Hi. i have a problem when i let my chickens free range. i have rocks around my shrubery in front of the house. they like to scratch around in the rocks, sending them everywhere. is there anything i can sprinkle around to discourage this activity? i thought about chili pepper, but i haven't tried anything yet. perhaps, spraying for the bugs they are after, but didn't know if that would be harmful to them if they ate them. short of keeping them in their pen, i just don't know what to do. i have placed old screens over most of the area and this doesn't look very good. looks like jed clampetts place..... thanks:/
Quote:This is just one of the things we learn to deal with when we choose to have chickens. Please do not spray insecticide to kill the bugs,you end up killing beneficial insects and it can make your chickens ill or die. We have a bank beside our barn the girls just love to scratch and dig on to the point the barn was in peril of loosing it's floor. We simply laid fence wire down on the bank and let the grass and flowers grow up through it. The girls can still scratch and are happy but they cannot dig enough to cause problems now!
If you "free range" your birds in a smaller tract of land, ie, your backyard basically, they'll do this and more. It is what it is. A flock of chickens benefit greatly from a 5 acre parcel upon which to range. Unfortunately, not everyone has that much acreage upon which to loose them.
Its funny, I have a suburban yard and 4 birds. they scratch at the mulch etc... and send it all over the place and eat bugs and such. Whats funny is I actually enjoy watching them scratch and fling it all over even though I have to rake and sweep everyday. It is just what chickens do and I happen to find a lot of joy in it.
Why not just enjoy having the chickens. We have a few spots the chickens aren't allowed, so I just covered it with chicken wire and that stopped it. Yes they do make a mess for the tidy, but that's what chickens do. They're little 2 legged roto-tillers.
We live in the country and the chickens never venture into the landscaped portion of our yard. They're too busy attacking the mulch pile which is full of garden debris, leaves, horse and donkey poop, etc. They've made my job SO MUCH EASIER as they turn it all over, break it down, and spread it out so that I can use it without having to do a lot of work myself. They also help weed around the barn and have created a wonderful "raked" section all the way around the barns perimeter. I've seen folks with less property use the cheapest chicken wire fencing to protect their landscape. It can be done in a manner that's unobtrusive and effective.
I have over 300 acres...but mine prefer to scratch up my landscaping rock as well....either you put it back, lay some chicken wire on top of it, or leave it be...they ARE chickens...they do what they do!
