Helping your garden grow with chickens by Michael Lauher Education Director Connolly Ranch Education Center Want an animal that will complement your garden, provide fresh food, control pests and give you compost ingredients? If so, chickens may be your next best friends. Chickens will save you work by removing weeds and weed seeds, tilling and scratching, pooping out high nitrogen food for your soil, and providing you with a high protein breakfast every morning. Many people aren’t sure if chickens are allowed in the city of Napa, but the answer is yes. You are allowed six domestic animals over the age of four months on your property, and that includes hens (but no roosters). Your first step is to assess your yard and make a plan for where the chickens will live, and begin research for different coop designs that fit your needs. The Internet is full of different plans you can buy or design yourself. In their house, chickens will need cover from the sun and rain, secure wire to keep predators out, a horizontal roosting pole to sleep on and a couple of boxes for egg laying. A door from the outside to the nesting boxes is important, and so is good access inside for you to easily change water and food every day. You might be interested in letting your chickens be “free range” in your yard, but be careful. This is a good idea and healthy for the birds, but they will make a mess scratching the soil and can eat your garden plants. A better idea is a chicken tractor that you can move around your yard to let the chickens forage. Once the design is done, you are ready for a trip to the local farm supply store (Wilson’s Feed & Supply in Napa is my favorite). They will have a selection of week-old chicks to choose from, and all of the supplies to feed and keep your new chicks warm for the first month until they are old enough to go outside. This is your time to finish the coop and research all there is to know about raising chickens. Chickens will forage and find their own food, but you will still need to feed them daily with a high protein laying mix. So if you are looking to diversify your homestead and take your garden to the next level, give chickens a try. You won’t be disappointed. NAPA VALLEY BUSINESS SPOtLIGHT by the Napa County Green Business Program Aldea Children & Family Services—a Napabased nonprofit that provides child welfare and mental health services—is dedicated to excellence in both service delivery and organizational management. As part of this commitment, Aldea challenged itself to become a certified Napa Green Business, starting with the agency’s administrative and program offices that are housed in a downtown Victorian building. Aldea staff worked with Sustainable Napa County to transition to energy-efficient lighting fixtures, integrated a water-filtration system to eliminate the need for bottled water, and fully implemented a compost, recycle, and reuse program that includes an emphasis on purchasing postconsumer recycled office products. Following a simple assessment and inspection by the Napa County Green Business Program staff, Aldea’s Victorian headquarters became a certified Green Business in January 2013. The organization plans on applying to certify its Napa counseling offices and group home in the future. As a result of Aldea’s commitment to best practices in service delivery and organizational administration, the agency was accredited by the Council on Accreditation (COA) in 2012. To learn more about Aldea visit www.aldeainc.com. For more information on the Napa County Green Business Program visit www.greenbusinessca.org or contact Danielle Schmitz at dschmitz@nctpa.net. Connolly Ranch | 3141 Browns Valley Road, Napa 707-224-1894 | www.connollyranch.org GOING Green aldea M A R C H / A P R I L 2 0 1 3 43
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