Keeping Them Out Of The Mulch Beds??

[backwoodbrigade]

So i started my flock this year, 13 hens and a rooster.. I couldn't be more happy. .they're SOOO happy, healthy, and SOOO SPOILED!!! anyway. .they free range around the yard, (over an acre) and i just built/made flower beds all around the house. . i put down mulch and it looks great. .HOWEVER, they get in the beds and scratch the hell out of them, throwing the mulch all into the grass. .how do i keep them out of the mulch beds? any advice??

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

Fence the beds.

I haven't found any other way. If they can get to the mulch they will happily scratch it all around. It's just what they do. They'll do the same thing to seedlings.

 

[NonnasBabies]

Good luck finding a way to keep them out!! I've haven't found a way yet except keeping them in there run!!

 

[backwoodbrigade]

are there any flowers they don't like? i've heard deer don't like marigolds . . any thoughts?

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

They'll scratch up pretty much anything. It's the dirt and dust bathing that interests them. Mine don't really eat anything. They just dig it up.

 

[CarolJ]

Good luck! There's no way I can fence my rose bed - and they LOVE scratching around and dustbathing in the mulch and dirt. So I just sweep/rake it all back when they're finished - and hope they don't kill the rose bushes. One benefit - no problems with insects on the roses.

 

[southerndesert]

They will eat marigolds and it really makes the egg yokes pretty... Seriously mulch is big time fun to scratch for bugs in and they will even fly over a low fence to get to it.

 

[RedDrgn]

Chicken wire fence or nothing. Our chickens LOVE mulch, and why not? When they scratch it, they stir up tons of crickets, spiders, and worms. They don't care how it looks, so to them it's just a buffet. XD

If we stand over them and shoosh them away, they stay out of it (reluctantly), but otherwise they have no boundaries when it comes to landscaping.

 

[geekgurl]

You might not be successful in keeping them out of your mulched beds, but maybe distract them to a different area. Perhaps a large compost pile near a sand bath and some shady shrubbery with mulch?

 

[Schroeder]

Use landscape fabric covered with large diameter gravel instead of mulch. I prefer the look of mulch actually, but I didn't want fencing, so I resorted to the gravel. It comes in many colors.