Ideas for keeping chickens out of garden?

[NHchicks]

I'm starting raised veggie beds this summer and I'm thinking they'll probably look like the perfect bathtub to the chickens. I'm thinking some kind of border fence around the beds - posts with chicken wire nailed to them all the way around? Are there any other ideas?

 

[lleighmay]

You can use t-posts with any kind of fencing (chicken wire, dog wire, wooden snow fencing, whatever is cheapest). A friend of mine even got away with using that orange plastic erosion fencing- it wasn't the most attractive but it did keep the birds out of the garden. If it were me I would avoid using a horizontal board across the top- I think it would look like the perfect landing spot to take a break before flying down into the garden. Whatever you use make sure you leave some border inside between the fence and beds or the chickens will weedeat everything they can reach through the fence!

 

[Ridgerunner]

That's basically what I did, but I used heavier wire. I needed to keep chickens and dogs out. My dogs love to get in there and dig it out.

 

[LadyinRed]

Our TSC sells plastic green deer netting that I thought about putting around ours if the girls try to go in it. Might could look for that stuff and put it up with T posts? Its not too ugly to look at either.

 

[NHchicks]

Yup - t-posts and whatever's cheapest.

Lowe's has this black hardware cloth, 36 inches x 25 feet for only $9. That sounds pretty cheap!

http://www.lowes.com/pd_43973-16418...&pl=1&currentURL=/pl__0__s?Ntt=hardware+cloth

 

[CoyoteMagic]

You are going to need higher than 36 inches. Think fully enclosed dog run with 6ft high panels and roof!!

Oh and don't forget the barb wire and electricity!!




























Can you tell I have chickens who have eaten an entire garden in an afternoon??!

TWICE!!!

 

[NHchicks]

Really, CoyoteMagic? How did they hop a 36" fence?

 

[cobrien]

I have mostly heavy breeds who can and have flown over a 36" fence, but a 4' fence stops them. Most of my fence is 6' tall but there are some 4' sections. Lighter breeds like bantams can get over a much higher fence. I'd go with at least 4' but you might need even taller. or maybe 3' is enough for yours, it could be possible.

I now have fences around so much of my plantings that I'm planning on switching over to a large pasture pen / chicken tractor for daytime grazing and taking my fences down. I'll confine the chickens instead of my plants. Until then I have 4' fences (plastic mesh is fine) around everything.

I have made some cheapo garden gates by getting bamboo trimmings from neighbors' yards and attaching it as framing (bamboo attached along the perimeter with an x through the middle) to a large section of fencing with cable ties. It has held up for 2 years now and counting. I attach the gates to the t posts with bungee cords.

is all this worth the trouble to have chickens and a garden? YES!!!
good luck.

 

[NHchicks]

Wow. I thought the one thing Chicken Run taught us was that chickens couldn't fly.

Okay then, 4' it is.

(Funny that you're taking all your fencing down and instead fencing the birds in. And here we were just discussing putting a border of some kind around our walkway so the chickens don't perch on our steps and poop it all up. We'll probably end up with fencing around everything here except chickens.

)

 

[CoyoteMagic]

I had a RIR that we named Houdini for the fact that she could get out of any fenced area we put her in except for the dog kennel with a roof! Worse part about it wasn't when she taught the red sexies how to do it, but that she would broadcast it to the entire neighborhood everytime she did it!!