Keeping chickens out of vegetable garden... pics of current set up included

[Panhandler80]

So, I built these about five years ago, and they were elevated on 4x4s so that the top of soil was about waste heigh. Chickens never flew up there. Well, some things started to rot, a lot of 1 year old mushroom compost was in there, and I figured the easiest thing to do was to just remove the outer boards top to bottom and slowly let dirt fall and leave them on ground.

They are 18" high, and I figured chickens would leave them alone. NOPE! Came home yesterday to several in the beds pecking away. There is a lot of exposed dirt, which I know chickens love. The first picture is how they started. Never had a problem, but I don't think the chickens could SEE the plants.

1. You think once the garden comes in and the dirt is covered they'll find it less appealing?

2. How much higher with a barrier do you think I need to go? Obviously the plants need sunlight, so it'll need to be chicen wire, or some type of fencing. I don't want to go so high that it makes tending overly difficult, but I do want to go high enough the FIRST time to solve the problem. Maybe another 18 inches?

3. If I go another 18, the height of the fencing / wire will be the same as before, but it's not solid material like before. Meaning, they'll be able to see what's in there. you think 18" will work, or with the visible plants now (as opposed to prior set up) encourage them to fly in even though it's same height as before?

Thanks. They free range most every afternoon, and I'd like to continue doing so. Really thought the current set up woudl be enough of a deterent, but I guess not.

 

[CherishedFowlGuardian]

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09H5G3CC8?ref_=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_dp_FZ3TRHSFHN0PWV7RK0AG

 

[Panhandler80]

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09H5G3CC8?ref_=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_dp_FZ3TRHSFHN0PWV7RK0AG

Hahaha. Well that's just too easy, and at $140 each, a bargain compared to what I did. Oh well... I've got the wood ones in place and planted now. Just need to keep chickens out.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Hahaha. Well that's just too easy, and at $140 each, a bargain compared to what I did. Oh well... I've got the wood ones in place and planted now. Just need to keep chickens out.

I just opened that link and it looks like $79 ea.?

 

[Panhandler80]

I just opened that link and it looks like $79 ea.?

Not for 8' x 4' x 2'

 

[Ridgerunner]

I like the set-up, high enough so it's not hard on your back to bend over and you have irrigation.

1. You think once the garden comes in and the dirt is covered they'll find it less appealing?

I don't give guarantees as far as chicken behaviors but I don't think so. I think it would be a good place to hide a nest.

2. How much higher with a barrier do you think I need to go? Obviously the plants need sunlight, so it'll need to be chicen wire, or some type of fencing. I don't want to go so high that it makes tending overly difficult, but I do want to go high enough the FIRST time to solve the problem. Maybe another 18 inches?
3. If I go another 18, the height of the fencing / wire will be the same as before, but it's not solid material like before. Meaning, they'll be able to see what's in there. you think 18" will work, or with the visible plants now (as opposed to prior set up) encourage them to fly in even though it's same height as before?

Chickens tend to land on top of a wall or fence and can hop down on either side. But if the top of that wall or fence does not look like a good place to land they generally don't fly up there or fly over it. Don't make your vertical supports sturdy enough that they think they can land on them. I think there is a reasonable chance if you build a mesh wire fence around those 18" high and they will not fly up there but I sure can't give any guarantees. When your veggies fill in solid will it still keep then out? I don't know.

Will you snag your clothes or skin on the wire fencing? Any sharp edges?

I'd consider using something like T-posts and netting or wire mesh to build a wall around that, including a human gate of course. 48" high should work as long as they don't have anything to land on. Don't do individuals, just one pen. Grass and weeds will grow up in that fence so I'd make the netting or wire removable so you can take it down every month or so to mow and weed eat that area. It will grow up.

That's kind of the approach I took but that was an electric fence to keep my dogs out. My beds were lower down and one dog especially loved to dig in them.

 

[Panhandler80]

I like the set-up, high enough so it's not hard on your back to bend over and you have irrigation.


I don't give guarantees as far as chicken behaviors but I don't think so. I think it would be a good place to hide a nest.


Chickens tend to land on top of a wall or fence and can hop down on either side. But if the top of that wall or fence does not look like a good place to land they generally don't fly up there or fly over it. Don't make your vertical supports sturdy enough that they think they can land on them. I think there is a reasonable chance if you build a mesh wire fence around those 18" high and they will not fly up there but I sure can't give any guarantees. When your veggies fill in solid will it still keep then out? I don't know.

Will you snag your clothes or skin on the wire fencing? Any sharp edges?

I'd consider using something like T-posts and netting or wire mesh to build a wall around that, including a human gate of course. 48" high should work as long as they don't have anything to land on. Don't do individuals, just one pen. Grass and weeds will grow up in that fence so I'd make the netting or wire removable so you can take it down every month or so to mow and weed eat that area. It will grow up.

That's kind of the approach I took but that was an electric fence to keep my dogs out. My beds were lower down and one dog especially loved to dig in them.

Thanks. Good point on not having an attractive landing spot. I really don't want one pen around all four. Would make mowing a real pain. I was just going to use six uprights per planter, and then wrap them in likely chicken wire. Se the "red" in the picture.

They wouldn't think to land on that, and it's not really visible. Heck they may even fly into once or twice and grow irritated with prospect. I'd like to have this extended height as tall as possible, while still easy to tend to garden. Another 18" would have the top of the wire at about 3 feet off the ground. Something like this is what i had in mind. I guess worst case scenario, I do this, and then could drape some garden netinng over the top. Not wild about that when it comes to tomatos / climbing beans, etc, though. The old design (when they were off the ground) NEVER had an issue with the chickens. I just know that if the solution gets to be difficult / a pain / not fun to tend to garden, it'll wind up never being messed with, and I JUST planted it.

 

[Altairsky]

uhhh as a farmer, elevated things that make a vegetable garden impossible to demolish with a tiller give me immense heart ache.
Anyway, my chickens can fly up to 6 feet so that's the height my fencing has to be. Not practical at all with that sort of setup.

 

[Panhandler80]

uhhh as a farmer, elevated things that make a vegetable garden impossible to demolish with a tiller give me immense heart ache.
Anyway, my chickens can fly up to 6 feet so that's the height my fencing has to be. Not practical at all with that sort of setup.

These chickens have never been big flyers. When they were elevated I never had a problem. Now that the surface of the beds are only 18" off the ground, they're just hopping in. I'm HOPING that when I put the additional 18" of wire around the perimiter of each individual unit, it will solve the problem. Each one is a small space (8 x 4) so they can't really "fly" and "land" into it. Seems like they'd want to perch on the fence, and then hop in. That being said, it doesn't SEEM like they'd want to perch on the edge of chicken wire.

We'll see. I've got plenty of other design ideas that would 100% work, but they all get a bit complicated... which i really don't feel like tackling.

 

[Mrs. K]

Chicken wire is fairly plyable. So I would have a permanent post in each corner of the box. The I would securely fasten it to each post on the short end, then on the opposite far corner, I would put a permanent post, and attach the chicken wire to a dowel. The dowel can be latched to the permanent post, but unlatch and pulled back so that you can work in the garden like a gate.

So if you have a rectangle ABCD. AB and CD are the short ends. Cut two pieces of chicken wire the length of ABC + a bit more. (this is starting to sound like a math problem) Attach securely to AB, and put a dowel or free post at the end that could be attached to C. Do the same thing on the other short end, and put the gate the opposite direction.

This way you can make it taller, still get into your garden, and keep them out. They truly will destroy a whole garden in less time that it takes for me to say to my mother, "Oh my, the chickens are in the garden!" and hang up the phone.

MRs K