Best way to keep chickens out of our garden?

[Chickengene]

How do most people let their chickens run free for a few hours while they are out working?

Basically, I want chickens for the eggs and to teach our kids about taking care of animals and to have chores outside. We want the chickens to be able to roam around while we are outside, if we go inside, we'd have them go into their closed off pen. I'd love for them to take care of the slugs, bugs and tickets while they are out.

I think most missed your point. Most predators are hunting just before dawn and just after dusk. They also do not like open areas. Most will also try to shy away from human presence.
If you are planning to be working in the yard near the woodlot you and your birds shine reasonably safe.

 

[Shanny123]

What a wonderful dog! And thank you for describing where you grew up and how that lifestyle was for the dogs and the chickens. I enjoyed hearing about it. Your current place sounds wonderful too. Your dog is awesome! Good helper! Thanks!

 

[Chickengene]

Basically there is no easy solution for any chicken keeping, it's all trial and error and figuring out what works in your situation, and whether you're willing to take risks and accept losses... either the chickens or your garden plants.

Loose chickens are always at risk for predator attacks. I've heard of foxes or hawks being so bold and taking birds right in front of people as they were supervising. Stray dogs are among the most dangerous attackers and will break through chicken wire or any netting. Electric fencing is probably the most effective deterrent, for both predators and keeping chickens contained.

I'm in the suburbs surrounded by 6' fencing so I don't see many predators. My girls have their coop and run and their own fenced yard with no vegetation. I'll let them in my backyard all day after my plants have died down in fall and winter, but I have to give them very limited access in spring and summer. Otherwise...
View attachment 1727279
they take over everything.

before:View attachment 1727273 after:View attachment 1727274

They also enjoy scissoring all the leaves off my favorite coral bells, scratching my ornamental grasses, groundcovers and most flowers down to the dirt, and plucking ripe (or unripe) blueberries, strawberries and tomatoes. Every other available veggie gets pecked or half eaten and my bark mulch, gravel and river rocks get nicely all mixed together. And I only have 4 chickens! Now I don't know if that's the cost of free bug control, or if they just enjoy destroying stuff. It may be in the eye of the beholder.

I'm still figuring out how to save my tender plants and let them loose as often as possible, as they can do a lot of damage in a short time. But they have plenty of space in their own yard and I always toss weeds, grass clippings and other scraps in the compost bin, which is also in their area. I think they find enough bugs and worms in the compost and also by digging through the deep mulch in their yard.

I thinks it just depends how tidy you want to keep your garden space, and how concerned you are about predators. Good luck!

Basically there is no easy solution for any chicken keeping, it's all trial and error and figuring out what works in your situation, and whether you're willing to take risks and accept losses... either the chickens or your garden plants.

Loose chickens are always at risk for predator attacks. I've heard of foxes or hawks being so bold and taking birds right in front of people as they were supervising. Stray dogs are among the most dangerous attackers and will break through chicken wire or any netting. Electric fencing is probably the most effective deterrent, for both predators and keeping chickens contained.

I'm in the suburbs surrounded by 6' fencing so I don't see many predators. My girls have their coop and run and their own fenced yard with no vegetation. I'll let them in my backyard all day after my plants have died down in fall and winter, but I have to give them very limited access in spring and summer. Otherwise...
View attachment 1727279
they take over everything.

before:View attachment 1727273 after:View attachment 1727274

They also enjoy scissoring all the leaves off my favorite coral bells, scratching my ornamental grasses, groundcovers and most flowers down to the dirt, and plucking ripe (or unripe) blueberries, strawberries and tomatoes. Every other available veggie gets pecked or half eaten and my bark mulch, gravel and river rocks get nicely all mixed together. And I only have 4 chickens! Now I don't know if that's the cost of free bug control, or if they just enjoy destroying stuff. It may be in the eye of the beholder.

I'm still figuring out how to save my tender plants and let them loose as often as possible, as they can do a lot of damage in a short time. But they have plenty of space in their own yard and I always toss weeds, grass clippings and other scraps in the compost bin, which is also in their area. I think they find enough bugs and worms in the compost and also by digging through the deep mulch in their yard.

I thinks it just depends how tidy you want to keep your garden space, and how concerned you are about predators. Good luck!

My wife has planted little parcels of every flower she could find that are known to attract hummingbird, butterfly and bees. I got her a roll of welded wire fencing which she cut, well, had me cut, to fit each particular parcel. Then she rounded it over to creat a tunnel. Soon as the seedlings are a certain size she removes the wire tunnel and let's the birds weed and cultivate. Seems to work pretty good.
I guess I am blessed in the fact my hens are too lazy or too cautious to jump up into my raised beds.

 

[Homesteader82]

Half of our property is wooded and half is lawn (2 acres total). The coop is going to go into the wooded area (it's fairly open in there, but shaded); would I be better off fencing an area for them to "free" roam in the woods instead of coming onto our property?

 

[Henry&Friends]

We did this with our flock, but woodland animals will pick off your chickens, and if something happens you gotta be ready to run through both the lawn and then the forest too, which doesn’t seem like much but those 20-or-so seconds could be the difference between a living and dead hen.

Ours also attracted a LOT of mosquitoes, so be ready for that too.

 

[Henry&Friends]

If I fenced off a portion of the wooded area with some sort of deer netting; would that be sufficient protection? The coop with have a totally fenced in area, sides and top, to keep them in the majority of the time, but I'd like to have them run around and enjoy the wooded area that would be fenced off and that fence would movable.

We had netting and chicken wire, but animals would just tear through it or dig under/above, and the chickens couldn’t get away. Then, when the chickens found the holes we didn’t find and patch up, they would run away.

 

[Homesteader82]

What I'm trying to say is, if I wanted the chickens out of a few hours a day while we were out, would it be fine to let them road in that loose fenced in area? Their actual coop and permanent run would be protected on all sides.

 

[Homesteader82]

How do most people let their chickens run free for a few hours while they are out working?

Basically, I want chickens for the eggs and to teach our kids about taking care of animals and to have chores outside. We want the chickens to be able to roam around while we are outside, if we go inside, we'd have them go into their closed off pen. I'd love for them to take care of the slugs, bugs and tickets while they are out.

 

[rosemarythyme]

View attachment 1723583

So just some posts at the corners of your boxes will allow you to string up a bit of fencing.

Mine's not as solid as this, but I do the same, just put posts of some sort in the corners and maybe in the middle for a longer bed, and wrap chicken wire, netting, etc. It's not that the chickens CAN'T go over it, but because the top of the fencing is a little hard to see and too wobbly to stand on, they're less likely to try.

And I don't free range because I don't want any losses. I did use to let them out on a side lawn while I did yardwork, but they always wandered and ended up where I don't want them (a mulched flower bed, gravel driveway, the other lawn). Had one even walk out into the pond (thankfully she came back when lured).

 

[ChickenFlamingo]

I've done the complete opposite. I've allowed them to run crazy in my garden and they have been the best gardeners ever. My garden was getting a bit overgrown and now it's actually the neatest, most weed free it's ever been.
Okay, sometimes their gardening techniques are a bit haphazard and the 'flower beds' do resemble tattie fields, but my girls are earning their keep. The grass has been pecked short, the weeds are cleared, the soil has been dug and tilled and fertilised, snails and slugs have been attacked. My more established plants, peonies and crocrosmia are shooting up, despite the chicken onslaught.
Now I just have to train my chickens to use the hedge trimmer and we'll be laughing.