Chickens are omnivores. They love meat and I am sure they are eating tons of (raw) bugs and worms as well. I feed my chickens all of my food scraps except raw meat. (it is easy to toss it into the microwave to cook it) And I use their poop in the garden. I like to put it into the garden in the fall after the garden is cleaned out. This gives it the winter to get the "heat" out of it. You might want to put it in your garden in the height of summer if your garden generally dies out that time of year. Kay.

I'm considering painting my rooster from the garden....I brought him from the garden into the yard, but haven't done anything else. He has been through a lot since I bought him in 2003-the van knocked him around, and several hurricanes and tropical storms have blown him over. He is in fair shape considering all of that. The van did the most damage--the tip of his beak is gone. I hope I can do as good a job on the painting as you did!

When did animal raising activities end? This type of animal waste breaks down quickly into fabulous organic soil. If it were my job I would excavate 6" of soil from the spots where decks will be constructed, backfill with poor soil or gravel, and add this manna from heaven to the gardening areas. By the time all is finished and mulched there should be no danger to customers. I suspect the soil test will indicate a rich soil. If there was a board fence around the plot which will remain I would suggest power washing it, and the exterior of the building, with a clorox/detergent mix before painting or using.

Emagineer knows of my efforts for a creative "chicken tractor" design and has been helping me with ideas. I'm fairly well limited in what I can lift, don't want more than 3 or 4 hens free-ranging around the backyard, but I've got 10 pullets right now with no special destination for a half-dozen of them. Maybe they've got a final destination but no special one. More important, I've always had chickens then haven't had chickens then had them again. Commercial production hens live only to 17 months of age but I've read research studies that show that keeping them thru a molt can even be an economically reasonable thing to do. I have never pushed them thru a molt to get them back into laying quickly. They've just been kept for almost sentimental reasons but by the time they stop laying a 2nd time I'd have a geriatric ward in the backyard if I continue to house them. The solution to having and not having is to have new ones every year and still not rush the old hens off to the funeral parlor. But, that means having two different age groups together. That's problematic. The solution would be another small coop. I was thinking today what I might do with the space in my small backyard now occupied by the hoop house if I didn't have so much need for it. It catches the overflow of flats from the greenhouse in the Spring. Growing Asian greens during early Spring isn't quite a need, at least not a critical one, but it does that too. Would I be willing to turn that space over to chickens? Naw! We are more garden people than chicken people. But, the idea got me thinking. Perhaps one of the beds could be turned into a bench. I could cover the bench with heavy pond liner plastic and build a coop/pen beneath. When the clear plastic cover comes off the hoophouse in June - presto, chango - baby chicks move in, under the bench. Just an idea for combining the 2 activities. I'm willing to share neither the greenhouse nor the hoophouse with chickens when they are closed up and in production during the Spring but outside of that time period - the hoophouse grows vines up the hoops. Or, it's just hoops rising up out of the ground beneath the grey Winter sky. (May need to shovel a bit more snow around here . . . ;o) And, the way my neighbors are - - I could probably move an 800 pound Bengal tiger into the backyard and they'd never notice anything other than that their damn house cats are underfoot at home a little more than usual!! d'S'