Digging up my shrubs and plants

[TexasTink]

I have 20 Red Star hens and two roosters. They free range on my seven ac. Around my house I have plants, bushes and shrubs. Is there a way to keep them from digging and dusting around them. I don't want to put up chicken wire because it won't look very good.

 

[Dawn419]

You could stake chicken wire on the ground, directly around the plants you want to protect...just a thought. I've also read were people use rocks, paving stones or logs to protect plants from their digging chickens.

Hope this is some help!

Dawn

Edited to add: Welcome to BYC!

 

[CoyoteMagic]

Rocks never did me any good unless they were the size of a small car.

The only thing that has worked so far is heavy duty 1 inch chicken wire. staked down with landscape staples every foot then covered with rocks or mulch.

 

[bills]

How about putting up a nice little picket fence around the gardens, or even around the house. It looks better than chicken wire.

When I was in Alberta, I noticed many of the farms and ranches had picket fences around the entire house, just so they could have a nice garden and yard area, kept restricted from the farm animals. They looked quite nice. I imagine this would stop your yard from having poops all over as well.

 

[CoyoteMagic]

I'm going to do that with my veggie garden. I hope to some day have enough money to fence the entire back yard and just let the chickens run free back their instead of their large run.

 

[TexasTink]

Thanks for the Ideas, I going to go with the chicken wire on the ground aroud the plants. I think they will jump over the fence. Tink