Garden beside chicken run?

[Meghalu]

Hey folks, quick question for you. I recently converted a portion of my garden into a chicken run. I'm about to plant in the remaining garden space but am now left wondering if there are any concerns having the run right beside the garden as far as possible contamination goes. I suppose I could put in a buffer zone of pretty flowers between the run and my veggies if I had to. If such a buffer zone is advisable, how wide should it be?

The coop and garden are in a raised bed, the garden is on the right hand side. the run and garden are separated by stacked ties (same as rest of bed is constructed from). I have 5 chickens, so it's not like a major farm operation going on.
Thanks in advance for any advice you can share!

 

[bryan99705]

A lot of us let out birds into the garden to chase bugs and weed. A coop next to the garden is not a issue, your birds don't generate enough poo to do anything but help fertilize.

PS If you set up a small compost pile that the birds can get to, they will mix it for you, keep the bugs down, and it makes it easy to dispose of poo, old feed etc when you clean the coop. Just remember to put sides on it so the can't spread it all over the yard.

 

[Meghalu]

Thanks for the reassurance and the compost tip Bryan! I'll be sure to try that.

 

[Tovah]

We are building a coop and run next to our 3 planter boxes. I hear from others it is really not an issue. BTW, love your coop and run.
And thanks Bryan for the compost idea. I think we will do the same in our yard. Do you have any pictures of how you built sides on the pile?

 

[deanawo]

My run is next to our garden. I love it b/c when we weed etc i have a happy audience waiting for them. My plan is to put up some temporary netting or something after the garden is done for the year and let the girls clean it off and turn it for me.

 

[Kudzu]

Very nice coop and run.

 

[darkmatter]

My Chicken Run and Garden share a fence. I have a "chicken door" into the garden that I open in the fall when I'm done with the garden. The chickens spend the whole fall and winter gleaning/tilling/weeding/fertilizing my garden. In the spring all the garden requires is a light tilling to smooth out the soil and plant----it's weed free and fertilized.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
I wouldn't worry about it if it were me, other than trying to avoid planting lettuce or other low-growing aboveground crops right smack against the run fence, and perhaps trying to use that area for things that *like* extra nitrogen to some degree.

Have you got a secure digproofing barrier there though? (The two sides that are *not* against landscape ties or the sandbox-lookin' thing, I mean). Remember that garden soil is even easier and more inviting for critters to dig thru than lawn is. In this particular situation, if you don't want to sacrifice 2' width of space alongside the run to do an apron -- alhtough I suppose you could "maybe" do an apron with a coupla smallish holes cut in it for planting thru?? -- then you may ought to bury some vertical wire mesh down to 18" deep. Unless you've made other arrangements already, and maybe you have

Don't trust that chickenwire against raccoons, which I would think you ahve but am not sure, or small weasels which you almost certainly have.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[Meghalu]

Quote:
I wouldn't worry about it if it were me, other than trying to avoid planting lettuce or other low-growing aboveground crops right smack against the run fence, and perhaps trying to use that area for things that *like* extra nitrogen to some degree.

Have you got a secure digproofing barrier there though? (The two sides that are *not* against landscape ties or the sandbox-lookin' thing, I mean). Remember that garden soil is even easier and more inviting for critters to dig thru than lawn is. In this particular situation, if you don't want to sacrifice 2' width of space alongside the run to do an apron -- alhtough I suppose you could "maybe" do an apron with a coupla smallish holes cut in it for planting thru?? -- then you may ought to bury some vertical wire mesh down to 18" deep. Unless you've made other arrangements already, and maybe you have

Don't trust that chickenwire against raccoons, which I would think you ahve but am not sure, or small weasels which you almost certainly have.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

The run is completely bordered by non-diggable material. The back is a rock wall, the left side is a concrete slab, and the front and right side are the landscape ties. And we don't have raccoons here, which is why I felt okay about the poultry netting. Now, I hadn't thought about weasels. Not sure if we have them. I have a cat who is a merciless killer of all sorts of critters, and have never seen her bring home anything like that. She is on the prowl at night, and our 2 border terriers and our lab x are out during the day. We live in town and the natural habitat of the area is desert. Coyotes and rattle snakes are the main predators here. Our yard is fenced so no worries with the coyotes, and the snakes don't like our yard because it is well shaded and well watered.

I hadn't thought of letting them in the garden in the fall, but what a brilliant idea! I hate the fall clean-up, and this will simplify it so much! I'm really excited about that now!

 

[storeman]

My coop is also next to my garden. I have had no problems with this set up. There are two things that I really like about the set up: 1- every time I weed my garden my chickens get some fresh greens.2-any passing bug that happens to wander from one side of the garden to the next must pass through the run and I don't have to tell you that chickens and bugs don't mix.