Our farm borders the terminal edge of a hundred and fifty thousand acre wetland wildlife preserve named "The Six Mile Cyprus Swamp". We are located at the south western edge where the creeks and ponds of the swamp empty into the canal system that prevents flooding in our area. This wildlife preserve forms a veritable super highway for wildlife that extends from the edge of the Gulf of Mexico, northeast in towards the center of Florida. If you've ever spent a day traveling on a highway you understand that when you reach the end you only want to get out, stretch your legs and grab a bite to eat.
Needles to say my chickens and rabbits are under an abnormal amount of predation. It is not uncommon to have families of bobcats, panthers, raccoons, river otters, eagles, hawks, etc. strolling around the yard. My first attempts with chickens were more of a quick stop buffet line than any type of egg production. Over time I increased security until I came up with this thousand square foot walled and roofed area. It has so far been effective at separating the predators from prey. It is a little stressful at times for the chickens and rabbits when bobcats sit up on the wire roof looking in trying to figure how to get in.
This is a photo of the shared rabbit and chicken run. The chicken coop is on the right side. The coop is on top, it has a wire floor that lets the waste fall into the worm bed in the center, which has a wire floor that lets the castings collect in the box on the bottom. The castings are used in my potting mix for nursery plants. To date this is the easiest coop, worm bed, casting bin that I've seen. The rabbits have a hutch on the left side that is obscured by shrubs. They are all able to come and go as they please, and seem to get along well.
The biggest problem that I've had since I've stopped feeding the wildlife is that the chickens absolutely destroyed every living plant within the confines of the wire cage. Within two weeks they had clear cut and bulldozed the entire thing. I tried replanting the sod but they were just too much for it. It turned into a sad little prison of scratched up roots and heaps of dusty sand, with the inmates walking around from the water bowl to the dry feeder. I tried growing some fodder biscuits for them but without an automated system it required more time than I had available on an ongoing basis.
The answer seems to be some four foot square 1x2 frames covered in one inch plastic fencing fabric. These we seeded with wild bird seed and covered with a light coating of shredded tree mulch. Within a week we had a lush carpet of wild grasses coming up between the fencing. The chickens and the rabbits have both been feeding on the results for several hours each day without apparent over grazing. We started with eight frames planted with grasses, our next trials will be some frames with kale and collards. The dry food feeders are still being eaten out of but not at nearly the rate they were. This system is saving me feed money, and costing no time to maintain once the sprinkler timer was set.
My future plans for this area is to increase the planted area for the livestock, square off a sunny eight foot sq. for a chicken dirt bath and reclaim the rest for some wicking beds that I can plant some root vegetables in. I think that I can keep the birds out of those beds with a cover of four by four screens kept above the plants.
Time will tell. Mat
