Gardening and Chickens

[WalkingOnSunshine]

I don't think you can have a garden, or even a flower bed, with chickens in it. Last year we lost a heck of a lot more produce to hens than to bugs. The chickens would stand around a tomato plant and peck at all the tomatoes until each tomato had at least one hole in it. They flew up into the air to peck at apples. They roosted on the cucumber trellis and pooped all over the cukes They ate through sweet corn while it was still on the stalk. They decimated lettuces. And what they didn't eat, they scratched up. We just finished our pasture fence.

We don't have a gate up yet, though. They've already destroyed my early pea crop and scratched in my flower beds enough to kill my daffodils and other bulbs.

The idyllic scene of you working in your garden with your chickens just isn't going to work, based on my experience. Either fence in the chickens or put a fence around the garden.

 

[granmahen]

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I agree. I lost the two tomatoes I was waiting to plant to my banty when I wasn't looking. Basically I plan on waiting until crops mature a lot before letting the girls in. Until then they can have at the flower gardens. I love the way they turn the soil over for me.

 

[Fowler]

Save yourself some headaches and heartaches…fence your garden. I set out kale, cabbage, brussel sprouts, swiss chard, lettuce, broccoli and onions and in two day the chickens and rabbits destroyed everything but the onions. I think the @#%# starlings even got in the destruction. I had nurtured those dang plants for a month raising them from seed.

Have you priced vegetable plants this season?

Wow.

 

[dospuercos]

I planted a huge garden last year & got little to nothing out of it. The chickens at every last tomato off of about 20 plants. This year we are going with the fenced garden. I will mention one funny thing my mom said though. After complaining about my chickens & how every time I went out to plant or weed the chickens would be right there helping scratch up everything in sight, she said, "Remember how the old farmer wives used to wear their aprons with the large pockets? The pockets were probably stuffed with seeds & corn to throw to the chickens so that they would stay out of the garden where she was busy weeding & planting." I don't know that this would work either, but at least it made me smile.

 

[Iceblink]

Here is my half serious plan for gardening with chickens.....

1) Go over to the Buy/Sell/Trade forum and buy chicken saddles from Moodene. She can make saddles with a D ring on the back.

2) Put the saddles on the chickens and attach very light weight 10 ft. leashes to them.

3) Tie the leashes to places in your garden that you want the chickens in. Be sure they are far enough away from each other that they can't get tangled.

4) Do not leave them alone.

Voila! Garden helpers!

 

[mrsengeseth]

I have two of my girls weeding a specific spot right now. i have one of those heavy wire dog crates. Not the plastic kind, the metal wire kind. I put that down over the area I want weeded and they weed away all day long. Next day two other girls get to weed for me. At night or when it gets cooler in the afternoon, they go back to their coop and run. What my plan is for when the actual plants go into the garden is to net over my plant beds so they can't get in there while i am letting them weed.

 

[vermontgal]

I like the dog crate idea! That is very good thinking.

 

[kees]

My first attempt at gardening with the chickens wasn't very successful.

The chickens would wait until each tomato was ripe and then take a bite and leave the rest of the tomato. They sat on my strawberry plants. The chickens loved the garden and I learned that I needed to use fencing if I wanted to harvest anything for myself!

Suzy

 

[kees]

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lol...me too!

Suzy

 

[kees]

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Wow! What a neat idea! I have to try that!

Suzy