Chickens engage in many potentially useful behaviors such as scratching, eating plants, seeds, and insects, and producing eggs, meat, heat, manure and CO2. If chickens are in the right place at the right time then these behaviors can promote the cycling of nutrients and organic matter in the gardens while reducing the need for human maintenance of the agroecosystem. A moveable chicken house facilitates such placement and integration of livestock into the agroecosystem also increases economic and ecological diversity.

Designs for the chicken house were developed in fall 2002, by MS3 student, Connie Lemley, as a part of "Design Graphics and Problem Solving", a course in the MS3 program. It was constructed in March 2003 and six laying hens were housed, beginning late March. These chickens will live and work at the Center through the end of the Fall 2003. During this time, the chickens will rotate through the gardens and the orchard preparing beds, controlling insects, and trimming grass while producing eggs for market.

This project will give Macoskey Center staff an opportunity to experience caring for chickens while learning how animal husbandry fits into the human and other natural systems at the Center. It will provide an object of discussion and interest for visitors, especially children, to the Center, and can be used as a demonstration for classes within the agroecology track of the MS3 program. -Source: Connie Lemley, project description, 2002.

For more information about the chicken house design, visit the Macoskey Center website at http://www.sru.edu/pages/1290.asp