In the world of feathers, while blokes often just strut about, it’s the girls who do most of the real work. They lay the eggs, brood the clutches, raise the chicks and, equipped with nothing more toxic than a sharp beak and a good pair of legs, take on the weeds, the bugs, the grubs and the slugs — all in a natural day’s work.

These days, many people living more sustainably use hens, ducks, geese and even turkeys as the organic alternative to chemical weed and pest control. It’s just a matter of choosing the right girl for the job.

Cultivating chooks

Chooks are great cultivators. Their scratching turns over the earth; they redistribute mulch, aerate the soil and fertilise the ground they walk on. In the process, they devour virtually every insect and almost anything green they come across.

Chooks work best when they’re well managed. For example, it’s not a good idea to let them into a garden or field of newly planted seedlings. They do their best work if you free-range them in the vegie patch between crops. At other times, let them free-range in the farmyard or the mature garden. Just keep them away from new plants or freshly mulched trees and shrubs.

They’ll eat almost any herbs, grains, grasses and groundcovers. Chickweed, wandering jew, shepherd’s purse, sow thistle and comfrey are relished. So are fruits such as elderberry, mulberry, mango, persimmon, pawpaw, vines such as grape, passionfruit, peas, beans, melons and cucumber, and vegies such as silverbeet, lettuce, peas, chard, cabbage and sunflower.

They love herbs such as nettles and garlic, which also have a medicinal and tonic effect. They don’t care for onions and citrus peel, though. And keep them away from rhubarb — it’s poisonous.

Chooks are great in orchards and backyards with fruit trees. They help reduce coddling moth by scratching up and eating the pupae, which over-winter in the soil. They love fallen fruit, grubs and all, helping to control the fruit fly population. They also eat grass and cattle ticks and they fertilise the trees.

Free-range chooks should be locked up at night in a weather-proof, predator-proof shed. It needn’t be big, but it does need good ventilation. Each hen needs 25cm of perch 60cm off the floor, which should be covered with wood shavings or straw and changed regularly (it makes great compost!). Nest boxes 35cm square, lined with straw and roomy but dark and quiet, should be in the shed. One box for every three girls (six hens will supply a family of four with eggs for themselves and enough for friends).

Chooks like routine and free-rangers quickly learn to return to the shed for the night — especially if they’re fed in the evening. Some people attach a run to the shed to confine the chooks at times when free-ranging is unsuitable. In the run, they should be given greens, scraps or mash in the morning and grains and/or pellets at night.

If you want a strictly chemical-free farm or garden, check that the pellets you buy don’t include the hormones or antibiotics that some commercial feeds contain.

Hens will happily lay eggs without a rooster about. You don’t need a rooster unless you want chicks, though some people say a rooster keeps hens from squabbling. Only one cock o’ the walk at a time, though. Otherwise they fight.

To do her best work, a hen needs about 200 grams of grain each day — wheat, maize, sunflower or pellets. Whether she’s free-ranging or in a run, make sure she has access to plenty of cool, fresh water. And grit — she needs it daily. Specially formulated large-size grit is a good source of calcium and available at good produce stores and pet shops.

Keep her happy, and she’ll repay you with a good day’s work, every day.