The First Members of Our Flock

We now have “teenage chickens” or otherwise known as pullets. Here at Firefly Hills, we are trying to incorporate permaculture practices onto our property. Permaculture is sustainable farm practices to make your farm self-sufficient. We aren’t experts by any means, but we are learning.  

The goal is to grow as much of our own chicken food as possible. By doing this, we are able to  keep feed costs down. It is also much healthier for the chickens and the eggs that they lay are much better.  

Last month we had some work campers build screened frames to go over the area of soil where we planted a mixture of plants to be used as chicken food. The purpose of the screen is to limit where the chickens can eat. By only allowing the chickens to eat the tops of the plants and not all the way down to the roots, they don’t damage the plants and are able to enjoy the food for the whole season. We also planted pumpkins, kale and sunflowers for the chickens. We humans will be able to enjoy them later this summer. Once it turns to fall, they will then be fed to the chickens.  

Chickens also need other nutrients that can be found in bugs. We have placed an order for a Soldier Fly Composting Bin. Once we receive it, we will then place all of our compost, including meat, into this pod. Soon after, soldier flies will be attracted to it, they will lay their eggs and then we will be able to feed the grubs to our chickens. Here is a cool video to learn more about Soldier Fly Composting Bin. This company calls it the ProtaPod. 

In addition to this, we will be composting organic matter created by the chickens from inside of the coop. In the end, we will have rich compost matter we can use in different areas of our property.