25 Chickens - 25 Cents a day (and they make TONS of compost!)

www.edibleacres.org - Our permaculture nursery
www.paypal.me/edibleacres - A simple and direct way to ‘tip’ to help support the time and energy we put into making our videos. Thanks so much!
We're raising our chickens in a model inspired by Vermont Composting Company and adapted to our situation. By bartering for whole organic grains from wonderful local farms (Farmer Ground Flour and Potenza Organics) we're able to provide our chickens a great foundation diet.
We incorporate truckloads of lawn leaf bags, woodchips, manures, and compost from local sources in windrows in our chicken area. We add mixtures of whole organic grain to this. With the heat from the compost and the stirring action of the chickens and the hay fork, they are able to eat beautiful ropey sprouted grain, earthworms, red wigglers, veggies and food scraps and be active and outdoors all winter.
I'd estimate a cost to us of about 25 cents a day in sunflower and millet which we buy in bulk to add to their diet.
This system could be cost negative if you had relationships with local restaurants / farms / co-ops to barter or be paid to handle their compost. Last year we got $100 in credit per month from a local restaurant to take their scraps. We had to stop because it was too much food for our chickens! We need triple the birds to handle the food we were paid to take!!!
Edible Acres is a full service permaculture nursery located in the Finger Lakes area of NY state. We grow all layers of perennial food forest systems and provide super hardy, edible, useful, medicinal, easy to propagate, perennial plants for sale locally or for shipping around the country...
www.edibleacres.org/purchase - Your order supports the research and learning we share here on youtube.
We also offer consultation and support in our region or remotely.
www.edibleacres.org/services
Happy growing!

[@jessicalandi6750]

Two minutes into this video and I'm so inspired that I had to stop and share it with my chicken raising friend (who will soon be giving me my first three chickens) who said she barely breaks even for feeding the chickens in return for the eggs. Can't wait to finish the video now. Canadian Permaculture Legacy sent me here! Love it.

[@camperspecial9666]

Excited? I'm beyond excited! You've just revolutionized my chicken set up. I can't wait till next fall now.

[@edibleacres]

You can get started on it any day you want... Thats the fun of it!

[@danielrus7117]

Those must be the most happy chickens in the world! They look so tranquil and peaceful! Keep it up!

[@hermannschmitt4031]

and really healthy. Almost fat, LOL.

[@Sarah-zg5qs]

There's nothing wrong with pampering your animals. The better you treat them the more work they will want to do for you. It goes both ways.

[@edibleacres]

I agree!

[@KimberlyBarkdoll]

When we let our chickens out they literally RUN to the compost area. lol And to our creek bed that runs to our pond. We also use their pine shavings from under their night roosting area for compost. We have a separate container for onions, garlic, coffee grounds and egg shells on the countertop to bury in the compost. Everything else gets shared between the chickens and the compost. We're in Florida so I save the ends of the melons and freeze them in the summer. They LOVE it. And we treat them to black sunflower seeds in the afternoon. Another thing that has helped bulk up our compost is ask the tree trimmers that chip on site out here in the county to dump a couple of loads for us. They make quick work of digging through that for bugs, and then we put the leaves in their run and compost.

[@mariamiccoli8491]

I have lived in Florida, my concern would be termites from the wood chipping.

[@trudymatteson5439]

I've been using this method in my chicken run for the past three years....the chickens love it, I love it, and my garden loves it! Thank you for the tips.

[@grants169]

All this time I've been fencing off the compost from chickens. Time to rethink that.

[@hermannschmitt4031]

never do that. When I was a kid looking for worms to fish it was in the chicken area. One dig and I had plenty of worms to fish with. At the time I didn't know that worms make the end product for perfect compost.

[@hermannschmitt4031]

You might laugh about me but I started a worm bucked with about 9 worms. As long as they don't crawl out they're maybe happy. I'll check with them when the first one wants to escape. It's an experiment. I think worms try to crawl out when they're getting o much for the food source. I have an open top container without a lid. But i'm watching it. If one tries to crawl out I'll set him free and might find out why he tries to escape.

[@grants169]

@@hermannschmitt4031 I've had a red wiggler worm bin for years. I abuse them badly, go months at a time without checking them and they continue to thrive somehow. If you can pony up a few bucks, grab 100 or so red wigglers off ebay and you can maintain them with little work for life. I add handfuls to the compost and to my flower/vegetable beds that are mainly all compost... and let the chickens nibble on them too sometimes.

