Our chook runs have become beautiful. In summer all the roses awaken as well as 

the grapevines, lime and avocado trees, and Hardenbergia violacea.

Roses red, pink, bountiful and decadent in colour and texture. When their petals drop to the ground my hens feast on their fragrant beauty. I look at my poultry runs with ecstatic joy, genuinely, that pop of colour and green. Providing shade for my hens, beauty for me, cut flowers for the table and dried petals for salads and flavoured drinks.

Figs, wormwood, Hardenbergia and Lomandra on the south side of the poultry runs protect our hens from winter cold.

The deep litter system works extremely well. A deep litter system is one thar ensures there is always a depth of say 5cm of plant material on the ground for the hens to scratch and mix. Plant material such as greens from the garden, non-spiky cuttings, straw, kitchen scraps, leaves, or shredded cardboard can all be used to create a deep litter. The important thing is to keep adding material and maintain that 5cm depth, that way poultry droppings are sieved to the bottom every time the chooks scratch the ground.

Lomandra “Little Lime” on the south side of our poultry runs.

In the absence of deep litter the chooks end up walking on their own waste, have nothing to scratch and find and no compost is made. With deep litter you get excellent compost from the chook runs. By keeping a good balance of carbon inputs: leaves, cardboard or straw etc, the chooks nitrogen rich droppings allow for a well balanced nutrient rich compost.

Red roses and grapevines on the north side of the poultry runs create shade on hot summer days.

The hens are content if they have room to move, to scratch, to dig for worms, and to dust bath. A dust bath is a small area of ground with exposed soil. They rely on this to manage mites and other pests that might come into the runs.

Rose detail.

We have large areas of land for the chooks to roam but in the absence of a trained guard dog such as a Maremma, it is hard to keep them safe, and hard for us to justify feeding a Maremma with a small flock (20) of hens. 

Pink roses between poultry runs create immense beauty.

The deep litter system keeps our hens extremely happy and happiness is important. It allows us all, animals included, to thrive, and when we thrive we get less sick and create better outcomes for all.

Grapevines along the north face provide shade from the morning sun.

The compost made by the deep litter system is used in our garden beds to help maintain soil moisture, nutrient richness and soil structure.

The poultry runs become more beautiful each year as the lime tree sets flowers and the roses burst with colour.

Happiness is a deep litter poultry run with roses and limes.

Deep litter: garden plant cuttings used to create a soft and interesting floor for the hens to scratch. When I did holes here with the mattock the soil is full of worms. The compost made here is fantastic.