Gardening with chickens

[hangin'witthepeeps]

Okay, I'm not a good gardener. Growing up my family had a HUGE garden or two. I would pick all morning, wash, cut, cook, and can all afternoon in the summer time. So I've tried to grow over the years various things like tomatoes, cucumber, squash, peppers, lettus. Simple stuff, but I've never really accomplished any thing major. So this year we are going to do square foot gardening. I know I have to put up a fence or my chickens will demolish it. So how high do I need the fence to keep them out or other deterrents? Pictures would be nice, but that may be asking a bit much. Need ideas that look nice but aren't going to cost me more than my new coop. TIA, Melissa

 

[Camelot Farms]

Hi Melissa. We had to fence our garden in also thanks to the chickens...lol. Our plot is 40x60 on a 2 acre lot. Chickens free range all day.
I used a poultry netting fence help up with those metal 'stakes'. The fence is 4ft tall, I bought 5ft tall stakes and sunk them in the ground a foot.
It cost about 150.00 for all.

I would have gone with a 2 ft tall fence and saved a ton of money but Dh's buddy insisted that 'no 2ft tall fence is gonna keep a chicken out'. So, I shut up and let him buy the 4 ft fence...I am just the lowly wife...lol.

Because our chickens have 2 acres surrounded by a small crick and 100 acres of woods and brush, I think that would have looked at the 2 ft fence and said 'dang' and kept going. They wouldnt have gone to the effort to get into the garden with so many other tasty treats within a few steps.

So, our garden is safe a secure...lol

 

[Vega]

Are chickens scared of eagles or owls or other prey birds? The reason I ask is I know we put up an owl by our pond deck to keep the ducks off it and it kind of works. Do chickens have any prey animals that would keep them out of the garden or is a fence the only option?