Chickens and organic gardening

[MommaHenof19]

Our chicks are now 9 weeks old and doing great. We continue to learn and grow along with them and love every second. We are eager to introduce them to our gardens to give us some help with pest control. Any information or tips that we "newbies" should consider before doing this would be greatly appreciated.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

I would fence off with some chicken wire the precious plants that you don't want eaten and let them dig and scratch the earth to keep the weeds down in the rows. They will devour a garden if given enough time if there are enough chickens in a space.

You can move the chicken wire around and control where they go (leaving a nice path back to their coop of course with the wire).

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/303701/garden-chickens
here's one thread


https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/332894/chickens-in-the-garden
here's another

If you have fliers you can put them in a chicken tractor with food and water/nest boxes for the day and let them just dig up a small area at a time, just like a playpen for chickens. Make sure they have shade/rain/wind protection though.

 

[ldel4567]

If you have strawberries, blue berries, any kind of berry plants; they really love eating berries. I must confess, that I encourage them, by sharing. When I would let them out to forage; they would literally( one chicken in particular) scope out the area and check on the berries. They enjoyed them so much that they would jump up to snatch them; either from my hand or the bush itself.
They may cause you some frustration if there is something you don't want them to eat, so do keep those plants covered.


Take Care!

 

[MommaHenof19]

Thank you for your posted and links to other threads.
Raising chickens has turned out to be so much fun. I look forward to having them help me in the garden. Our gardens our approx 200 feet away from their coop and we are hoping that they will not figure out the route to the gardens on their own so that we can control their garden access and time.

 

[smilingcat]

They'll home in your garden even if its 200 feet away. And you do NOT want them in your garden unless you want them to rip everything apart. They are not quite as fast as a goat but the end result is about the same.

Only thing that will survive a chicken attack is full sized tomato plants 6 feet plus, corn stand, and trees. Can't think off hand of anything else that will survive their pecking and scratching. They can rip out a patch of crab grass and keep it crab grass free. Oh rose bush will survive.

 

[mamaschicken]

Chicken will destroy your garden faster then any "pests" might. You need to fence off and protect your garden if your chickens free range as mine do. I have been tempted to fence my chickens in but the fact is, free ranging is way better for them and if I want a decent garden I need to protect it from chickens LOL

 

[appps]

    If you have strawberries, blue berries, any kind of berry plants; they really love eating berries. I must confess, that I encourage them, by sharing. When I would let them out to forage; they would literally( one chicken in particular) scope out the area and check on the berries. They enjoyed them so much that they would jump up to snatch them; either from my hand or the bush itself.
 They may cause you some frustration if there is something you don't want them to eat, so do keep those plants covered.


 Take Care!

 

Oh man tell me about it. I went to all the trouble of putting bird netting over my berry patch yesterday and it took them all of 5 seconds to work out if they sit on it it stretches enough they can get them. Ugh. Plan b it seems lol

Chickens only really work free ranging in the garden with larger established plants. My parsley is large and established and they have not bothered it but the other herbs I've not long planted they have almost killed scratching around.

I have the back, larger shrub portion of my garden fenced off with plastic netting and I let them in there. They have been fantastic for weed control but now the weeds are gone are starting to dig dusting holes around the roots of my shrubs. If I don't do something to stop them I have no doubt they will kill them.
My plan is to cut circles of chicken wire and using some cheap tent pegs put a circle of it around each plant flat on the ground so they can no longer scratch the dirt there. Shall see how it works.

 

[TXchickmum]

Fence first and then take away the barriers as plants are established. (also, plant things that chickens won't consume)

We planted extensive perennial flower gardens this past spring. -placed low wire fencing surrounding the beds. About six weeks ago, we pulled up all of the fencing. The plants are well-established, have grown to maturity, and the chickens no longer harm them when scratching about. -planted lots of flowers/flowering shrubs/herbs that they won't eat. (They do dig lots of grubs from around/underneath them) We went with raised beds for vegetable gardens. -surrounded them with wire, as well. The raised herb garden needed wire briefly (for roots to be established). After a month, we removed the wire. -chickens love to hang out by the herbs, but they don't destroy them nor eat them. (do pick insects from them) The blackberry vines only needed fencing for a short while. The blueberry bush is planted in a very large whiskey barrel (as the soil isn't conducive to growing them here). The bantam hens jumped up and helped themselves to blueberries a time or two, but the plant has done well without damage. Our rose gardens aren't bothered by the chickens - no need to fence.

We opted to keep the gardens maintained without chemicals. -did fine with the chickens foraging close by. They kept a good amount of the flying pests at bay. Ladybugs were our gardening friend! -had a ton of them around this spring/summer which helped control aphids. Also, we planted mint and other herbs around the vegetable beds and chicken house. -never had rodents raiding the garden (or coop). I am no expert, and don't know if this is legitimate - just read it and decided to try it. -Call it coincidence or luck, but it actually worked for us!

Fall has arrived and we are preparing the beds for winter. The chickens have been scratching around a lot! -tilling, clearing any weeds beginning to sprout with the cooler temps, and finding bugs. -and since everything is established, they truly are helpers in the garden these days!

 

[mamaschicken]

ROFL....well you can come and train my 34...grins

 

[TXchickmum]

I think it depends a lot on the size of lot/land, number of birds, and whether the birds free-range (all of the time) or enjoy limited free-ranging. We have 10, (7 standard/3 bantams) and have a standard suburban lot. -have an 8 x 12 coop and a large run down one side of the lawn. (We opted for a covered run due to the number of hawks and the inability to keep a roo.) The chickens have full, supervised access to the yard 3 - 4 times per day, about 30 minutes at a time. -are able to maintain nice gardens/lawn with this particular balance. If free-ranging with larger flocks and larger parcels of land, things might be very different! Free-ranging flocks can clear out anything - quickly! (I absolutely agree, however, that it is better for the chicken!)

Free Range Chicken Gardens is an excellent book to help with questions pertinent to gardening and keeping birds. -recommend it to the OP!