im wanting to allow my chickens to roam around my small orchard ive started recently....i have several apple, peach, plum, and mayhaw trees. im wanting to let my chickens eat the fruit from these trees...but i was wondering if they would help in keeping some of the bugs/worms away from the fruit trees? im wanting to go as natural (organic) on my farm as possible and was hoping they would keep some fruit pests away?
I've know of at least 2 vineyards that keep ducks amongst the vines to control snails. It's a nice, organic pest control method. Chickens will eat whatever bugs they find and will probably snack on the windfalls as well. Windfalls are a breeding place for fruit flies. Pigs are good too, but only for limited periods and under supervision, as they will start on the trees after eating the windfalls! Just make sure you don't have too much of a build up of chicken poo under your trees. Chicken poo is very acid and nitrogen rich. I've visited an organic farm once where people were keeping their chickens amongst their olive trees. They did let the poop build up quite a bit and the trees got "burned" by the high levels of nitrogen. Mixing wood ash will help neutralise the nitrogen though and it is beneficial for the trees.
