Chickens weeding garden?

[newchickmom]

Hi,
My sister are starting to plan out the garden(spring fever), and we have a HUGE garden space (100 x 100ft)
I would like to let the chickens in the garden to help weed and eat bugs.
Am I correct in understanding that once the plants get past the tender stage, they will be safe till they start baring their various fruits?

 

[hypnofrogstevie]

depends on what your planting. What kind of plants do you plan on getting?

 

[Backyard Buddies]

I haven't had much luck in this regard. As you know, Chickens + Dirt = dust bath. A dust bath in a garden usually results in plants that are dug up, especially if they're not all that large. Depending on the plant, my chickens also enjoy the opportunity to nibble at the salad bar.

Now, I have found that chickens will do a very nice job of prepping a garden for planting because they'll scratch around and loosen the soil. They also enjoy scratching through the garden at the end of the season to nibble on whatever is left. Sometimes I leave plants just for that purpose. I have a few beets that grew too large for eating, so I left them in place. The chickens enjoy the leaves and since the leaves keep growing back, it's an ongoing treat for them.

 

[hypnofrogstevie]

While I am building there coop we have this huge 30' by 10' blackberry bush on top of the mountain. I am going to try to root them. You may try that for the side of there coop. they could also use it for shelter in case of predators

 

[newchickmom]

We are planning on a large variety. Corn, green beans, tomatoes, potatoes, cucumbers, peppers, carrots, beets, pumpkin, watermelon, broccoli, cauliflower, onions, spaghetti squash, okra and a variety of leafy vegs specialy for the chicks. Should the plants be safe once they are established? We will fence off the leafy plants so the chickens don't pig out on them.

 

[hypnofrogstevie]

I dont know about the rest but my tomatoes where killed last yr. they where well rooted and they pecked the vine, leave and tomatoes right off. fencing in the leafy veggies or vine veggies might help

 

[stilwellchick]

My girls treat the garden as their own personal salad bar! They peck at everything, tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, at all stages of growth. I put posts in the ground with rabbit fencing all around the garden once it is planted. Before it is planted they can get in there and dig and scratch all they want.

 

[mergmet]

my chickens wreak havok in the garden, I keep it fenced off and don't let them in there at all. They love tomatos and anything they can peck.

guineas will keep the pests down and not eat all the plants, and I have let a baby duck or two run in the garden in the past.

be careful with any birds in there, if you are using weed killer or pesticides it can hurt the birds.

Margaret

 

[Backyard Buddies]

I've planted a lot of what you have and here's my experience.
Corn - They'll eat the plants when they're little, but leave them alone after that. I've never had mine try to eat the ears.
Green beans - They like the leaves, especially the tender ones. They'll leave the beans alone.
Tomatoes - They may try to eat the leaves, and mine have without problem, but they really shouldn't. They'll take a tomato at any opportunity!

Cucumbers, peppers, squash - They won't eat the leaves of these and my experience so far is that they've never bothered the veggie itself. This has always surprised me with the squash, because if I give it to them, they'll gladly eat it.
Onions - They've never bothered mine, but green onions are at risk of being dug up when they're scratching.
Watermelon/pumpkin - Should not be bothered by the chickens.
I haven't grown the others, so I don't have any experience with them.

My girls are city chicks and my lot is small. Therefore, my chicken coop is IN my veggie garden so they have to walk past the garden to get out to the lawn to free range. Here's a picture:

 

[CarriBrown]

Quote:
Better fence them off or they're goners!