chickens in my garden

[Teri]

I have just fenced in a 2,000 square foot area and planted fruit trees and grape vines. I'm also going to put in blackberry bushes and some raised garden beds. As soon as the weather warms up a little I'm planning to add a small flock of about six chickens. I do not have any experience with poultry. Can I let the chickens roam freely through my garden or will they be destructive and eat all of the plants?

Thank you for any advice.

 

[Wes in Tx]

If you want a garden then keep the chickens out until you have everything established. I would always keep them away from the veggie garden if you want any veggies to eat. What I have seen done on raised beds is once the veggies are all collected for the year folks will put up a chicken tractor over the bed and let the birds stay on it for a couple months to add their poo.

 

[ChrisnTiff]

Composted chicken poo is the vegetable gardners best friend, but the chickens sure aren't. We do a pretty good job of keeping the chickens out of our vegetable garden with just some 4' welded wire fence. As long as they have plenty of other stuff to get into they won't bother with trying to fly over it. They do love to peck at tomatos right on the vine as well as almost anything else they can reach. Good luck

Chris

 

[saysfaa]

I have three hens who visit my 20x75 ft garden without being destructive except when I transplant seedlings. Then, they tend to trample the seedlings and to scratch them up or bury them. I'm sure it is while they look for the worms and such they expect whenever I dig. I often called them over for the worms or bugs.

They eat some of the veggies but not so much that it hurts it. They have taken out a couple of tomatoes by dust bathing under them.

 

[saysfaa]

It seems there is a limit to how often a post can be edited - interesting.

Anyway, I know chickens often destroy gardens but it can work well. I think it depends on how many chickens and how much space they have. Mine forage in some woods, edges of lawn, snd under the deck too.

 

[Loving my girls]

I have a closed in veg plot and use Tilly to get the leatherjackets out of my empty veg bed before replanting.
She is always supervised.

 

[Altairsky]

Chickens are destructive, even if they don't eat the plants they will crush them and sit on them in summer to seek a cool spot. They might break small branches if they try to jump on them maybe just to eat a bug.
They go crazy for grapes, mine managed to peck it out of the netting.

 

[Loving my girls]

Chickens are destructive, even if they don't eat the plants they will crush them and sit on them in summer to seek a cool spot. They might break small branches if they try to jump on them maybe just to eat a bug.
They go crazy for grapes, mine managed to peck it out of the netting.

Dust bathing, don’t forget dust bathing. I’ve said goodbye to many hours of work through dust bathing