My chickens eat my garden, but I want to let them free range???

[zazouse]

I have used hot wires for years to keep my birds out of the garden and it has worked like a charm

 

[TayFray!]

ok thankyou! nice birds btw!!

 

[jasonm11]

TayFray! :

My chickens climb on my porch and poop, eat my garden and dust bathe in it, and they eat our vegetble garden, we cant fence the garden but I want to let me chickens free range! what do i do!

i have a 50x30' garden with a 24" high wire fence around the garden and I have 14 chickens and 5 turkeys running free range in my yard. Not one has gone over the fence to get in the garden. They routinly get in the trees and on top of the chain link fence but not on the wire fence. I think it may hve something to to with no top bar or railing for them to focus on. Hope this helps.​

 

[TayFray!]

thankyou!

 

[FlowerFarmer]

Quote:
I do the same.
When they are out earlier in the day I stay out with them and watch to make sure they dont desturb some of my flowers as well... as they love the flower beds. Im thinking when our garden expands this summer we'll have to put up a temp fence/barrier to keep the plants safe while we're unable to guard them ourselves. Part of me has come to terms that I may have to sacrifice a few things along the way to be able to let my chickens free range the yard.
This is why Im thankful for the large run off the coop we built... because I love having the chickens free range... but I also love my flowers and veggies and herbs!
Good luck!

 

[GAchick]

I saw something that I intend to buy, to try and keep my girls out of the garden. It's a motion detector sprinkler. Makes a loud clacking noise, and shoots out a stream of water. May need one for each side I need to protect. Maybe just one for the side they normally approach from... Worth a shot.

 

[ryan820]

Where do you live that you can get away with not fencing in your garden? Man I would love to not have to have a fence, but our wildlife would pick the garden clean the moment a single plant cell rises above the dirt. LOL

Chicken wire-- the kind most do NOT use on this forum to enclose a chicken run-- is perfect for blocking off an area without having it be visibly or physically annoying. We have this stuff dug into the dirt around our garden, with fencing above that that rises 7 feet plus (because of deer and their masterful jumping ability!). It's a small garden and looks silly but so is the thought of growing a garden for animals to eat and enjoy, and not me.

 

[2DogsFarm]

This year I am fencing in my small veggie garden w/4' high picket fence.
I read here that they don't like to perch on the sharp pickets so they won't fly into the garden over the fence.

Last year I used plastic netting around 3/4 of the garden (I ran out of netting) & it took my hens about 3 months to figure out there was a way in.
But then they made up for lost time!
They trashed the place, but after everything was gone they did a fine job of tilling in the old growth.

So this year I will keep them out until everything is harvested that they can harm, then let them in to do my work getting it ready for next year

 

[NormansGal44]

Last summer we were at Plimouth Plantation and they had put sticks all over the ground around their plants. They told me it was to keep the chickens from scratching the dirt and ruining the garden. I am going to give it a try...

I remember as a kid letting the chickens in my garden and they ate the first ripe cherry tomato! They were banned from there on out.

I do look forward to sharing tomato worms with them instead of throwing them into the road! LOL

 

[Barry Natchitoches]

I allowed just two chickens at a time to roam my vegetable garden some last summer after it was in full bloom and they could no longer eat a new plant down to the ground.


My garden is huge, and just two chickens at a time didn't do too much damage -- especially since I was feeding everybody an afternoon snack of diced, less than perfect garden tomatoes and watermelon (I'd cut off the bad parts, and feed them the rest).


That helped to curb their appetite for the fruits still on the plants. And the fact that only two were allowed out at one time meant that the garden wasn't run over by a feathered wrecking crew.


In this month's Backyard Poultry magazine, they had a picture of little mobile chicken tractors that looked very easy to build. The ones they showed were only size enough for one rooster, and using these little mobile coops, they were able to house their otherwise unwanted roosters -- and get the roosters to work only the parts of their garden/lawn that they wanted the birds to work.


The only other option I can see for you is to confine them 23 hours a day, but let some or all of them out for an hour of SUPERVISED free range time right before dark.


I've done that one too, with moderate success.