Chickens and Turkey as a orchard pesticide alternative

[Selmer]

Good day! I found byc by researching a topic I am extremely interested in at the moment. I am hoping for some real guidence.

I purchase a fully operational medium sized peach orchard (800+ trees) in zone 7. Traditionally the previous owner treated the fruit with chemical pesticides/fungicides (Captain). My goal is to go organic which seems like a crazy task considering how many bugs are constantly after that fruit.

My question is, how effective do you think hundreds of free range chickens would be at combating the bug problem? I am also considering this (raising chickens) as a secondary business.

I would imagine they would be great for bugs and fruit that have fallen, but would have little impact on fruit still ripening. So I was considering using USDA approved organic pesticides to cover the rest.

Any ideas or suggestions? I am eager to find a better solution that has a equal or better result than chemical.

 

[Percheron chick]

Go for it. My initial flock of chickens were purchased just to control grasshoppers in my garden. I was tired of losing most of my hard work just as the vegetables were close to harvest. They knocked them down in one season. You could easily be looking at upwards of 500 chickens to do the work. You will need temporary fencing to force them to concentrate on one area then rotate them to the next section. A large mobile nesting area needs to follow the flock. I have seen old school buses and campers converted with upwards of 100 nesting boxes.
Look into geese as well. They are often used as weeders in fruit orchards. They keep the grass and weeds down as well as cleaning up the dropped fruit.