Best breed for gardening. .

[Wormhunter]

Wasnt sure where to put this. But it does involve flock management.

So i tried having my laying hens free range a couple years ago. They tore upneverything.flower Bushes, tomato plants zuchinni. Nothing was safe from them and i only had 5 at the time.

Now i have 13. 5 rir 2 1/2 years old And 8 EE 18 months.

Id like to get some smaller birds to roam my garden. The layers are fenced into a 1/3 of an acre of their own.

Is there a type of poultry that woildnt be so destructive, can roam the rest of the property. Not fly over 6 ft fencing to get in with the bigger birds. And could i have a rooster without him getting to the bigger girls.

If i cant free eange id consider enclosing rhe garden and having it as part of a run.


What would i do with small eggs? Is there any business in selling fertilized eggs of smaller birds?

Kind of stream of thought questioning here. Sorry if it makes no sense.

Hi, I’m in the uk and we had begun to landscape our garden when a phone call alerted us our 7 chicks were ready for us !!!
They are quite large chickens now (9months old) and we have trialled a range of gardening approaches, currently this is what wirks
All shrubs flowers etc are in large tubs, they have rocks ( shingle or bark does not work) placed in the pot heavy enough not to be dug away, the pots are then placed on bricks or blocks and put in situ
The lawn has many holes and we continue to stamp down damage
An area of the lawn is sloped, has grass and soil and we throw compost, grass clippings veg roots, leaves etc for the girls to scratch and dig in, they like to create dust baths and dig holes in this area, it’s been 5 months and currently things are going well
Let me know if info helps you

 

[aart]

I saw on a homesteading forum thread someone mentioned using their chickens for gardening and i was like "How?"

Did you actually ask them 'how'?
The devil's in the details.

 

[TheRusticRebel]

Sultans were literally born for this job

Just looked these up thanks for the suggestion. Look like i will have a few mo ths to decide. We will start on a new coop and run for them and be ready by February to order chicks. I think wed like to handraise these.

 

[TheRusticRebel]

Ill be perusing the general breed discussion board and figuring out which hobby/pet breed i will be getting in the spring. Looks like silkies might be out due to heat tolerance. Id like a flashy bread but i dont want it to be uncomfortable in our souther n summers.

Excited to start new coop plans. I think we will stick to bantam breeds .

 

[TheRusticRebel]

Sultans are mostly ornamental no good meat and 1 egg per week
but they are a top hat breed

Thats actually perfect since im up to my ears in eggs.

 

[Fowl Explorer]

I'd try non-chicken types like ducks and guineas and turkeys. But they all like tomatoes and all berries!

 

[TheRusticRebel]

Great ideas everyone. Thanks for the responses. We are still deciding on breed but we have settled on where their coop and run will be.