Animals turn a garden into a living system. Chickens eat the scraps and the bugs and give back eggs and fertilizer. Bees pollinate the orchard and give honey. Done well, each animal fits into the loops you've already built: soil, water, garden and kitchen.
Animals are also a real, daily responsibility. This lesson helps you choose the right ones, give them what they need, and place them where they help the most, before the first chick comes home.
- 1Map an animal's needs and products, and use them in your design.
- 2Plan a coop and run for a small flock of hens.
- 3Choose a good spot for a beehive, and support native bees.
- 4Compare other small animals: ducks, rabbits, goats and worms.
- 5Keep your family and animals healthy, and follow local rules.
Needs and gifts
Permaculture designers start with a simple exercise for any animal: list everything it needs, and everything it gives. Then they place it so that its needs are met by something nearby, and its gifts are used by something nearby. The more connections you make, the less work you do.
Chickens: the classic homestead partner
A small flock of hens is the easiest place to start. Hens begin laying at about six months old, lay most heavily in their first two years, and need at least 12 to 14 hours of light a day to keep laying, which is why most slow down in winter. You don't need a rooster for eggs.
What will your hens need?
| What | For your flock |
|---|
Guidelines from Oregon State and University of Minnesota Extension: at least 3–4 sq ft per bird inside the coop when hens also have a run, one nest box per 4 birds, 8–10 inches of roost per bird, and about 3 lb of feed per hen per week. A run of about 10 sq ft per bird is a common minimum; more is better.
Where the coop goes
- Zone 2. Close enough to check twice a day and carry scraps, far enough that noise and smell don't reach the windows.
- Next to the garden. A gate from the run into the garden lets hens clean up beds after harvest. Some designers ring the garden with a narrow "chicken moat" run that catches bugs and weed seeds before they get in.
- Dry, with shade. On high ground that drains, with shade in summer and shelter from winter wind (your sector map from Lesson 2).
- Predator-proof. Use hardware cloth, not chicken wire, buried or bent outward at the base, and close the coop every night.
Bees: honeybees and native bees
About a third of the food we eat depends on pollinators. Bees are the heart of that work, and a homestead can welcome them in two ways: keeping honeybees, and making a home for the many native bees that already live nearby.
- Morning sun to get the bees working early, with afternoon shade in hot climates
- Shelter from winter wind
- Water nearby: a birdbath with stones to land on
- The entrance facing away from paths, doors and play areas
- A fence or hedge in front so bees fly up and over people
- Level, dry ground, easy to reach with equipment
Find out whether anyone in the family is allergic to stings before bringing bees home. Join a local beekeeping club, take a beginner class, and consider starting with two hives so you can compare them. In California, every beekeeper must register hives with the county agricultural commissioner within 30 days of getting them, and renew each January. Other states have their own rules.
Native bees: the easiest bees to keep
Most native bees are gentle, solitary and need no beekeeper at all. Many nest in small patches of bare, undisturbed ground; others nest in hollow stems or old wood. To invite them in:
Flowers in every season
Native flowers, herbs and fruit trees blooming from early spring to late fall.
Leave a little mess
A sunny patch of bare soil, a few hollow stems left standing over winter, an old log.
Skip the sprays
Most insecticides kill bees. A healthy, diverse garden needs very few.
Other small animals
Each animal has a personality and a job. Start with one kind, learn it well, and add another only when the first is easy.
| Animal | What it gives | Daily care | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ducks | Eggs, excellent slug and snail control, less scratching than hens | Feed, fresh water deep enough to dunk their heads, nightly shelter | They make mud and mess around water; predators |
| Rabbits | Gentle manure that can go almost straight onto beds, fiber or meat | Feed, water, shade; they're sensitive to heat | Escapes, and digging under fences |
| Goats | Milk, brush clearing for fire safety, companionship | Twice-daily milking if in milk; they need at least one goat friend | Strong fences, hoof care, they eat your trees given the chance |
| Worms | Worm castings, the richest compost there is | A bin of bedding and kitchen scraps, kept moist and shaded | Too hot, too wet or too much food at once |
The responsibility
Animals don't take weekends off. Before bringing any home, sit down as a family and answer these honestly.
- Who feeds and waters them every morning and evening?
- Who cares for them when the family travels?
- What will it cost each month, and in vet care?
- What happens when hens stop laying, or an animal is sick or old?
- What do the city, county or homeowners' association allow?
Many towns limit how many hens you can keep, ban roosters, or require coops to sit a set distance from neighbors' houses. Rural zoning is usually more generous. Call your planning department before you build the coop, not after.
Caring for animals is one of the best teachers a child can have: faithfulness in small daily tasks, gentleness with living things, and the quiet satisfaction of a basket of warm eggs gathered with their own hands.
Design a chicken run or bee spot
Choose one animal your family is interested in. Work out what it needs and gives, find the best place on your base map, and draw the design to scale, before anything comes home.
You'll need
- Your base map and zone and sector overlays (Lessons 1–2)
- Graph paper and a ruler
- The flock calculator above
- A phone or notebook to look up your local rules
- Optional: a visit to a neighbor or farm with chickens or bees
Do it together
- Make the chart. List everything the animal needs on the left and gives on the right.
- Connect the dots. For each need, find something on your land that can meet it. For each gift, find where it will be used.
- Pick the spot on your base map using your zones and sectors.
- Draw it to scale. For chickens: coop, run, nest boxes, roost and gates. For bees: hive, water, flight path and screen.
- Check the rules and write down what your town or county allows.
- Make a care chart with daily, weekly and yearly jobs and who does each one.
Little keepers
- Draw the animal and its home
- Count bees visiting one flower patch for 5 minutes
- Choose a daily job they can do with help
Older keepers
- Use the calculator to size the coop and run
- Make a cost list for building and feeding for a year
- Research two breeds and compare them
Add the coop or hive to your base map. In the final lesson, everything comes together on one plan.
Living alongside
When animals are placed well, the homestead hums. Hens scratch through last season's beds, bees work the orchard blossoms, worms turn scraps into black gold, and each small life adds something to the whole. Caring for them well is part of caring for the land.
In the final lesson, your family puts every piece together into one complete site plan.
Your Lesson 6 worksheet
Work through these together. Your answers save on this device as you type, and print cleanly for your records.
Progress record
What this lesson practices:
- ScienceWhat animals need to survive; interdependence of plants, animals and pollinators (NGSS K-LS1-1, 3-LS4-3, 2-LS2-2).
- MathArea, multiplication and rates for planning a flock (Common Core 3.MD.C.7, 4.OA.A.3).
- HealthHand washing and preventing illness from animals.
- Life skillsResponsibility, budgeting and keeping a care schedule.
Standards mapping is a draft. If you use charter or ESA funds, confirm it with your education specialist.
Sources for this lesson
- Oregon State University Extension — backyard chicken coop design
- University of Minnesota Extension — raising chickens for eggs
- CDC — backyard poultry and staying healthy
- Contra Costa County — California beekeeper registration (Food and Ag Code 29040)
- Virginia Cooperative Extension — safe use of manure on produce