interesting.
Eve,
ReplyDeleteGreat Article. I actually found it on twitter as Michael Pollan tweeted the civil eats post. We have come up with a special type of composter that raises grubs for chickens.
As your article mentions, chickens love to eat live insects (worms, grubs). Traditionally chickens should eat about 30-50% live insects and this becomes hard to do in a backyard setting (like Berkley). Therefore we developed a special composter that allows for the grubs to autoharvest themselves. It’s called a BioPod Plus and it uses a native species of NON-PEST grubs called the “black soldier fly”.
The Ladies (here in dallas it’s illegal to have roosters) go nuts over them and it has been a real success. People can take their leftover food waste that the chickens can’t eat and throw it in this closed composter designed for food waste. The grubs decompose the waste faster then in a traditional compost pile would and the grubs fall into a collection bucket. All you have to do is empty the bucket when you go feed your chickens.
Grubs are a great resource of not only insect protein, but there exoskeleton is rich in calcium. A second benefit that your article touches upon.
I’ve been eating eggs that are grown on chickens that have been eating the grubs raised on my leftover food waste and THEY TASTE GREAT.
Also, we have xeriscaped in natural grains on the side of the yard that are also grown for the chickens. Therefore we believe it’s practical to grow your own chicken feed within the parameters of your backyard.
All it takes is some food waste, grubs, and ecstatically pleasing grains.
great blog and I hope this is interesting.