MY SCRATCH HENS LAY GOLDEN EGGS
(Page 4 of 4)
July/August 1975
By Allice Merritt
You may be wondering how I keep my free-ranging birds out of the crops and garden. Very simple! I cut the weeds along the borders of the planted area, sink posts in the ground, and string electric wire which is connected to the same charger my husband uses for cow control. The strand runs across the ends of rows and wherever poultry could give trouble, at a level slightly lower than that of a chicken's back. A whole field can be fenced quickly in this way and trespassers get such a shock that few return for a second dose. Persistent troublemakers are culled.
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Although the chickens themselves are unwelcome in the garden, their manure is another matter. The dung from the birds' house and the removable tray under the brooder are emptied regularly to control flies and odor, and any droppings I don't use on flowers and shrubs find a ready market as fertilizer. A neighbor who operates an organic truck farm is glad to buy both the chicken and any cow manure we have to spare. Other by-products from the fowl go into the compost pile and onto the garden.
Chickens raised as I've described are little trouble to keep, and very profitable (I can expect to clear between $300 and $400 a year from meat, eggs, and fertilizer). The birds, however, are more than just a source of cash, they're my friends. They follow me about like dogs when I'm working, I talk to them when they cackle or cluck to me, and they seem to understand what I say. Some, I'm convinced, have deliberately led me to nests of eggs or chicks. They know I won't hurt them without cause. Every day I see the miracles of birth, life, and death unfold in the flock, and my life is the richer for the presence of my feathered companions.
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