Chicken Moat

[ejcimd]

Saw this on my Facebook page this morning.


http://www.motherearthnews.com/Sustainable-Farming/1988-05-01/Garden-Pest-Control.aspx


What a great idea....

Irene

 

[Kevin565]

Very interesting article. Thanks for sharing

 

[shocksystems]

Neat article. I would be interested if anyone has done this and had pictures of their setup.

Cheers!

Jim

 

[7L Farm]

There's someone around that has done this on BYC because I've asked about a mote.I'm probably gonna do it around my garden soon. Only, concern I'm having is its so dang hot here how effective will it really be. My garden gets full sun so the chickens will use a few hours in the am & then it will be to hot.

 

[nicachica]

I am planning on building a "moat" around my existing garden which already has 8' high deer fencing. To solve the "hot" problem, I plan to clasp the wiring about halfway up the deer fence and simply bend the fencing and secure it to the ground, essentially making a tunnel for the chickens. This should protect them from predators AND I can plant things like peas and other climbing plants outside the tunnel to grow over the tunnel, providing them with some fresh stuff to nibble on and more importantly, shade.
Also, their coop is inside the deer fencing raised up on cinder blocks so they can huddle under the coop for shade as well. I am going to fence off the half of the garden that is inside the deer fencing and allow the chickens to fertilize and eat all the weeds on the un-planted side, so I can use it for next year. We will cut a little opening in the deer fence that will feed into the tunnel moat.
Any expert advice out there for this plan? I think it will be pretty great, but it is an experiment.

 

[joan1708]

I think it's a great idea. A whole lot of work, but a great idea for all the reasons listed. Seems like it would be worth all the trouble. I wish I had an area big enough for it.

 

[nicachica]

We did it on Sunday and finished in one day! I love it. It looks great and I can't wait to move the chicks out there. I think they will be very happy.

I will try to remember to post some updates as things progress. In a perfect world, we will move the chicks out here and nothing will go wrong and we will live happily ever after! We are keeping our fingers crossed that this will be the case. If not, we will learn and adjust and I will share what we learned. Please leave comments with any advice or recommendations for us. We are new at this and want to be as successful as possible. Thanks!

 

[nicachica]

We did it on Sunday and finished in one day! I love it. It looks great and I can't wait to move the chicks out there. I think they will be very happy.
I will try to remember to post some updates as things progress. In a perfect world, we will move the chicks out here and nothing will go wrong and we will live happily ever after! We are keeping our fingers crossed that this will be the case. If not, we will learn and adjust and I will share what we learned. Please leave comments with any advice or recommendations for us. We are new at this and want to be as successful as possible. Thanks!

In case some of you are not familiar with this site (like me), if you click on each photo and then click again (or just hover your mouse over it), you can read the comments I attached to each photo. I hope this will be helpful to someone, or entertaining at the least!

 

[furbabymum]

Seems pretty awesome. I'd do it if I had a fenced garden. Alas I just have a few bath tubs that discourage ground diggers but do nothing to prevent the **** rabbits.

 

[criticaleggplan]

That is fantastic NicaChica! I love what you've done. I think your chicks will be very happy and I heard that they moved into their coop today. I hope that was successful and you aren't worrying about the rain tonight. They will be just fine. Khalila looked adorable helping you with their move. I'm super happy for you guys!