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cherryblossom

Does anyone have a chicken clock?

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Hi everyone.

 

There was an article in an organic gardening magazine here in Oz with what they called a chicken clock.

I REALLY want one.

Forgive me probably terrible description.

 

It had a maybe 7ft high hexagon shaped house in the centre, with windows at the top which could be opened for ventilation, and on one side an area opening onto the nest for egg collection. One side opened up totally for cleaning.

Each side had it's own door on, and on each corner of the hexagon is a wire wall, also same hight. This creates 6 seperate runs, each with a door onto the outside. They said they put concrete into the ground all around to stop foxes, and then they had orchard netting over the top.

 

So, how it works, you grow your veggies in some of the sections. When your crop has finished you let your chickens into that bit, where they eat pests and weeds, dig the soil and fertilise it for you. When you open up another section you plant veggies where they have left.

 

Now you would need a fair amount of space, I think the one they showed was 14m across, and I'm sure it wouldn't be cheap to make, but it is such a good idea.

 

I was just wondering if anyone else had this type of set up?

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I won't be able to buy a house for at least a year, so I have to wait. That is a lot of planning to get my chicken clock perfect. :)

I had been thinking espallier trees around the edges would be good for providing shade. Also, fruit netting could then be laid over the trees hanging off the clock fence/wire.

 

If the wire between sections was strong enough you could grow your tomatoes, peas etc up it. Of course you would have to be careful where the chickens were in relation lol.

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Sounds interesting, but big. My great-grandmother had a large chicken pen; she kept the chickens on one side and her veggie garden on the other. Every season she would swap sides, so the ground was fertilized and tilled by the chickens during the off-vegetable time. Sounds like a simpler version of the clock.

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