chickens in my garden

[Teri]

I have just fenced in a 2,000 square foot area and planted fruit trees and grape vines. I'm also going to put in blackberry bushes and some raised garden beds. As soon as the weather warms up a little I'm planning to add a small flock of about six chickens. I do not have any experience with poultry. Can I let the chickens roam freely through my garden or will they be destructive and eat all of the plants?

Thank you for any advice.

 

[Wes in Tx]

If you want a garden then keep the chickens out until you have everything established. I would always keep them away from the veggie garden if you want any veggies to eat. What I have seen done on raised beds is once the veggies are all collected for the year folks will put up a chicken tractor over the bed and let the birds stay on it for a couple months to add their poo.

 

[ChrisnTiff]

Composted chicken poo is the vegetable gardners best friend, but the chickens sure aren't. We do a pretty good job of keeping the chickens out of our vegetable garden with just some 4' welded wire fence. As long as they have plenty of other stuff to get into they won't bother with trying to fly over it. They do love to peck at tomatos right on the vine as well as almost anything else they can reach. Good luck

Chris