I keep four chickens and a cock, they are my pride and joy, but they are super destructive. In 2021 my feathered friends scratched, ate and smothered loads of my spring sown seedlings and I was devastated. Their dustbathing disturbed the soil, they nibbled all my corn and anything even mildly tasty was gobbled up by my greedy girls. They're not all bad, they do produce loads of lovely eggs, do my weeding for me, their poo is liquid gold and in the winter they really look after my vegetable plot! But what to do in the summer?
In late October 2021 my partner bought a tipper truck for his walling and landscaping business, but it came with a huge cage on the tipper. I immediately knew how to solve the problem with the chickens. USE THE CAGE.
This design uses Mollison's principle of The Problem is the Solution to inspire the original concept of A Summertime Chicken Enclosure and Holmgren's principles of Observe and Interact, Produce No Waste, and Obtain a Yield in the design process.
I used the SADIMET framework and the following tools
SURVEY - an observations diary, limiting factors, a simple site map
ANALYSE - Functions and Elements matrix, Needs and Yields Analysis and a Sector Analysis
My design is a very simple drawing
The implementation was carried out by my partner, some very helpful neighbours, and myself.
Maintenance is ongoing but minimal, just a bit of weeding due to the homemade compost being a bit seedy.
The design has a full evaluation within three months of implementation and I continue to evaluate with a photo diary.
Tweaks have been made, new plants have been added after it was observed the original planting didn't work as well as hoped.