I had a problem with my chickens getinginto the narrow flower beds around the foundation, so I put out a row of one foot chicken wire about 6 inches from the foundation, lean in toward the house, worked like a charm,not pretty but will do the trick. You can stake it every 10 feet or so if necessare with sticks from your small trees.She's teaching my two new BOs her styrofoam pecking ways, unfortunately! They have a whole acre of things to peck, but clearly eating the house is more fun. At least it's just insulation foam and not structural or anything, I guess.
I thought about this, but would even hardware cloth be small enough mesh to keep them from just reaching through the holes and eating it anyway?