Permacultureglobal.org - the interactive map and database of the Worldwide Permaculture Network

Permaculture garden in Deurne

Details

Commenced:	01/10/2010
Submitted:	07/11/2011
Last updated:	07/10/2015
Location:	Antwerp / Deurne, BE
Climate zone:	Cool Temperate

My Projects

(projects i'm involved in)

Permaculture garden in Deurne

Antwerp / Deurne, BE

Followers

Back to Permaculture garden in Deurne

Chickens

Project: Permaculture garden in Deurne

Posted by Maaike Mussche over 12 years ago

We have chickens now!

Finally we have chickens!
Even when you are trying very hard to not have to throw food away you do have some leftovers sometimes so I'm very happy the hens can transform them into eggs now. They can also make my compost-heap seed-free, on the photos you ca see I put it inside the coop. I also plan to let them clean up the vegetable garden in autumn, but for that I still have to make a little mobile coop.
Unfortunatly I can't let them run free because I can't risk them going in the neighbours tidy gardens. Also for the neighbours it is not possible to keep a rooster which is a pity but that are the disadvantages of an urban environment that has not yet woken up to home-foodproduction. First I will let them get used to the sight of herbs and fruit trees in the front garden.

Here are some photos.
I got the hen house of a friend who didn't use it anymore.
We called the hens Mieke and Leen.

Comments (2)

You must be logged in to comment.

Marc Van Hummelen : Great Maaike! Good luck with them. No problem with foxes? I'm going to buy some runner ducks soon. I desperately need an animal that can eat slugs. I can't grow anything here, not any kind of herb or vegetable. The slugs even eat my potatoes and jerusalem artichokes. The problem here with keeping poultry is that darned fox. I have to build a fortress around my birds to keep them alive. The good thing about runner ducks is that they lay a lot of eggs, can't fly, don't need a large surface of water and are very docile. I suppose, as you've given your chickens a name, that you're not going to eat them later on?...

Posted over 12 years ago

Maaike Mussche : I haven't seen any foxes here yet though we really are on the edge of the city. I made a fence around the coop of 1,5m high, I hope that will do if a fox finds us. There are a few solutions though if you want to keep chickens with foxes in the neighbourhood. The first is to make sure you can close the hen house during the night so the fox can't get at them then. If you keep a rooster he will be able to defend his chickens during the day. The down side of this is that you have to be there every evening and morning to open an close the hen house. Another solution is to not cut the wings of the chickens so they kan sleep in trees or on higher sticks in the hen house so the fox can't reach them, again the rooster will protect them at day-time. This is what I would do if I hadn't all these neighbours. The second soltion is of course not possible with ducks as they don't sleep in trees. The nice thing with ducks is that they don't destroy your vegetables as chickens sometimes do but there are some little chickens (krielen in Dutch) that are much gentler in their picking and scratching and are said to be suited for pest control in the vegetable garden. These little chickens are also high-sleepers. A specificly good race is the Chabo, because they have very short legs they can't scratch. So that might be a option if it would't work out with the runner ducks. Indeed I will not eat my chickens because I'm a vegetarian. But my husband does eat meat sometimes so if we would live on the countryside and have a rooster he probably would eat the cockrells.

Posted over 12 years ago

Courses Taught Here!

Project Badges

Administrators

Team Members

(close)

Legend of Badges

Note: The various badges displayed in people profiles are largely honesty-based self-proclamations by the individuals themselves. There are reporting functions users can use if they know of blatant misrepresentation (for both people and projects). Legitimacy, competency and reputation for all people and projects can be evidenced and/or developed through their providing regular updates on permaculture work they’re involved in, before/after photographs, etc. A spirit of objective nurturing of both people and projects through knowledge/encouragement/inspiration/resource sharing is the aim of the Worldwide Permaculture Network.

	Member A member is a permaculturist who has never taken a PDC course. These cannot become PDC teachers. Members may be novice or highly experienced permaculturists or anywhere in between. Watch their updates for evaluation.
	Permaculture Matchmaker One of these badges will show if you select your gender and the "I'm single, looking for a permaculture partner" option in your profile.
	PDC People who claim to have taken a Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) course somewhere in the world.
	PDC Verified People who have entered an email address for the teacher of their PDC course, and have had their PDC status verified by that teacher. Watch their updates for evaluation.
	PRI PDC People who’ve taken a Permaculture Research Institute PDC somewhere in the world.
	PDC Teacher People who claim to teach some version of PDC somewhere in the world.
	PRI Teacher With the exception of the ‘Member’ who has never taken a PDC, all of the above can apply to become a PRI PDC Teacher. PRI PDC Teachers are those who the PRI recognise, through a vetting board, as determined and competent to teach the full 72-hour course as developed by Permaculture founder Bill Mollison – covering all the topics of The Designers’ Manual as well as possible (i.e. not cherry picking only aspects the teacher feels most interested or competent in). Such teachers also commit to focussing on the design science, and not including subjective spiritual/metaphysical elements. The reason these items are not included in the PDC curriculum is because they are “belief” based. Permaculture Design education concerns itself with teaching good design based on strategies and techniques which are scientifically provable. PRI PDC Teachers may be given teaching and/or consultancy offerings as they become available as the network grows.
	Aid Worker The individual with this badge is indicating they are, have, or would like to be involved in permaculture aid work. As such, the individual may or may not have permaculture aid worker experience. Watch their updates for evaluation.
	Consultant The individual with this badge is indicating they are, have, or would like to do paid permaculture design consultancy work. As such, the individual may or may not have permaculture consultancy experience. Watch their updates for evaluation.
	Community Project Community projects are projects that help develop sustainable community interaction and increase localised resiliency.