Benefits of Keeping Chickens on an Allotment
Keeping chickens on an allotment has its pros and cons, but with the right setup, the benefits can far outweigh the challenges. Hens can provide fresh eggs, organic fertilizer, and natural pest control for your garden. Here’s a detailed look at how to successfully integrate chickens into your allotment.
Secure Setup is Essential
Keeping chickens on an allotment can be challenging because you can't watch them all the time to make sure they are safe. To keep your flock secure, start with housing your hens in a secure and safe chicken coop. Then predator-proof your setup with strong locks and bolts on all doors. This keeps your chickens safe from animals and people who may come into the area.External chicken coops attached to enclosures should also be well-secured.Â
Consistent Food and Water Supply
Ensure that your chickens have access to food and water at all times. Larger feeders and water containers can help maintain a steady supply, especially important since you may not visit the allotment daily. Regularly check and replenish these to keep your chickens healthy.
Managing Holidays and Permissions
Taking holidays means finding someone trustworthy to check on your flock. You’ll need to get permission from allotment owners for this. Before setting up your chickens, make sure to ask the site owners for permission. There may be rules about how many hens you can have, like only six hens per half plot and no roosters allowed.
Proper Signage and Education
Use signage to politely ask visitors not to feed your chickens. This helps prevent them from accidentally giving your hens harmful foods, like rhubarb leaves. Educate those around you about potential risks to ensure your chickens' safety.
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Benefits of Allotment Chickens
Despite the challenges, allotment chickens can greatly benefit your garden. They can help control pests, fertilize the soil, and even mow the grass. Here's how chickens fit into my allotment life:
- Natural Pest Control and Fertilization: Chickens enjoy eating brassica plants, helping to use up waste while entertaining themselves. They also scratch and mix manure into the soil, enriching it naturally.
- Composting: All chicken waste, including bedding, manure, and wood chip floor covering, goes into compost bays. This creates sustainable compost, enhancing plant growth and completing a perfect cycle.
- Bedding and flooring: Local trees make wood chip flooring, which is a good floor covering that allows for dust bathing in the summer.
Sustainable Practices
To increase sustainability, I am adding a guttering and water harvesting system to my enclosure. We will use this water to irrigate plants, not for the chickens, to avoid harmful bacteria from wild birds.
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Nutritional Benefits of an Allotment Diet
Chickens on an allotment enjoy a varied diet rich in greens from homegrown produce. Vegetables like cauliflower, broccoli, kale, and chard are full of vitamins and iron, making birds healthier and eggs richer.
I grow nasturtiums for their natural worming and antibiotic properties, and sunflowers for their high vitamin E seeds. Herbs from the allotment provide extra vitamins and can help keep chickens calm when added to the nest box.
To make the most of having chickens in your garden, set up their space properly and know what they need. This will help you enjoy all the benefits they bring to your gardening.
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