Chicken Gardeners...

[Mrs. K]

If there were bugs or insect eggs under that mulch, well they are gone now! Also, it is 5 months till I grow anything in SD. This fall I let mine scratch in my garden, but next spring, it will be fenced, as that is the only way to keep them out.

FENCE is the only way. mk

 

[jcbydesign]

Quote:
Brick wall, maybe?

 

[greenSearcher]

Fence the gardens, my veggie garden is surrounded by a 6ft fence, and since I clip wings it keeps them out. I use plastic poultry netting around the herb garden and my favorite flowers. Will need to protect the fig trees since they are fruiting now and also the blackberries. The poultry netting is 4 ft, and has a wobbly top edge so the chickens can't perch on the fence. I lost 90 percent of my plantings this year to grasshoppers and then the chickens devoured the tender regrowth. I just want to despair.

 

[gryeyes]

I have resigned myself to this fact: I can either have chickens, or I can have flowers, fruit and vegetables.

Tomato and lemon cucumber plants survived behind chicken wire. Also, chickens don't seem to like artichokes very much.

"Oh, this isn't a special place just for me?"

 

[fl_deb]

I have LF with clipped wings, and I use 4' chainlink fencing and container garden in most 55 gal drums. Hopefully this will work. A friend has lost almost all her tomatoes to her chickens.

 

[jojo54]

My girls only get to free range in part of the yard. They get half the garden and one third of the back lawn. The rest is mine and Lulu's. Lulu is our lame, part-time house chicken and she doesn't do alot of damage by herself because she has trouble scratching. The worst damage she did was when my son was planting peas - she went down the row behind him eating what he dropped in the row.

She didn't get to help anymore that day.