how do you keep free range birds out of your garden???

[crazypoultrychx]

I have turkeys and peahen and peacock.....this is the first year I have had them on my farm....however we also have a LARGE garden.......so I brought home a few plants today and got them out and was getting ready to pot them to give them a boost before putting them in my garden.....went inside to use the restroom came out and they had eaten all my Swiss chard....started on my strawberries and my lemon balm.....I WAS PO'd......so then I thought......OMG.......what am I going to do with my birds vs my garden!!!!! Hubby says time to pen them.....(i am opposed to that).....then he said time to get rid of them......(I AM REALLY OPPOSED TO THAT TOO)......so what do you do....?

It would cost me a fortune to fence it in....not to mention it its RIGHT in front of my house and that would look ridiculous......I thought about netting but have never used it and considering it comes in 14x14 or 14x7 ft lengths that is gonna cost me an arm and a leg......not to mention the peafowl fly 75 ft in the air to roost at night so I don't want to clip their wings.......but is that the only solution....

 

[Judy]

I don't know of any way to keep them out other than fencing them out.

 

[bobbi-j]

I don't know of any way to keep them out other than fencing them out.

Agreed - you're either going to have to fence them in or fence them out.

 

[ChickenLegs13]

You can get a 100' x 7' roll of deer/bird netting at Lowes or HD for $15 and either build a fence with it or drape it on a string over your plants.

 

[donrae]

I only see 3 choices--ditch the birds, ditch the garden, or fence. I don't think there's any magical, free solution here.

 

[TheChickInn]

We let our chickens free-range when the weather is nice. I ended up fencing off a section of our garden ( tomatoes, strawberries, and most of the "leafy green" crops. I don't mind if they wander about the corn and potatoes. It is a pain to fence in a garden, but I got sick of getting the "leftovers".