We'd like to have 3 separate flocks going by the end of this summer. One in the coop above, to be pulled about the ranch where they're needed most. The second will be entirely mobile for the warm months, pulled in a much smaller trailer through the pastures - rotated through behind the cattle and goats - to be natural fertilizer spreaders and mulchers. This coop is currently being built out in the shop, and can be pulled by people power, or one of the atv's. The third flock we'd like to have will have a permanent home in our big barn. They'll be the clean-up crew for the barn, scratching the bedding for food spilled by the goats, moving their bedding around and adding their own fertilizer to the mix - all of this gets composted in large heaps.  Look for new coop pictures soon.

• Scratching spreads manure and feed wastes (ie: hay, grains, garbage from the kitchen) which improve soil quality by fertilizing and mulching the area evenly.  We use them in the goat barn, which helps keep rodent population under control because they find and eat spilled grain as well as any mice they can catch!  We use them in the pastures rotating them through after the cattle to spread manure.  We use them in the garden to clean up the raised beds, scratch and turn the compost piles, and consume insects.
• Omnivores that they are, chickens are great for cleaning up insects, food scraps from the kitchen, weed seeds, and anything else they find throughout the day.  As mentioned before we can move the chickens anywhere we need them to "work" for the day.
• Fertilizer:  Their own waste contribution adds to the already diverse nutrient sources in the soil for plants to use.
• Heat Sources for their coops is another important, and often overlooked contribution.  Their own body heat helps to keep their enclosures warm, and in Europe farmers' chicken coops and barns were a part of the family's dwelling rather than a separte barn structure to aid in insulation in the winter months - much like we use passive solar heating desings for houses here.  The heat generated helps to keep their water containters from freezing in the winter months.  Housed in a barn they will help to keep the edge off for all the other animals as well.
• EGGS!  One of their greatest contributions is a steady (although sometimes hard to find in a free range situation) supply of fresh eggs throughout most of the year.
• Meat:  Although we don't raise meat breeds here, we do occasionally harvest for meat if there are too many roosters.