How To Keep Chickens Out of Flower Beds and Gardens

[cowman1970]

A fence or squirting them with water works for us. I'm looking into a water scarecrow.

 

[jlucius]

well i have been insane trying to solve this issue
I have found cinnamon to be the most effective
sprinkle it ALL through the areas you dont want the chickens
You have to maintain a steady coverage
Its suppose to burn their feet (they dont like that) Im not sure it does tho
I think its the smell they dont like. If I keep up with it (reapply after rain and weekly)
they dont go near the beds. Its very refreshing to walk out in the mornings and smell cinnamon and it doesnt block the view of the plants

 

[lauranickerson]

My ducks (and chickens according to the tracks in the mud) made a mess of my garden today. I left the soaker hose on while I was at work, and the ducks came in and made it a MESS. They ate some heads of lettuce, and also made it so the garden hardly drained somehow, and now there's massive puddles.

 

[cthockeymom]

So far I've been lucky! They like to go into the veggie garden but they only scratch between the plants! Helps me with the weeding!!!

 

[msmolly]

Thought I would share- I have finally solved the problem(for me atleast), of how to keep the chickens from scratching all the mulch out of the flowerbeds, messing up the edges and also scattering the pachysandra plants all over the driveway. I must give credit to Ramoan the landscaper for this. At first, I thought it was a big mistake- no way would the pachysandra grow through these rocks, but, they do, and have flourished! Before, my beds were pathetic visions of scattered mulch, and an occasional plant, (usually a weed) that survived the chickens scratching. Ramoan filled the bed with rocks! On my flower beds he just bordered them, but it keeps the mulch off the lawn, the chickens out( off the edge at least), and the pachysandra border on the drive is thriving. The only thing I would reccomend for others, is to trench the edge a little deeper, so the rocks can't roll out as easily. This picture shows one part of the bed that looks like "before" and further down the bed the progress the plants have made growing right through the rocks!

First two pictures are a new border put in the flower beds. In the 3rd pic, you can see how thick the rocks were put down, and how the bed used to look. The 4th pic, with Blue the peacock shows how the plants have thrived. YAY!

 

[Sophia5]

I'm afraid there is know way to prevent my chickens digging in the garden.

 

[write2caroline]

I just saw this amazing video and it addressed chickens eye sight. They stated that chickens see better than we do and to test it they flew a hawk and they also had a stuffed fox on a rail cart and rails. The hawk (which did not hurt the chickens because it was trained) made them react right away but the fake fox being pulled on a rail only peeked their interest. They processed and realized it was a fake and not a danger to them. So I think a fake owl or a fake snake would also not work. Their keen eyes would just know. They also tested them to see if their little bird brains could differentiate between symbols. They had them pecking through paper to meal worms and the clucks did learn to choose specific symbols. The private life of chickens (British guy University of Exeter?)

My chickens decimated our run of any green matter in three days. The run was lovely and grassy but once the fence surrounded them - they ate everything green. I think you will have to resort to fencing your garden to prevent them from entering or fencing your chickens so they cannot get to your garden and supervise their free ranging into approved ranges.

Caroline

 

[Sophia5]

I've seen that video too! I was fascinated by it and I didn't realise until I watched that video how smart and amazing chickens are.
(I was also inspired by the woman's farm)

 

[199787]

I just taught mine not to go in by being vigilant and chasing them out. They know they aren't supposed to be in the garden, garage, or other buildings with cement now. If one ventures in the garden it will running away when I tell it no now. Not saying they never sneak in for a few minutes, but they can definitely be trained. I do leg the young chicks in the garden to weed and eat all my bugs.

 

[gryeyes]

Silly you! You actually thought you could keep chickens AND.a garden?!?!?!?


No way. Not without a fence. Or some sort of barrier, like a diligent person with a hose to squirt 'em away.

I have a garden fence, five feet tall, made of conduit and chicken wire (the only thing it's good for is to contain or prohibit chickens, not predators). It works pretty well. Most of the chickens can't get into the garden. Just the bantams and adolescent birds not too heavy to fly.

Outside of the garden, I use circles of hardware cloth or plastic garden fencing, depending upon the height I need to protect. I have geese which can reach much higher than chickens.