Thursday, January 24, 2013

Finally found the research articles we needed.

Photo Credit: jessicafm

We cannot both grow and butcher chickens in Colorado. Processing costs would not allow us to transport to a processor for butchering. So we will sell layers and baby chicks and eggs, and butcher for ourselves. We can sell up to 250 dozen eggs per month without needing a license.

So, goal number one is to put together a business plan. I will be working on this at the same time as goal number two, which is to expand the chicken pen and fence in the garden. The chicken pen will go straight to the garden, and will have a gate on the garden side, so that in the fall once we're done harvesting, I can let the chickens forage in there. The fence will keep them contained to the garden and keep the deer out.

Letting the chickens forage in the harvested garden serves multiple purposes. For one, they will be able to eat the leavings for a month. For two, their foraging will help clean up the garden. Harvest of everything but pumpkins and potatoes should be done by late September/early October. So I let them in for a month, then close it off for a few days to do the fall tilling of anything that's left, plus the chicken poo, which is really beneficial for building soil. This way, they are doing all of the compost work for me. I'll keep the garden open to them until February, when I will again till the soil to get it ready for planting.

Any kind of manure that you put into your garden has to age for at least 40 days before you expose it to your plants. For one, the heat of decomposition can burn plants. But the most important reason is that aging it kills any bacteria that may be present in the manure, so your vegetables aren't contaminated. By closing the garden off in February, I give the chicken poo plenty of time to age.By then I hope to have the regular pen expanded to a much larger space too, so that I can still give them a lot of room. Maybe I can grow winter wheat in that part of the pen when they are in the garden in winter to give the chickens something fresh to munch in the spring.

Dinner tonight was beans with onion and bacon, and cornbread. Seriously, this is the best cornbread recipe I have ever used.