[@hermannschmitt4031]

@@grants169 I don't have to buy them only catch 'em. Later i can say I did it all by myself, LOL. To me worms are the most amazing creatures of all beings. We (humankind) will be gone and these motherfuckers are still here.

[@sharonweir5570]

I add chickens to my garden three years ago. They are my low wage workers.

[@nareshlaxamanpatil2050]

Really you are doing very good work

[@hermannschmitt4031]

You're running a sweat shop. :) LOL One of the best ones though. Your employees are working for food. The best food they could get. They love worms or most insects, you might have to crush some beetles for them to eat them, but when crushed they even love Japanese beetles. Every larva is a delicacy for a chicken.

[@rmar127]

Hermann Schmitt solar powered bug zappers can add dead bugs to their diet as well

[@ytvladnoob24]

I lived my first 16 years of my life in the mountains of grid in the middle of a bunch of trees and I remember how I hated when I was making piles of leafs and the chickens right behind me making a mess with them, now I just think it's funny

[@fredivory4304]

Oh you are so polite to your chickens!

[@rwatts2155]

Go ahead! Pamper your chickens! They deserve a bit of pampering for everything they do for you. : ) I am putting some of the ideas I've gotten from you into practice in my garden. I have 13 Black Australorp chickens in my garden and get a great deal of pleasure watching them do their thing. They aren't laying yet but they should be laying in a couple months. They free range in my back yard ( and today they found a break in my gate and free ranged in my neighbors' yard!! ) Fortunately I have good neighbors who shoo'd them back into my garden. Thanks for making and sharing your videos. I'm learning a lot from you !

[@gardenboots7464]

I keep rewatching your chicken videos. It just makes me happy :) Thank you.

[@edibleacres]

Very glad to have them available for folks!

[@MelaniePhoenix]

This is absolutely brilliant! Thanks for posting!

[@bryonlako7377]

I love how you really let nature take over and do the work for you. I’ve had a similar thought process and you’re giving me so many good ideas. I’d love to see more videos of the “mini ecosystems” you create and what purpose they serve.

[@meganh109]

This is amazing! I love how you care for your chickens!

[@libbyjensen1858]

I just found your videos and I am addicted! I just LOVE watching what you do! This chicken video is fascinating!

[@Rollwithit699]

Great work! Very natural, love the way your chickens are so comfortable in your presence. They look so healthy.

[@AdvancedHarmonics]

LOVE this! Very unique! Thanks for sharing and all the great info!

[@sowhat3430]

Very calm to watch these chickens

[@ShieldBJ]

Hello out there. This is so very helpful. Starting immediately because it looks like you have happy chickens and it is exciting to learn how to use what we have. Thank you. I'll be back and certainly will be watching more of your videos. Also, love the green house. Perfect.

[@stephaniebrior3881]

Oh cool you guys are in the Ithica area. We live in the Northern Catskills and have 30 chickens and 4 ducks. Love the idea of using the leaves.

[@ZombiesCometh]

Great video as always, perfect length and quantity of information. I'm surely going to emulate this!

[@fellowshipofthegreen4697]

They look great too...awesome job👍

[@christiebetts4970]

Loved the video and I subscribed.I have started supplementing my"first" 5 hens with a compost pile.Happy,happy chickens and beautiful compost for my little garden. My 5yr old granddaughter loves to help them look for worms.Now I just need a larger compost pile!

[@praisethelord4222]

very nice. thank you for this. 5 years after posting it. Bless you.

[@marieschieler1914]

You have beautiful healthy chickens!

[@graywoodhomestead845]

I am so excited about this!! we are looking at as many ways possible to reduce/get ride of our feed costs and providing opportunities for our birds to eat in the most natural way possible. we started up a compost system this winter for them and this concept of adding the grain to sprout/ferment is the perfect addition! I'm inspired! Thank you!

[@SJLamb-te3dt]

That is fantastically clever! Good on you!

[@jandoolin6215]

EXCELLENT video!! Thanks for sharing.

[@leacutter4648]

e are beginning to create a permaculture inspired semi-sustainable homestead in rural Maine. We have been so inspired by this idea and so many others. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and ideas. -Brian @WaystoneFarm

[@utubemouse]

Thank you. Great ideas!. Western NY is such a lovely place to live.

[@kaamranmohammad1584]

Great video...love the way you use hand gestures to drive home the point...very interesting and educative.....thanks a lot.

[@nercoG]

this is awesome. Thank you for making this

[@collaboratingbackstage1156]

Genius. I learnt so much from you. Thank you and keep exploring!!!

