Chicken Gardeners...

[jcbydesign]

I went out to check the three little darlings (?) and what do I find? They managed to scratch ALL of my leaf mulch from out of the garden and onto the walk ways!

What a mess...but nice clean looking flower beds...

I can see this 'chicken journey' is going to not only be interesting but frustrating?

 

[math ace]

I have one chicken who insists on flying out of the pig pen to eat the little seedlings in my garden . . . . . There are lots of green things she could eat in the pig pen - - - - but NO it has to be the seedlings in my garden !

 

[Uzuri]

From all the pics of destroyed mulch areas around here, I think it would behoove most chicken owners to just throw the mulch on the sidewalk to start with. Saves time.

 

[undergroundchickens]

Yes they just love scratching in my flowerbeds. I am going to have to rethink my borders and maybe get some of those bricks I can build up along the edges so the dirt/mulch stays where it supposed to be and not om my grass or walkways.

Anyone have some good ideas for this problem? I love to garden and love my chickens but don't love the mess they make when they are free in the yard.

 

[Downshifting]

Quote:
I wonder if you spread it on the sidewalk to start with...would they scratch it back into the flower beds...hmmmmm

 

[abhaya]

Quote:
I wonder if you spread it on the sidewalk to start with...would they scratch it back into the flower beds...hmmmmm

I wonder???????????

 

[lauriruth]

i have $200 worth of mulch that is now everywhere BUT in the flower beds! i'doubled the brick border to twice the height and those little buggers can kick mulch 3' up and over those borders! re-thinking for spring....

 

[cobrien]

Quote:
I tried putting jute fabric over my mulch, with a little mulch on top of the jute to hide it. They destroyed the jute fabric.

I think chicken wire over the mulch with a little mulch over the chicken wire might work but might be expensive.

I haven't solved the mulch spraying issue. But have found that placing rocks at least 6" in diameter around my plants deters them from destroying the plants (I plant deer resistant plants that the chickens don't like) but they will dig all around the rocks. If you have a lot of rocks perhaps a rock garden with deer resistant plants is an alternative instead of mulch.

I've just about given up letting my free range in my yard because I keep planting more and more and have plastic netting and fencing around many areas now. I plan to get/build an enclosure to move around to contain the chickens while they're grazing during the day instead of letting them loose

.

 

[Barry Natchitoches]

Quote:
It depends on what kind of gardening you do.


If you are a flower or landscaping gardener, then no, I don't have any suggestions.


But if you are a vegetable gardener, you will want to protect your vegetable garden from the "fresh fertilizer deposits" that your darling scratchers will leave on the ground.


Chicken manure is a great fertilizer, but it has to be aged about five months (minimum) before it is safe to use on area that is used for food production.


So those vegetables that grow low to the ground (example lettuce, cabbage, greens, strawberries, etc) I cover with floating row cover suspended over wire hoops. This creates a growing tunnel that not only protects my food from fresh deposits of fertilizer, but protects my food crops from many insects, many airborne diseases, cold weather, mulch scratched out by the chickens, and several other problems.

 

[PepsNick]

This happens to me everyday.