let me roam the garden?

[captainmommy3]

my husband and i have a large veggie garden that is surrounded by 6 ft of wire fence we were thinking to let the chicken roam ot from time to time to eat bugs and such....i am not worried about losing a few veggies to the birds but i dont want an extreme loss so, is it a good idea to let them go in it or not? i will addd that it would be closee if we do not them them in so not a free choice to go in wheneve-r ...only when we allow and we can watch

 

[captainmommy3]

i wanted to add that we only have 3 chickens

 

[Lollipop]

Not a good idea. Chickens are real rough on gardens and landscape. Guineas would be excellent, if you just want bug eaters.........Pop

 

[Scaredstiff]

I'm actually planning on building a garden around my chickens. Giving them a few hours of supervised garden time doesn't sound like a bad idea, but do be careful to not leave them to long if you value your plants. Given the chance and no new area to forage chickens will completely demolish the vegetation in an area.

 

[HEChicken]

As others have said, chickens will be VERY hard on the garden - don't plan on getting much for yourself if you let them in. They'll eat stuff before it is ready to be picked. For example, I had some break in one time and eat green tomatoes I had been leaving to vine ripen

What I do is plant extra of things I want to feed them - kale, chard etc., - and every day when I'm in the garden, I pick a few leaves and throw them out to the chooks. That way they get the benefit of the fresh greens but it is under my control. I also go out morning and night and collect all the harmful bugs I can find in a cup, and then feed those to them.

 

[brlarson84]

It is also worth mentioning that chicken poo is extremely "hot" or high in nitrogen content and is great for mulch or when tilling the garden but can "burn" greens if left in direct contact.

 

[marty8587]

I let mine in in the off season, but I found out the hard way that they desimate
anything they like so once the spring crops are in they are locked out.