[@petramacdougall]

I got to tell you I'm totally excited about doing this and because of first watching you a couple of months back we are now creating over a yard or so compost / month with the help of our chickens and free resources like tree chips and boxes of discarded veggie greens from the market. So thank you! and the grains look amazing...i think I would have a hard time giving them to the girls and not eating them myself. G

[@cindyritchie5521]

Your chickens are so lucky to have you! Great work! Keep making videos! I just found your channel today and I am binge watching! I am loving every minute!

[@edibleacres]

Welcome to our community, we're glad to have you!

[@allenpost3616]

Beautiful Australorp's! You good Sir are brilliant. Thank you for sharing your wisdom.

[@mascatrails661]

I love what your doing with your chickens. This is my first winter with a flock and I have them on a moving system with portable electric fence and mobile hen house. My system was working well while the grasses were growing, but now that growth has slowed, I'm afraid my chickens are doing more damage than healing to my landscape. They are raking all my fallen leaves downhill and leaving behind bare soils. I think I will plan something similar to this for next winter.

[@StaceySsch]

Your doing a great job , thanks for sharing.

[@maryedmo7798]

this is genius! I saw a post on Vermont's system, and really love it. I love seeing this on a smaller scale

[@edibleacres]

Yeah, it was mind blowing the first time I learned of that system and it really inspired this work in a major way.

[@jamesgames4280]

Wow. Outstanding system. Thanks for sharing. God Bless

[@SuperRedhat123]

I love this video. You achieve such amazing symmetry in your practices. If chickens could smile, they would be doing it right now.

[@VaughnMalecki]

So many awesome ideas. Thanks for sharing.

[@MsZenova]

They are so Healthy. I sprout grains and seeds for my chickens. This is awesome.

[@PermacultureHomestead]

great stuff, cant wait to have this many birds. its fun to watch my 3 chickens turn my compost throughout the year, nature is great

[@teakey]

Permaculture Homestead nice, I have three also.

[@GoldShawFarm]

Great system. I want to try something like this on my farm one day soon.

[@rebeccasuzannerustigian1257]

I have done very little but watch your videos for the last few days. Boy am I excited! The information you share is priceless, as is the culture you've created. I do hope you written a book and will provide the name so I can order a copy, and I also hope you'll continue to make videos on a regular basis. I've got to finish catching up on the videos, but I'll be back. Thank you for doing your thing! I love it!

[@edibleacres]

Our pleasure. No books in the plan, but we plan to definitely continue to grow the content on the channel. Thanks for joining us!

[@johnnyh4891]

Wow, just too cool!! I just moved to the country and would love to develop a system like yours! I'll keep watching I'm from upstate N.Y. thanks, again

[@shean7890]

Fantastic, I love ❤️ your ideas. Thank you 🙏 for great information

[@turkeycreekhomestead]

just found your channel.. excellent knowledge and information here!

[@emmavik-fredriksson640]

great content! happy to see you upload often now, you have so much good things to show us! thank you.

[@edibleacres]

Thanks, I wasn't sure if we're starting to push too much content out, but I figured people can watch it or not!

[@murchlk]

What a great setup, +1 sub I can't wait too catch up on old videos.

[@chickenlaynehomestead94]

This has been very helpful in cutting cost and making my chickens happier. Thank you

[@edibleacres]

Great to hear!

[@manfredziegerer9110]

thank you sir! you the best. We need mooohr people like You

[@kheventplanner]

Pretty genius and an easy system to understand!

[@normisgarden8353]

Wow! Very informative. Thank You!

[@chantaltulliez8066]

I really enjoy that you are pampering your animals...they have a good life and its a win win situation for you as well...

[@edibleacres]

It can be seen as pampering, but in the same stroke it could be seen as simply providing a healthy work space for valued workers. Since it is a simplified food and much lower cost and waste than buying bags of prepared stuff, it's actually less pamper in that way. But they end up having a really nice life while they work hard and help us make compost. Win win for sure :)

[@aratakitheoneandoniitto]

Great video! Thank you for sharing this info!

[@lisan1819]

Wow! This is an amazing set up.

[@jeffboothe2102]

That is ingenious, and inspiring. Now I want chickens again.

[@homesteadinglife1017]

Great video. Thank you.

[@johnnielawson]

Very inspiring, thank you for taking the time to make this. Johnnie Lawson

[@edibleacres]

My pleasure!

