Monday, January 17, 2011

Gardening with chickens


In 2009 I started gardening with a companion chicken named Cinnamon. I borrowed her from a good friend in Fairfield who identified her as not fitting in with the rest of the flock. I was unable to keep her over the summer but received a different Cochin this January. Elizabeth named her Sugar.

Sugar stays in a large rabbit cage when at at home and travels in a cat carrier in my car to my gardening jobs. I like gardening with cochin chickens because they are quiet and calm birds with determined yet friendly dispositions.

She love to eat weeds and gets the occasional worm for her efforts. The forage she gets from a days work helps to enrich her lovely brown eggs. In my family we view Sugar as a pet and treat her as kindly as our family dogs.

Having Sugar work with me helps to encourage my colleagues and clients to consider keeping chickens and fosters a better understanding of perma culture and the need to treat farm animals humanely.

No comments: