Chickens and Gardens

I know it's been discussed over and over. Gardens and Chickens can't really coexist without some accommodations.

I have six raised beds that are 4x8 each. And a 4 x25' raspberry bed and another 4x16 foot bed for corn. It takes up roughly 30x40' section. I don't want to HAVE to put a cover each bed. Right now I've placed 16' feedlot panels over the beds to keep the hens from dust bathing. However, now the plants are growing tall enough the hens can pick at them. I wondered about using a bird netting or deer netting. It's only $15 and is 7' x 100'. Seems like I could cut it down in height and maybe fence each bed or the entire area. Just looking for some cost effective options.

We live on 2 acres and our hens free range. I'd hate to keep the cooped up (pun intended) over the summer months.

Any thoughts or ideas?

putting up that netting is a good idea. if you dont, the moment you turn your back theyll devour your garden (speaking from experience)

Or I suppose I could buy a couple of rolls and use it to fence them in within our pasture. Just trying to decide if I want to fence the garden or the chickens.

if you get a lot of predators you should fence the chickens, but its really just up to you, depending on what you want.

No predators. We have coyotes in the area, but we've lived here for two years and never had a problem. We've got dogs and donkeys to sound the alarm. At this point, I just need something to make sure I'm not wasting $ on gardening when there's little to no harvest because of my chickens.

I only have one 4x8 raised bed, but I made a really simple PVC box frame to cover it to both keep the chickens and my dog from stealing snacks and scratching around and also to control the environment a bit.

There are a bunch of different ways people make them. I went from the more rectangular kind sort of like this:

http://www.charsgardening.com/2010/10/19/how-to-build-a-multipurpose-raised-bed-protective-cover/

But you can also do hoops:

http://www.grit.com/~/media/Images/GRT/Editorial/Blogs/Allan/Garden Fencing/FenceBoxes12.JPG

Or get fancy:

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jNy2ANd8rPU/S744dZeUMZI/AAAAAAAAAiE/-Z8YasbPlDI/s320/herb1.jpg

The PVC is very cheap and also modulator and adjustable and breaks down into pieces easy to store if you don't want a permanent lid. I have two different covers that I put over the same PVC frame depending on the time of year. One is part shade cloth and netting (I live in a coastal desert and it gets HOT) and for the winter I have a thin greenhouse plastic tarp-ish thing instead (my winters are mild and it allows me to grow most of the year). I just use zip ties to connect the covers to the frame so it is easy to detach. Just make if you use anything other than netting that the whole frame in anchored or you will have made a kite.

cibula11 said:

Or I suppose I could buy a couple of rolls and use it to fence them in within our pasture. Just trying to decide if I want to fence the garden or the chickens.

Click to expand...

In your situation.....I'd fence the garden.

100' roll of 14ga 2x4x72" welded wire fence is about $140...you could buy 4' t posts or use something else, doesn't take much to keep chooks out.

I the netting (7' x 100') for $15. I made 2x2 stakes from 2x4s and pounded them into the ground, then wrapped the garden with the netting. It's not perfect, but for two days the hens left my garden alone. I was going to do something that looked a bit nicer and was more permanent, but I feared the hens would just jump over or onto the top of the fence when they wanted in. I don't think they'll be clearing 7'-8' and they can't land on the top bc the netting is too flimsy.

Keeping my fingers crossed.