Tessa the Duchess Posted December 5, 2007 Share Posted December 5, 2007 'Chicken Tractor' The Permaculture Guide to Happy Hens and Healthy Soil By Andy Lee, Pat Foreman IBSN 0-9624648-6-4 Good Earth Publications- Straw Bale Edition. Got this book from Freecycle. It is fabulous, the best book I have ever read about chicken keeping. A bit scientific in parts, these people really know their chickens. I learned so much from it and would like to pass on a few things I had never heard of, or seen discussed on her. Water - we did have a thread on this a while ago. Why do chickens prefer to drink from a muddy puddle than fresh tap water? Well, and I think we reached the same conclusion, chickens don't eat things that will harm them, they don't drink harmful things either. They do not like chlorine or fluoride both present in tap water, so they will go for a muddy puddle any time. Answer, collect rainwater and fill the drinking pots with this. Comfrey - Chickens are very bad processors of nutrients in food, only 20% of all those organic pellets and treats stay in a chicken the other 80% ends up as poo, presumably this is why chicken poo makes such good compost. BUT if you feed your chickens Comfrey leaves on a daily basis they will start to retain 50% of the nutrients meaning they need to eat less of the expensive pellets, the guy is a chicken farmer and costs are important to him. He also says that chickens fed comfrey stop all bad behaviour, pecking, bullying etc., and are much better behaved generally. Comfrey is easy to grow, although will take over a garden if you don't watch it. Apparently kelp has the same effect on chickens, but not something one could grow oneself. He has a wonderful section on building straw bale hen houses, which look really nice and natural. Oh for anyone puzzling about the title. A chicken tractor is a bottomless wood and wire henhouse which you move every day around your land so the chickens get to till and hoe and clear for you. Sounds like a lot of work to me. I can thoroughly recommend this book. It is a US publication but I would have thought a search on Abebooks might find a few copies. Tessa. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 5, 2007 Share Posted December 5, 2007 guess you're not putting it back on freecycle then If you get fed up with it *ahem* wonder if the garden centre sells comfrey seeds? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tessa the Duchess Posted December 5, 2007 Author Share Posted December 5, 2007 Poet wrote: guess you're not putting it back on freecycle then If you get fed up with it *ahem* wonder if the garden centre sells comfrey seeds? I did think I should get some good karma and do a send round the interested forum members. But it is quite a large book, would cost a lot to post for all of us, and I kinda want to keep it for now Ooooh the author said that growing comfrey from seed is very hit and miss. Next time I am in the garden centre I will see if they have any plants, if not I'll search for some online. They grow like weeds once established. DH says we have borage in the garden, well we did have some pre chickens and he thinks it's the same as comfrey, I'm not so sure. Tessa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 5, 2007 Share Posted December 5, 2007 Looks very interesting. I did a google and found this site - I think I'll be ordering some quick smart! http://www.allotment.org.uk/vegetable/comfrey/index.php Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
feemcg Posted December 5, 2007 Share Posted December 5, 2007 Ooh, I remember when I was wee and my eczema was really bad, my gran grew comfrey and gave bags of leaves to my mum - I think she rubbed the leaves on the sore patches. Thanks for the reminder - I might look into it again as my feet are really bad just now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly Posted December 5, 2007 Share Posted December 5, 2007 I have comfrey in my garden (planted by a previous owner) - interestingly, it is near the compost bin so I am guessing it was deliberately planted, as comfrey is a great compost accelerator. Unfortunately it is also in the border, raised bed, side bed and everywhere else it spreads like mad! There are different sorts of comfrey I think but this one had slightly prickly leaves this year. I don't think my girls showed any interest in it at all! They may find themselves being force-fed with it this year - anything to make the pellets go further! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gallina Posted December 6, 2007 Share Posted December 6, 2007 I always use comfrey as a compost accelerator: it is brilliant. But it looks as though I will from now on be putting it through the chickens first. But BIG WARNING: when not in flower (i.e. most of the time) cmfrey is hard to distinguish from very poisonous foxgloves. I recommend pulling the plant up first: if it has a long tap root it is comfrey, if it is shallow rooted you have just destroyed a foxglove. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xScrunchee Posted December 6, 2007 Share Posted December 6, 2007 Comfrey is a native herb in Britain and has long been known as a medicinal herb.It was cultivated by both the Greeks and the Romans. It’s botanical name is Symphytum officinale and it is a member of the Boraginaceae family as are Borage and Forget-me-not. It says that it is in the same family as Borage but not the same plant. I wonder if you can grow it in a big tub so that you an keep it under controll?