Fighting fire with fire

[sb47]

I found a solution to all little bugs that come with stacking and storing firewood.
My solution, Yard birds. The good ol chicken.
Growing up we always had chickens. A few years ago I started raising them again, and I gotta say those yard birds took a huge toll on the bug population around the farm.
I had forgotten just how useful they are. They creep into every nook and cranny looking for goodies.
They will disappear into a hole in the wood pile and come out the other side stalking there prey.
I let them free range and let them have the run of the place. When there not crawling through the wood piles, there roaming the range. They leave no stone upturned.
Yard birds have to be the best natural insect control.
Free eggs too!

 

[LonestarStihl]

I love my chickens too. I'll tell you what though the Guineas will tear up some bugs too. They supposedly eat a greater array as well (can't verify). They are noisy but I enjoy watching them a bit more because they are so ridiculous.

 

[sb47]

I love my chickens too. I'll tell you what though the Guineas will tear up some bugs too. They supposedly eat a greater array as well (can't verify). They are noisy but I enjoy watching them a bit more because they are so ridiculous.

There fun to watch. The only down side so far is I can't rake up a pile of leaves and walk away, In 10 min they will scatter it back out looking for critters. lol

 

[LonestarStihl]

There fun to watch. The only down side so far is I can't rake up a pile of leaves and walk away, In 10 min they will scatter it back out looking for critters. lol

Hah! Yeh and they will poop on anything laying around. I still love my fowl. And heaven help any animal that messes with a broody or mama chicken. We have a mama chicken right now that keeps all the animals in line.

 

[muddstopper]

I used to keep chickens in chicken tractors. Couldnt free range because of the varmits.I would move those tractors one or two times a week to keep them in greens. Only had to move the tractor their length to have a fresh area of grass. chickens love lespediza. They will pull the stuff up by the roots and eat every little seed they can find. They pretty much got rid of all the lespediza in my fields. In the winter, I would till out the garden and plant in rye grass. Once the rye was up big enough, I would park those tractors in the garden. Chickens would eat the rye grass and poop it out as fertilizer. The chickens also scratched up the ground looking for grubs and anything else that liked to burrow in the ground. They would catch moles and mice as well as a cat. I know my garden had less bugs when I had chickens and I have been thinking about getting some more just for that reason.

 

[sb47]

Growing up we had a quite large chicken yard. They had lived in that yard for 20+ years and in that 20 years there was not a blade of grass in the chicken yard. They could stick there head through the fence and they kept the grass away from the fence. We never had to trim that fence.
We moved the yard and my dad planted a garden where the old yard was.
You talk about a garden! It was almost like supper garden, everything grew huge.
My dad planted a pecan tree in the chicken yard back about 1970. People would swear that tree was 150 years old because of it's size.
It's first 20+ years was grass free and chicken droppings.
We didn't free rang them back then but the chicken yard was quite large.

 

[coryj]

We got chickens this past spring for the first time ever. When I'm splitting wood they come running and wait for anything in the wood to eat, most of the time it's carpenter ants and they go crazy for them.

 

[CentaurG2]

Chickens are excellent predators. They are very Jurassic park and will eat anything they can hunt down and catch. I have never picked up a deer or dog tick around the property. The other day they were all out in the field running around like crazy. Turns out they were chasing down a swarm of termites. They will also eat just about any vegetable.

Best free rangers I have found so far are Plymouth Barred rocks. Smart birds and the barring pattern gives them an edge with some predators. They also, in my opinion, have the best tasting eggs but they sure do love to dig. We are trying some Dominiques this year and they are looking great. Just need to start getting some eggs.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominique_chicken

 

[sb47]

I saw a chicken eat a pull tab from a beer can once.
Back in the 70's when you pulled the tab completely off my grandpa popped one open and threw the tab into the chicken pin. One jumped on it and swallowed the whole thing, ring with the tab complete.

 

[sb47]

It's fun to watch when one finds something and the others try to steel it.

 

[sb47]

Chickens are excellent predators. They are very Jurassic park and will eat anything they can hunt down and catch. I have never picked up a deer or dog tick around the property. The other day they were all out in the field running around like crazy. Turns out they were chasing down a swarm of termites. They will also eat just about any vegetable.

Best free rangers I have found so far are Plymouth Barred rocks. Smart birds and the barring pattern gives them an edge with some predators. They also, in my opinion, have the best tasting eggs but they sure do love to dig. We are trying some Dominiques this year and they are looking great. Just need to start getting some eggs.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominique_chicken

Termites are like caviar to a chicken.

 

[CentaurG2]

I saw a chicken eat a pull tab from a beer can once.
Back in the 70's when you pulled the tab completely off my grandpa popped one open and threw the tab into the chicken pin. One jumped on it and swallowed the whole thing, ring with the tab complete.

I have seen chickens eat rocks, glass, shells, paint chips, bits of wood etc. Having no teeth and portable food storage sack (craw) seems to lead to a more adventurous diet. I do feel a bit bad for anything that gets swallowed before its deceased. I have seen them choke down mice whole/alive and the do squirm for a bit. My rocks will go after squirrels. I have not seen them get one yet but I remain optimistic.

 

[Circle B MN]

We've had them in the past. Kind of a challenge keeping them watered here in Minnesota during the winter but they are a good time.

The last batch I had would free range but got me in trouble by leaving my yard. The neighbor lady spent the day setting up her flower garden and planting grass seed on the hill around it. My birds found it and went to town "rearranging" it. Made the poor old lady cry, and that was the end of the chickens.

 

[Blue Oaks]

My chickens killed a 4 foot long snake. They pulverized it so I couldn't tell for sure, but it was likely a gopher snake.

 

[muddstopper]

Chickens are real meat eaters. Let one chicken in the pen get a scratch or cut on its head, and the other chickens will peck it to death.