- lightweight mobile heritage bread chicken shelter with 25 birds (20 laying hens, 1 rooster, 4 rotating meat birds) symbiotically integrated into forest garden system. chickens help forest by pest control, soil improvement, and ... . forest processes waste and provides food for chickens. are ~$500 for structure and ~$400 for chickens. Inputs requires about `__` minutes of daily/yearly work, feed: (5/1800)lbs, water: (5/1800)gallons, `__` new chickens. Expected daily/annual outputs are (10/~3.5K) eggs, (x/125) lbs ### Inputs #### Initial - **Frame**: $180 - 10 pieces EMT conduit (10' lengths): $100 - EMT connectors/brackets: $50 - ??? PVC fittings for feeders/water: $30 - **Covering**: - ?common sizes???Hardware cloth (150 sqft): $150 - UV-resistant zip ties: $20 - Door hardware: $30 - **Movement**: ~$70 - Wheels & mounting: $40 - Handles/pulls: $20 - Ground stakes: $10 - Chickens: ~$400 - 20 pullets @ $18: $360 - 1 rooster: $15 - 4 meat chicks @$4: $16 - Equipment: - hanging feeders??? would we need to hang food or spread in morning to get out and foraging and concentrate in evening ... maybe within the coop? - water system??? what are the requirements Total Cost: ~$450 #### Annual - 30 meat bird chicks - feed 1800lbs - water 1800 gallons #### Feed - Laying hens: ~.3 lbs/day × 20 hens = ~6 lbs/day - Meat birds: ~.5 lbs/day × 4 birds = ~2 lbs/day - Rooster: ~0.3 lbs/day x 1 = ~.3 lbs/day - assume 25% reduction from foraging - total ~6.5lbs feed/day - #### Labor - Morning (15 min): Open coop, count birds, Move coop, Fill water, ??? feed birds (how best, how much) - Evening (15 min): Collect eggs, feed birds???, Count birds, Close coop, Check water? - Weekly: - Quarterly: - Yearly: - Total: maintenance: x hours, x dollars ### Outputs - ~125 lb chicken meat - ~3500 eggs - `__` acres of forest garden effectively managed??? #### Seasonal Benefits to Forest Garden - Spring - Pest control before growing season??? - Soil preparation???? - peak egg production - Summer - Continuous pest management - Grass/weed control??? - Fall - Clean up fallen fruit - Till in garden waste??? - Winter - Soil fertilization??? - minimum egg production ## Questions - why rotate the growing meat birds? - why replace 1/3 of layers annually? - what's the logic behind where and how far to move coop? - should you move coop before or after letting birds out? - which breads would be most useful for forest garden? - what do roosters do in this setting and how many roosters should be in this mix?