free range and the ornamental garden

[jsmith2952]

Hi all,

I have 3 young chickens and would like to have them free range in my backyard. However, I am also an avid gardner and love my ornamental gardens. I've done lots of reading about making the two compatible, but I can't seem to find a clear answer on just how much damage 3 chickens can do. I only plan on letting them free range for an hour or so a day, when my family and I are around. My gardens are fairly mature (no newly planted seedlings), and my veggies are in raised beds on my decks (which are off-limits to the birds, although they seemed to have missed that memo!). My backyard is smallish (40x120 ft) and it's pretty much half garden, half lawn. Will an hour a day total my garden? Should I focus on expanding the run and keeping them more contained? I've let them out a few times and haven't noticed any damage, but I'm worried that they're just sort of poking around right now, checking the place out, and eventually they'll ravage my gardens like a bunch of locusts!

thanks so much for any advice you can offer!

 

[TulsaChick]

Best of luck to you. Most people tell me my back yard looks like a park. Well the 7wk olds threw dirt ALL over the paver patio, dig up my Swiss chard, pooped all over the Windsor stones and side table. Oh ya they smell like rosemary, onions and tomato plant. They even removed the soil from the base of my potato plants, exposing to potatoes, which exposes them to the sun. Meaning we can't eat them. All my beds are raised. I got tired of chasing them out with a broom and back in the coup they went. And that was just a few hours of work for them. Then I used the broom. To clean up their mess. I really like the way my yard looks and don't want to fence my beds.

 

[aart]

I would suggest that you have an adequate run and just let them out for a couple hours a day under supervision to protect your plants, see how it goes. As they get bigger they will be more capable of destruction, eating plants and scratching at up roots. Good Luck!

 

[WickeeChickee]

I've had to put chicken wire around my raised veg garden to keep them out, and my garden is already raised 3 ft. They were eating the blossoms off my squash, cucumbers, and tomatoes, and sampling the leaves on my beans and peas. They also ate my dill down to the stalk, although they seem to eschew most other herbs. As far as ornamental goes, they ate all the flowers my husband put down in one afternoon. He was not happy. They sampled the leaves of his banana plant, ate his butterfly bush, and scratched up his irises. They now spend their days in their lovely, shady run, unless we are out to supervise them. We have 8 young chickens, and a 60x120 ft backyard. Whee! Love my chickens!

 

[donrae]

It's a two fold attack. They eat plants and fruits, then they also scratch around in the dirt. Any mulch is history, scattered all over the place. Tender shoots are devoured. Poop is in unwanted places. Dust baths are made, leaving holes in the dirt all over the place.

You can always try it and see how things go. I will say the instinct to scratch is very, very strong. Plus, that's why the birds are allowed to range, to find food, right? You just won't like how they find it.

You might want to build a tractor and move them around the lawn, that may be more suited to your yard.

 

[jsmith2952]

@donrae: if i were to build a tractor for them, how do I get them in it from their run? I feel like an idiot trying to corral them every night--although I'm sure they think I look pretty hilarious...

thanks all for the info--it seems nothing is safe--roots, veg, or otherwise. I guess I'll have to figure out as I go. For some reason, i figured butterfly bush, irises, and other non-edibles would be boring to them...ugh. Extended run and very supervised outings it is, for now, then!

thanks again everyone! so great to be able to come on here and get answers for all my questions!

jen

 

[donrae]

Guess I was thinking of something you could put at the coop or run door and just push them into the run, or catch them if you're into catching birds (I'm not, I pretty much never touch mine).

Yeah, you'd think the non-edibles would be okay, it's the scratching that does those things in. Makes the hens happy, though!

 

[dpuleo]

I

Hi all, 

I have 3 young chickens and would like to have them free range in my backyard.  However, I am also an avid gardner and love my ornamental gardens.  I've done lots of reading about making the two compatible, but I can't seem to find a clear answer on just how much damage 3 chickens can do.  I only plan on letting them free range for an hour or so a day, when my family and I are around.  My gardens are fairly mature (no newly planted seedlings), and my veggies are in raised beds on my decks (which are off-limits to the birds, although they seemed to have missed that memo!).  My backyard is smallish (40x120 ft) and it's pretty much half garden, half lawn.  Will an hour a day total my garden?  Should I focus on expanding the run and keeping them more contained?  I've let them out a few times and haven't noticed any damage, but I'm worried that they're just sort of poking around right now, checking the place out, and eventually they'll ravage my gardens like a bunch of locusts!

thanks so much for any advice you can offer! 

I would make a bigger run! I had a beautiful backyard! Had- I let my 2 BR's out just a little a day and before I knew it dust bath bowls made, plants got scratched up even after I put rocks around the bottom and poop everywhere. They do it so quickly. We are building a large area on a hill that we did not use and moving the coop inside it. I love my chickens but. I miss my flowers and no poop yard!

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

I always judge peoples' chicken knowledge by what they say about chickens and gardens. Over the weekend, I saw an article by P. Allen Smith that said something like "chickens and gardens go great together. The chickens on my farm eat the weeds and bugs and leave great organic fertilizer." Bwa ha ha ha ha! This is a man who might own chickens, but clearly has other people to take care of them--like Martha Stewart. And there's NO WAY that his chickens roam that perfect garden.

As others have said, chickens are the garden destroyers. Nothing is safe. My favorite thing is going to pick a tomato, and finding out that they've been pecking it from the bottom and have hollowed it out like a ball, just leaving the skin, so it squishes all over your hand when you grab it. And irises! They will dig those right out of the ground, and peck holes in the rhizomes.

My Dad has a dairy farm. There are literally hundreds of acres of alfalfa and corn and soybeans. There are mows of hay and straw. There are puddles and places to dust bathe. There is a commodity shed filled with open bins of corn and soybeans and other tasty treats. the chicken house is overhung by a grapevine that drops grapes in summer. Add to that, there are very few predators because humans are moving on the property 24/7. The chickens took full advantage of all that. Now, you'd think chickens living in this slice of poultry Heaven would be content, yes? NO. The chickens dug every single plant out of the bed under the tree. They ATE the basil and the thyme. They trampled and destroyed the young tomato plants. All Dad's chickens now live at my house behind a fence.

I think you need a good fence. A pretty fence. A fence that touches the ground so that chickens can't slide under it (and they will sure try).

 

[jsmith2952]

@walkingonsunshine. That's HILARIOUS! and frustrating, of course!

I have to admit, I had those Country Living inspired daydreams of roaming chickens in my adorable garden: a continuous photo-op, while I smile on like a proud parent...guess that's not going to happen. A larger run it is, then.

Thanks again everyone, for your help!