Join Jacques and I as we build a protective and productive orchard in the outdoor run for Jacques’ chickens! This experiment should protect his hens from birds of prey while throwing a ton of fruit out over the next few years!
00:00 – Intro
00:58 – Introducing The Cast
01:34 – The Setup
04:37 – Building The Tree Surrounds
07:50 – Planting A Lemon Tree
12:28 – Chicken Proofing The Orchard
13:30 – Mulching
15:15 – Root Bound Problem
16:33 – Outro
IN THIS VIDEO
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EdibleAcres has done some neat things with their open chicken compost area including trees/bushes, duckweed ponds and vermiculture all in the same place
espalier trees are a gift from the universe! I would LOVE you guys to do some espalier on the homestead!
Wow, loved watching this all come together. Looks fantastic! Those’ll be some happy chooks!
Side note: the editing on this video and Kevin messing around was just hilarious!
Hey Kevin, how much would you say your current set-up cost you at your new home? Not including the rainfall containers
I can speak from experience that Rhode island reds are mean and aggressive birds
Beautiful!
I only have the one chicken cos the other one died, a Plymouth rock called Virginia. Remember that orpingtons brood and different breeds lay different amounts of eggs.
I have to cover my pots with 1/2” hardware cloth to stop the squirrels from digging and killing my plants. It works great!
Inverted milk crates work well for protecting areas you are growing out for the chickens. The plants still get plenty of light, but the crates are heavy enough to keep the chickens from toppling them over. You can remove one or two crates at a time, or even just remove it for a few hours, then put it back to let the plants regrow.
Chickens can fly – is Jacque going to do anything to stop them from flying into the low branches and then over the fence?
Omg that little chicken waddling out and looking up for food reminds me of my Hens! I love chickens so much. Also do be careful, chicken droppings contain ammonia, which can kill/burn crops. It needs to be aged to be good for fertilizer. I’m sure you already know that, but in case anyone wanted to try this and didn’t know
It looks good but that wire is not going to stop the chickens from jumping in there trying to scratch and is going to damage the chickens' feet. My chickens roam free in my food forest and I have put the same kind of chicken wire around my trees, but I surround the trees with the wire 4 feet up like a fence so the chickens won't go near the roots.
My grandma never used a coop, her hens always lived free on the yard and went to sleep on a tree next to the house
One memory is to listen the rooster very close to home, singing and waking us up so early in the morning because of that
I think the diagonal post on your fence gate is backwards. Shouldn’t it point down toward the hinge side to transfer to the load properly?
You should bend the wire around the tree like a mini fence and tuck the bottom edge into thr planter. That would protect the bark and branches they will destroy almost any plant over time . I use flashing around the bottom, fence wire, then sometimes tulle attached to the fence wire if i want to keep out rats and bugs too
Thanks for the video. Question: should we not plant on top of other tree roots?
This "root" aggression will not stand, man
What a great setup…jealous of the chickens! One day, if we move, I’ll have the space to follow the Hermit’s chicken run!
Sweet looking orchard. Well done.
The mario sound effects when the chickens get plopped back in after their escapade xD
Can’t wait for your chicken coop as well