Anyone else's chickens tearing up your yard?

[4boyz]

I have 4 hens and I quite enjoy them roaming my yard, but they are destroying it. Mulch is strewn everywhere. They scratch and dig right at the base of my plants. They are eating all of the new growth that is coming in. I'm worried that they are going to kill the tender plants before they have a chance to grow. My tulips have all been eaten. And to top it off, they have dug up my drip system pipes, so I have to go back and re-attach them to all of my plants. I'm about to ban them to their run indefinitely, but I know they love to roam the yard. Anyone else have this problem?

 

[A.T. Hagan]

Anyone else's chickens tearing up your yard?

No. Just my own.

 

[Kevin565]

How large is your yard? My ducks did quite a bit of damage to my backyard over a few months

 

[dawg53]

LOL. Mine looks like a sandy miniture minefield. I like dumping leaves in a big pile in the backyard where the chickens are. They pulverize it down into tiny bits and pieces in no time lol.

 

[leadwolf1]

Anyone else's chickens tearing up your yard?
No. Just my own.

 

[4boyz]

oops. I knew that didn't sound quite right.
My yard is smallish, but not that small. We have a lot of mulch and plants instead of grass. They go everywhere.

 

[leadwolf1]

All mine are confined to an area that isn't landscaped...except for my grow out pen chicks...and they have desimated my landscaping around my deck...thank goodness that most are bulbs and hopefully will regrow next year once they are up in the big coops!!!

 

[TonySorrento]

Anyone else's chickens tearing up your yard?
No. Just my own.

That is why mine will be have a run attached to their coop .... the wife has a plant business ...

 

[Hummingbird Hollow]

We have 18 acres in the Colorado mountains and my little flock of 7 only get out of their run about an hour a day, 5 days a week since a bobcat killed #8. While the chickens by no means use the entire 18 acres, the places they favor have multiple dirt baths dug into them, areas where all the vegetation has been scratched down to the bare dirt and generally signs of use and abuse. We don't have a bunch of topsoil here so the vegetation is fragile but still...they are destructive!

 

[Aschenfire]

You are going to have chickens eating plants and digging up your yard if they have access to your yard. That is the nature of chickens. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but if you want to keep the yard pretty you're going to have to confine the birds. You are not going to *break* them of being chickens.