Chickens vs Veggie Garden

[CtrlAltJack]

Chickens are picky eaters in the garden when given the choice, but they'll eat almost anything when that's the only fresh leaf available to them.

The only plant I've put in their run that they absolutely won't touch is rosemary. Everything else so far has been stripped of greenery as high as they can reach.

Out in the garden is a different story though because they only get a couple hours a day there. They love to eat my basil and Swiss Chard, but I grow enough chard to share and that's not a problem. They did denude a couple of my brussel sprout plants, but the rest were hiding behind tomato plants which the chickens don't touch at all. I have several kinds of mint that they stay away from. I thought they disliked mint so thoroughly that it would survive in the run, but it didn't last one day there. They don't bother my bronze fennel, which I was really worried about initially. They don't bother the poppies or weeds or carrots or sunflowers in my garden. They mostly leave my squash and pinto beans alone. All of these things would be eaten up quick though if I planted them in the run where they would have constant accesss.

 

[EmeraldSkye]

Thank you for the replies. Since my garden and the chicken run are one and the same I'll be sure to put up barriers around planting areas until the time comes when the chickens can take the plants down. I have a grand scheme for this now. This does include planting a raised bed for them with chicken forage material (roots protected via a frame) so that they don't feel left out. Right now they have access to my garlic and some mint. They aren't harming those.