The Soil Factory

Here at our place we have a dedicated team who make good garden soil for us.  They are the best kind of staff you can get.

Willing to work 7 days a week without complaint.  Paid in food and water and a roof over their heads.  And as a bonus they actually give us some of the food  they produce as well.

Check them out...

Yep these guys are hard at work for us and they do not even know it.



Our chickens have a backyard (outdoor run) that is approx 50 sq metres and it is fenced off with 6 foot fences to keep out the wildlife and puppy.  They then have a 2 storey dwelling with living and dining downstairs and bedrooms and nesting upstairs.



Upstairs Bedroom



Nesting Boxes

Surrounding their living quarters they have an encloseable courtyard that is about 6 sq metres and it is in this courtyard that most of the work happens.

The Court Yard

Every 3 months we dig out the soil that is in the courtyard and put it onto the gardens.  We then replace this soil with a thick layer of tree mulch (Hubby works as an Aborist/Tree Surgeon so we have a steady supply of weed free mulch).
Now the problem with using tree mulch on your gardens is that it leaches nitrogen from the soil, so if you are using it you need to apply additional nitrogen.  This not only stops it being leached from the soil but also helps to break down the mulch and turn it into lovely soil.
So this makes tree mulch a fantastic option for the chickens courtyard.  They add their lovely droppings (never thought I would say droppings are lovely but there you go) to the mulch layer and then as they scratch around in it and move it about they are basically turning the mulch over so that it all gets mixed together and breaks down to make lovely soil.

So that's the tour of the soil factory done and I'd better go and feed the workers.