Keeping the chicks out of gardens?

[Celia]

The chickens love to roam the property and have the run of the place in the afternoons.....so how do I keep them out of the gardens?

Spring will soon be here and I'd like to do something to keep chickens out of the gardens, but still let them roam.

I thought about putting a solar electric fence up around the garden areas???

 

[meezermom]

Do you mean landscaping or a veggie garden?

I have both - right now my hens are in both, but the chx wire is going up around the veggies next week because of the rhubarb & strawberries.

And I have a back yard/hot tub area/ herb garden area that is hen-free & we used plain old wooden fence there.

I've heard that hot wire doesn't work real good with hens, but don't know from experience.

You might consider an x pen (dog breeders excercise pen) to use for containment as it is easily moved around the yard - or a chicken tractor!

Good luck!!!

 

[eaganchickens]

regular chicken wire fence!!

 

[Celia]

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That was like a major DUH!!!! (Honestly, I'm not blonde!)

 

[Celia]

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Yes, both. I'd welcome the chickens to tear out my "landscaping" but my Mom gets a bit testy about her addition area!

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Thought about that, but I'd rather they roamed.

 

[tim_TX]

Well, then move the garden a mile down the road

 

[CMB]

The only way I have found that will work is chicken wire and clipping their wings. My girls can and have flown over a 6" high fence.

 

[addiedunn]

I have this same problem. I first got chickens last july so my garden was already established (both flowers and vegetables) so that when I let them free range they didn't do too much damage. In fact, they probably did more good than harm. But I can't trust them this spring with the seedlings. And, where chicken wire is standard issue on most farms, I want to try and keep my small back yard looking as nice as I can. I'm thinking about just letting them out of their pen for a few hours every evening once I start planting. I only have 6. That should keep the pests down and still fertilize a little and hopefully it can be done with minimal damage. As much as I like to watch them roam all over the yard, I love my gardens, too. I just can't decide what I'm going to do about it.

 

[swampwander]

I have 4 foot fencing around the veggie garden. keeps the BO's out but the OEG's just laugh and fly over. But, the OEG's do minor damage compared to the BO's major earthworks. For other beds, my biggest problem was with digging. Can't call it scratching because they dug major holes. I laid down cheap wire fence and planted in the openings or worked the wire around bases of plants. I then covered it with mulch. Allows for some scratching, but no digging up of my plants. Of course, the plants in these beds are plants the chickens won't eat such as mint, onions, blueberry bushes (the fruit is another task), hot peppers and various ornamental shrubs. If you have plants that they like to eat and they're not protected, they're toast.

 

[Appytaz]

I am interested in this post also. I just started trying to do the garden thing this weekend. Started the seeds in the house and I figured I would have a few weeks to decide how to "Chicken Proof" the garden area.