Chickens for brush clearing

[GCrumb]

I expect he means for garden plots and land under cultivation. It's pretty ordinary practice to let chickens into the garden after the last fall harvest to let them glean whatever they want to eat and turn the rest under with their scratching about. Again in the spring to loosen soil again and tear up new weeds. You could go so far as to use something they like to eat as a winter cover crop (clover would do) and let them tear that up in the spring before you plant. Family stories say that great-grandfather with the horse-powered farm did this with pigs and amaranth.

 

[NatJ]

The local company that I know of (Rent-a-Goat) is not willing to bring fewer than 450 goats (!!!!) to a job and I just don't think my neighbors would be cool with that.

Have you asked the company how long it would take their 450 goats to clear the amount of brush you have? If they do it fast enough (a few days or less), your neighbors might not mind.

I have several acres of poison oak, thorny brambles, and dense thicket.

I'm not really expecting the chickens to eat poison oak and brambles. If they can scratch it up enough to kill new growth, that would increase the amount of time before I have to hire an excavator.

I would expect chickens to prevent new growth in their favorite areas, and close to where they live, but not all over.

A chicken run with 10 square feet of space per chicken will often be bare of grass and soft plants within a few weeks, although some trees and bushes seem happy to live forever in those conditions. If you want to match that density over your several acres, that would be an enormous number of chickens!

Chickens are good at killing established plants. Has anyone used a movable fence for chicken-brush-clearing? I'm not sure I can even get a fence in, due to all the thick brush.

I once used chickens to kill some small areas of weeds. I used a chain-link dog kennel that was 10 feet on each side, with 4 or 5 hens in it. It could stay in one place for what felt like a long time, probably weeks, before moving it made any sense (if I wanted the plants dead.) That particular kennel had 4 sides that were attached at the corners, so I could take it apart and re-assemble around trees or bushes. I had some trouble with chickens flying out (it was 6 feet high), and they would go under the edge if it was on uneven ground (until I blocked the openings with rocks.) I shut them in a more secure coop every evening, because I knew knew that dog run was not safe enough at night.

You could try putting up a fence around a section of brush, add chickens, and see how it goes. Depending on the results you get, you might continue that way or change plans (expanded fence with more chickens, or goats, or people with power tools & machinery.)

 

[fat brown hen]

Have you asked the company how long it would take their 450 goats to clear the amount of brush you have? If they do it fast enough (a few days or less), your neighbors might not mind.

An acre a day, with a minimum job size of 5 acres. They also have goat herders live in a trailer and stay with the goats the whole time, moving the fence from one small area to the next to make sure the goats don't eat anything toxic or get into trouble.

I did get a price quote a few years back when I was looking into it, and IIRC it was around $5000 -- quite a bit more than hiring a machine-based service.

I was half-joking when I said the neighbors wouldn't be cool with 450 goats -- it also doesn't make economical sense unless I already have goats for some other reason. Even renting a pair of goats from a 4-H kid would still have the overhead cost of setting up fencing, moving the fence, having someone onsite to tend to the goats, etc. We do have mountain lions and coyotes out here.

I would expect chickens to prevent new growth in their favorite areas, and close to where they live, but not all over.

That's kinda what I'm seeing now. Part of the chicken yard was overgrown with poison oak and brambles when we first moved in, but I hired a brush removal service to clear it out, and so far the chickens have kept it clean. Occasionally I'll see a new poison oak sprout, but it sticks out like a sore thumb in a sea of dirt so I just hit it with roundup.

You could try putting up a fence around a section of brush, add chickens, and see how it goes. Depending on the results you get, you might continue that way or change plans (expanded fence with more chickens, or goats, or people with power tools & machinery.)

Yeah, I'll probably try something like that. I was hoping that others may have already done something similar so I could just work off someone else's plans, but hey, someone's gotta be the first :b

 

[MTR]

I have several acres of poison oak, thorny brambles, and dense thicket. I know a lot of people use goats for clearing brush, but I don't really want goats.

So... Chickens are good at killing established plants. Has anyone used a movable fence for chicken-brush-clearing? I'm not sure I can even get a fence in, due to all the thick brush

 

[fat brown hen]

I expect he means for garden plots and land under cultivation. It's pretty ordinary practice to let chickens into the garden after the last fall harvest to let them glean whatever they want to eat and turn the rest under with their scratching about. Again in the spring to loosen soil again and tear up new weeds. You could go so far as to use something they like to eat as a winter cover crop (clover would do) and let them tear that up in the spring before you plant. Family stories say that great-grandfather with the horse-powered farm did this with pigs and amaranth.

Hmm, maybe I can find a way to get my chickens to break up some of this dense clay soil... it turns to cement in the summertime.

 

[MTR]

I have several acres of poison oak, thorny brambles, and dense thicket. I know a lot of people use goats for clearing brush, but I don't really want goats.

So... Chickens are good at killing established plants. Has anyone used a movable fence for chicken-brush-clearing? I'm not sure I can even get a fence in, due to all the thick brush.

Goats are definitely the way to go. If for some reason they don’t agree with you buy a good weed eater, chain saw, long sleeves and use up that vacation time.
Goats are awesome at clearing. And produce adorable and hilarious babies.

 

[CaretakerCarol]

I imagine you would just end up with all this thorny brush and lots of hidden dirt potholes to trip you up. They may grab berries but the canes are not going anywhere.

 

[GCrumb]

Hmm, maybe I can find a way to get my chickens to break up some of this dense clay soil... it turns to cement in the summertime.

Probably if you spread organic matter such as compost and the masses of chipped up brush you'll soon have into a chicken-tractor they'll work it into the soil for you...

 

[fat brown hen]

Goats are definitely the way to go. If for some reason they don’t agree with you buy a good weed eater, chain saw, long sleeves and use up that vacation time.
Goats are awesome at clearing. And produce adorable and hilarious babies.

Goats are cute, but escape artists + high predator load = Bad News. I've thought about getting a donkey or a cow.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I guess pigs would be out as well? Someone pulled up while I was out clearing bramble and suggested I get pigs to do the work for me, because they're supposedly great at uprooting things.