A few months ago, I adopted 2 hens from intensive farming.
A great opportunity to offer them a good quiet retirement.
Since Niwi and Ninon are at home, I have discovered that having chickens at home has many advantages.
And I'm not just talking about having fresh eggs!
Thanks to them, I have free fertilizer, I no longer have slugs that nibble my salads, and I reduce my waste by 75%.
Here are 5 good reasons to have chickens in the vegetable garden . Watch:
Chicken droppings are rich in nitrogen, phosphate and ammoniacal salts.
And these are the main components that give plants and vegetables in the vegetable garden a boost.
It may sound weird, but cabbage, carrots, potatoes, zucchini and cucumbers love it!
Be careful, do not put too much at the risk of burning the plant or causing an overdose. 1 kg per square meter is more than enough.
As you will have understood, chicken droppings are an excellent natural and organic fertilizer for your garden.
Ideal especially for permaculture. And what's more, it's totally free!
Hens love to scratch in the garden and flush out worms or slugs.
They will become your best ally in the fight against slugs.
You can either release them directly in the vegetable garden and let them be...
...or drive away slugs and offer them a much-appreciated treat. Keep an eye on them in the vegetable garden so that they do not attack your young plants.
You will love the fresh eggs of your little ones.
Boiled eggs and good cakes are yours.
But eggs also have another use:their shells!
Because you can do a lot of things in the garden with whole or crushed eggshells.
Arrange crumbled eggshells around your salads to make a natural barrier against snails.
And that's not all ! Discover 10 other uses of eggshells here.
An uncooked and 3/4 broken shell can also be used as a natural germinator for seeds.
To do this, drill a small hole at the bottom and fill the shell with potting soil.
Then plant a seed or two in it.
Once the plant is well developed, transplant the whole thing into the ground.
The shell will break on its own under the pressure of the roots and will continue to serve as a natural fertilizer. Not bad, right?
Since I have my hens, there is almost no waste in my garbage can.
Why ? Because they eat (almost) all the organic waste from my trash can.
They love vegetable or fruit peelings, stale bread, oyster shells and even leftovers from your plates...
Finally, chickens are easy and economical to feed! And at least I know what they eat.
