V: Rotational Grazing Layer Chickens in a Small Backyard with Shawn McCarty (V140)

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What if you live in a suburban or urban area on a small lot?

A lot of those the chickens living in those areas live in degenerative systems, spending their days on mud runs and dirt patches that are more of a net negative than a net positive.

What can be done to avoid this issue?

This is where we turn to the techniques that are used on broadacre properties and look to scale it down, rotating birds over a portion of an acre versus multiple acres.

It's an idea and concept that I have been playing around with my 3/4 acre property here in San Diego and it's one that I think holds a lot of promise, and it's the subject of today's show.

Earlier this year I was contact by a Canadian name Shaw McCarty.

Shawn raises his 16 layer chicks on his property which is just under an acre.  He rotates the birds through several small paddocks on that small suburban lot.

His overall goal is to advance the system while giving the chickens access to as much fresh forage as possible.

And so far it's worked.

As Shawn stated..

"I thought the chickens would help me by ‘mowing’ the pasture but their actions have caused it to grow faster, and thicker than it has in the past.  With 16 chickens I still need to cut the grass in each paddock a couple times a year to keep it fresh and palatable, once it gets too long the chickens will choose other forage."

Shawn's system is one that could be implemented on most small plots, it shows you what's possible.

The goal here is to get you thinking.

Too many chickens in small urban lots live out their lives on dirt patches.

Here's a system that might inspire you to change that.

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