[@piercespencer9876]

you probably dont give a shit but if you are bored like me during the covid times then you can watch all the latest movies and series on instaflixxer. Been streaming with my girlfriend for the last few days xD

[@snafu918]

Wow what a beautiful rooster!!

[@hermannschmitt4031]

I'm very impressed with how you think. Thanks for sharing.

[@edibleacres]

My pleasure to share

[@tiffanyjernigan5754]

Most healthy and happy chickens ever!

[@bluesalamander8351]

[@Marlynnamm]

Beautiful Australorps. My favorite Chickens and Of Course Jersey Giants

[@jefdby]

This is so great. I needed this!

[@rosehavenfarm2969]

Brilliant. Watching your series on the chicken composers...we want to implement, this year. Thank you.

[@edibleacres]

Good luck, I'm sure it will work wonders for you! If you have the time, you may want to watch all our chicken videos since the system is evolving over time and there are lots of positive and not so amazing parts of the experiment I share with folks.

[@josewsantos7327]

Excellent Job!

[@thomasreto2997]

Nice. I have noticed sprouts like that in my compost heap. Chicks look 😃

[@Kindafu]

This is a great system. Very adaptable.

[@hybridhomesteady6724]

nice yeah that compost helps keep them warm-ish to actually warm. I seen and been working using compost to heat my passive greenhouse just put up before this winter

[@geomod6850]

That's genius! Thank you!

[@LaurelHolliday]

Gorgeous birds! Great job keeping them happy and warm while you save money and enjoy super nutritious eggs! 🥚

[@LaurelHolliday]

If anyone tells you disapprovingly that you're "pampering your chickens," please tell them, with pride, "YES! Yes I am!" 😁 "The problem is...??"

[@edibleacres]

Right... It's one thing to spend a ton of money on them and have energy intensive or fossil fuel dependent things to 'pamper' them but in this system they are working incredibly hard and moving our bigger goals forward greatly. It's equivalent to having a really healthy work environment where employees are treated with great respect. Its the intersection of functionality and a good quality of life for the beings involved. I think its what every system with animals and plants and people should have!

[@blindjohn2969]

Awesome. Definitely a great system for larger scale organic gardening. It's one thing to add leaf mulch to your beds, but this way it should be high in nitrogen/nutrients from the chicken manure while they're scratching in it all day.

[@edibleacres]

It's nice to have the chickens 'shredding' the leaves over the whole winter so the nutrients and especially the minerals are ready to enter the soil in the garden come spring when we need it.

[@pfdcaw]

Great ideas you have there.

[@SecretWeaponShow]

God bless you

[@markpieklik8246]

Greetings from Clay New York. I have 9 hens and let them play with the leaves in the fall. Other than that I have a big compost pile in the back yard and use it in my garden.

[@garethpeterthobosi2945]

Wow....this is great ,i cannot wait to do it.

[@kasdfg776]

That's a happy bunch of chick chicks. Such a contrast to factory farms.

[@margaritagittens1951]

i have recently subscribed, you have ssoooo many useful, clear, wonderful ideas !! thank you !!

[@edibleacres]

Welcome to the channel! :)

[@frankiefernandez5252]

Great video.

[@samcbk]

I love your chicken. They look so healthy and well treated.

[@edibleacres]

I'm glad you think so.

[@loganmeloy351]

This is very good! I'm learning a lot and inspired to try a similar process

[@edibleacres]

Thats great! I bet you can make it happen however you feel fits your existing system best. Certainly no hard and fast rules on how it has to go.

[@ImLisaMoore]

Thankyou

[@cybertones942]

So chill they must be full already

[@erbauungstutztaufgnade1875]

Perfect.

[@SuperRedhat123]

One of my favourite videos on you tube right now. Harmonious.

[@edibleacres]

Thanks kindly for that! I'm excited to see how many folks have been responding to it. I need to do an update.

[@ColonelKlink100]

I love your idea of putting grain to sprout in the compost piles! It must be like little treats for them, (along with the worms and bugs too). Keep on spoiling those chickens!

[@anonymousprepper1463]

Love these ideas.

[@jamesc9001]

lovely

[@atashalynn]

Loving your videos!!!

[@oscarsanders4260]

That looks great

[@ChicagoCFH]

nice update, cool system

[@farmerdell9991]

Logs are a great idea!

[@lovepeace4635]

Great idea.

[@cosmo32202]

Great video!

[@mangeraalbert7982]

Looking love

[@watchingitallhere]

Those are nice healthy chickens they look content.