Chickens weeding garden?

[skatcatla]

I wish I could say I had the same experience as BackyardBuddies! My chickens absolutely have destroyed anything I had growing in my raised planters, either from eating the plants directly or from just scratching everything up. They tore up my broccoli, onions, lettuce, cilantro, and carrots.

I must say they aerated the soil just perfectly!

But I am definitely going to fence it off better before I plant again.

 

[All my hens are roosters]

My kids are pretty good once plants are established, but when first sprouting they eat everything. They also love tomatoes, zuchini, grapes, apples, plums, and flowers. If I want it to grow, it is fenced off, but like others I let them go nuts conditioning the soil.

They're also really helpful unraking leaves...

 

[ibpboo]

Yep, best to keep the garden fenced! They will dig for the bugs, dirt bathe and have salad bar otherwise.

 

[littlelemon]

Since we are on the subject-what kind of fencing would be good to use? Would garden fencing be okay if it is high enough? It's kind of flimsy so they would have trouble perching on the fence, but I wonder if they would just fly over. My chickens now will fly over the chain link fence, but not in once continuous motion. They fly to the top first, then perch, then fly over.

 

[All my hens are roosters]

I've got mostly banties, and 4 feet is nothing to them to fly over. I had one little hen who decided she didn't like being segregated from my rooster collection (who are in jail - the pen), and cleared a 7 foot fence to get in, and one flew across a 40 foot pool and 8 feet up onto the roof.

If they can't perch on it, 3-4 feet should be high enough - depends on how determined they are. A couple of birds should be okay in an established garden and keep down the bugs and weeds, but a herd will likely do more damage than good.