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tessa the Duchess Posted December 6, 2007 Author Share Posted December 6, 2007 Scrunchee wrote: I wonder if you can grow it in a big tub so that you an keep it under controll?? Not really. When it flowers the seeds would spread to other parts of the garden. However, I had a chat with a gardening friend of mine and you can buy cloned comfrey which does not flower, so it would be possible to grow it in a tub without it taking over the garden. The author of the book grows his comfrey in one area of his land and when it all gets out of control he gets a couple of his pigs to destroy it all, they dig up and eat all the roots. So, we all need a couple of pigs Tessa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted December 6, 2007 Share Posted December 6, 2007 I think that Dilly grows it on her lottie - might have to blag some from her next time we visit Norfolk What am I talking about?! I live 5 miles from the National Herb Centre - i'll go and get some. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xScrunchee Posted December 6, 2007 Share Posted December 6, 2007 Scrunchee wrote: I wonder if you can grow it in a big tub so that you an keep it under controll?? Not really. When it flowers the seeds would spread to other parts of the garden. However, I had a chat with a gardening friend of mine and you can buy cloned comfrey which does not flower, so it would be possible to grow it in a tub without it taking over the garden. The author of the book grows his comfrey in one area of his land and when it all gets out of control he gets a couple of his pigs to destroy it all, they dig up and eat all the roots. So, we all need a couple of pigs Tessa Ooo, what a good idea. I was speaking to OH about getting a couple of pigs the other day but in my little garden I would have to get these....................http://hitsusa.com/blog/199/teacup-pigs/ I'll have one pinky one and a black one please Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted December 6, 2007 Share Posted December 6, 2007 Awww, bless their little wrinkled noses! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tessa the Duchess Posted December 6, 2007 Author Share Posted December 6, 2007 Scrunchee wrote: Ooo, what a good idea. I was speaking to OH about getting a couple of pigs the other day but in my little garden I would have to get these....................http://hitsusa.com/blog/199/teacup-pigs/ I'll have one pinky one and a black one please Aaaaw I would also love to keep pigs and those tiny ones are so cute, but if I remember they are horrendously expensive I wonder if foxes would go for a tiny pig? Tessa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted December 6, 2007 Share Posted December 6, 2007 I wonder if foxes would go for a tiny pig? Tessa Dunno Tessa, but my cat probably would! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tessa the Duchess Posted December 6, 2007 Author Share Posted December 6, 2007 Just out of interest I went to Abebooks. They have loads of copies for sale. There is one bookseller in the UK who is selling new copies for £7.50 plus £3 postage. So if anybody is interested they have 20 copies for sale Tessa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xScrunchee Posted December 6, 2007 Share Posted December 6, 2007 When I went on the site it where the pigs are bred it says that they are £150 which isn't too bad compared to some pedigree dogs I reckon. The thing is, everywhere calls them 'tea cup pigs' and the photo's all show weeny little pigs but when you read about them it says that they grow to the size of a Cocker spaniel which is still small for a pig but not as small as they make out. I will try to find the link to the farm in Devon where they are bred. Found the link to the farm but it doesn't have the price. Here is the link........ http://www.pennywellfarm.co.uk/news.html?Id=32 Now it's going to bug me where I saw the price. Will have a looksie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xScrunchee Posted December 6, 2007 Share Posted December 6, 2007 Found it Mr Ross has two apparently http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/7044897.stm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Milly Posted December 7, 2007 Share Posted December 7, 2007 That sounds like a good use for comfrey. We have some in the garden and tried putting it in water to make a plant feed, but the smell was so awful that we didn't do it again. Trouble is, it dies off in winter (and I know I will forget by the time it reappears ) Milly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 7, 2007 Share Posted December 7, 2007 pig poo smells a bit doesn't it? Can you put garlic powder in pig food? The neighbours will love you Jay Mind you, if the pigs are tiny they'll do tiny poos won't they? Can you house train those little piggies? I saw one on some reality talent show recently, it was trained to do tricks, it was adorable! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xScrunchee Posted December 7, 2007 Share Posted December 7, 2007 Well, apparently they are more intelligent than dogs and are very easy to house train. Ooooo, I really want one (Or two) Don't think my staffie Marleen would be happy though!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
