Gardens and chickens... a match made in heaven, or not so much?

[halo]

Ooooh nooooo.....chickens will turn a beautiful green garden into a disaster area. I have my garden fenced off from them, and give them the rest of the 9 acres to free range, when they get turned loose. They are worse than a roto tiller in a garden, digging up plants in record time. Noooooooo

 

[StupidBird]

somewhere cruising the web, I saw someone who'd used tractors the width of their wide beds, and moved it around to clean up, kill down grass, or graze on things planted special just for the chickens, a sort of green manure crop with extra manure added. Those crazy birds eat every thing not fenced off.

 

[HEChicken]

I fence off the garden so the chooks can't eat my crops but they DO help with bug control. DH and I go out every evening with a flashlight and jar and pick off all the caterpillars we can find on the vegies. Next day the chooks get to eat them. Its a little bit of work but was very successful last year - we had successful crops with no added chemicals.

 

[mboreham1]

Agreed, my bantam mille fluer eats everything from about 12 inches from the ground up, if your plants are mature to survive that, have at it! I have some beautiful snap dragons that have totally bare stem until about 12 inches up!

Like others before me mentioned, great little tillers, just be careful though, worms are a gardeners good friend in the fall winter and early spring, your chickens will eat at least their body weight and about 3 times more of worms if they get a chance!

I am off this afternoon to buy some picket fence materials to make a run for them, i have fenced most of teh garden off but like the DW said why fence away the flowers if we cant sit and enjoy them. Plus this will prevent little piles of chicken manure just sitting there asking the resident beagle to roll in them, so picket fence that will me mobile and next year i will garden this years run!