Free rangers vs Crape Myrtle beds

[RenoHuskerDu]

Howdy. My wife is upset. Our free rangers insist on going all the way around the house from their coop and scratching up the beds under her Crape Myrtle bush/trees. It got so bad that I could see little roots, so I filled the plant beds up with field and oak compost that accumulates on downhill fence lines during heavy rains (Texans will know).

Well, the little monsters...uh, darlings are at it again. They go scratching at the decomposing oak twigs and field detritus compost most every day. I don't believe that there in insects in there, especially in this cold.

Has anybody found a deterrent to spread or spray around landscaping where you don't want chickens to scratch?

 

[sourland]

In my experience the only sure deterrent is fencing.

 

[Mrs. K]

fence - once they find a favorite spot, dang difficult to keep them away from it, and soon it will be your neighbors.

 

[staceyj]

Surely you jest!



Actually, roots being close to the surface with crepe myrtles is typical of the species. But have you ever had to dig one out?

Lordie. Those chickens aren’t going to kill it unless it’s a tiny bush. The roots down below are massive.

Yup. As the other posters have stated, once they find a favorite place, wild horses can’t drag them away.
Only fencing will work as a long time solution. So sorry.

 

[RenoHuskerDu]

We have unusual soil here in the Hill Country. We have 6-18" of decent soil (actually rare in our area) but underneath that is limestone the locals call Caliche. It's very hard, so tree roots tend to kinda stop there. Instead they go out. After years and years they get a tap root down into the Caliche so they can survive dry summers. fyi

 

[lissalischicks]

I have the same problem. they have ruined our garden. I find the only thing is putting hardware cloth down and we have extra firewood so we cover the root area with firewood.

 

[OhZark Biddies]

I’ve seen folks use mesh similar to what is described in this link:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/blog.m...-your-chickens-from-scattering-the-mulch/amp/

 

[aart]

Fence 'em in or fence 'em out!