Chicken bebefits

Organic chicken manure is high in essential elements, nitrogen and minerals that most soils will lack. Chickens will clean up most garden pests in a free-range situation and bedding produces a very rich and protective organic mulch that is ideal for the soil and the plants.

Bedding used in the chicken shed is normally a combination of Lucerne hay and straw. Lucerne can become heavy and mouldy when damp and straw lightens it up. Lucerne was added to the hay as hay can strip the soil of nitrogen while Lucerne will return nitrogen as it breaks down. Hay breaks down slower than Lucerne. Mixing the two maintains a good balance.
The chickens' main diet of insects and worms are supplemented with vegetable peelings and scraps from the kitchen.

The benefits of keeping your own chickens will be healthy soil and few insect pests and an abundant supply of rich eggs which are a delicious deep gold, free of antibiotics, steroids or other damaging chemicals including pesticides.

Urban Farming in New Zealand

We are looking at the feasibility of keeping a couple of chooks in the backyard for eggs.

Things we are investigating at the moment:
Coop - probably the Permaculture Chicken Dome as this is small, cheap to build and portable
Type of Chickens - Laying quality, quiet, tame, etc (Rhode Island reds, White Sussex, Orpington, etc)
Local Council regulations