Flowerbeds! I give up.

[mangled]

I've decided I'm going to give up on flowerbeds. The chickens just destroy them. I'm just so frustrated.

I dug a ton of perennials this morning at my Aunts and brought them home. Got it all tilled, got them all planted and went down the driveway to get some mulch from our big pile. I was gone about 15 minutes.

Come back up the driveway to find the entire flock dustbathing in my freshly planted bed. It's destroyed and out of the 9 plants I put in, 2 were salvageable.

Does anyone have a method of keeping them out that doesn't include fencing? I really don't want to fence.

Thanks in advance-
Em

 

[BarnChick]

thats the only way, but can you just fence around the garden and not around the girls.

 

[Fritatta]

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but think of the FUN they had!

 

[Mgui35]

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The funny thing is that I enjoy the chickens and their antics more than I do my WIFES flowers. She sure gets frustrated with the chickens and their affinity for her flowers and flower beds. On the flip side of the coin they wiped out my blueberry bushes. I will have to pick a better spot to plant them. The most relaxing part of the day is when Im sittin out back in my rocking chair watching the chickens.

 

[DaughterOfEve]

I use a motion sensor sprinkler called the CROW, available in major online stores. I turn it on until beds are established. It also keeps them out of the veggie garden. It costs about 40 bucks. I have had mine for 6 or 7 years.

 

[nancypo]

Ditto on my flower beds. I finallt fenced in my veggie beds for free ranging. When I can supervise I let them out. I taught my hens "get out of there" means move out of the beds, or I throw something lightweight near them. Works really well...

 

[BlueBetween]

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Oh, that sounds amazing!

 

[Backyard Barb]

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We have one too. We use it to keep the chickens off the lawn. Occasionally we turn the scarecrow off and let the chickens do some mowing of the grass. Then we turn it back on. The girls have learned to recognize when I plug the thing in. Its useful since we let the chickens free range over all 6000 sqft of the yard.

Its carried at OSH too. I think Petco & Kmart may carry it.

http://compare.ebay.com/like/330408939587?var=lv&ltyp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar&_lwgsi=y

 

[featherbaby]

A friend of mine put down a piece of hardware cloth over the ground where she'd planted flowers. When they sprouted she put it up on 4 bricks to keep it just a couple of inches off the ground and the flowers grew up through it. The chickens couldn't get to the fresh dirt, and couldn't get under the wire either. I suppose she could have taken it off completely when the plants got established, but she left it and it didn't hurt a thing.

 

[gordonburrito]

Love the sprinkler idea. We might have to use it in our vegetable garden. We've had more luck with bigger plants than smaller. The other thing is that there are certain plants that our chickens just don't mess with (mostly native prairie type species). If the weather cooperates, I can go through my yard and do a short video showing how certain species "stood up to chicken abuse".