Our chickens roam the yard when we're home, and normally don't get into any trouble. Today I did some spring planting. I put up a 4 foot fence around the garden, and 2 of them managed to fly over it and destroyed my plants. I was not happy, since I've been raising these plants in the greenhouse and they were beautiful. HOW can I keep them from flying over the fence into the garden? I may have to let them out of the yard under strict supervision from now on. Any ideas? Thanks.
Just for the spring and summer (veggie and flower garden) growing season, you might consider trimming their wing tips so that they cannot fly so high. I know that if we want our organic veggies this year for ourselves and them, there may have to be some extra supervision until Fall after the majority of the harvest. The beautiful Summer weather here in Mt. Hood region of Oregon means our best shot at outdoor gardening until it gets dark at 10:00 pm, so it should not be too difficult to keep tabs on them. This will be our first Spring and Summer with our "free rangers" also. They were too small last year and were kept in an enclosed 1/4 acre area. We let them began to roam in early Fall so there was no noticeable problem with them consuming the garden. However, even as we began to prepare this year for Spring planting, they follow us around and scratch up everything at ground level right behind us. We will fence the vegetable planter boxes also. Good Luck, and keep us posted if you think of anything else that helps as the season progresses.
We are trying to figure that out, too. This is our first planting season to have chickens... We are going to put a (I think 8) foot tall fence around ours and plant a "chicken garden" in their roaming area. Hopefully they will be drawn to that garden and not want to fly over the fence to get to ours. Maybe you could try that? I have no idea if it works as this will be our first time to try it. We are also going to plant sunflowers around the garden to (hopefully) catch the eye chickens and squash bugs and keep them away from our zucchini! (I HATE squash bugs.)
I use the poly netting designed primarily for deer, which we have BIG time. It has proved effective in keeping out the deer, whew!!! Secondarily, it also keeps the chickens out. It is relatively affordable, and can be temporary. It's lightweight and easy to install using zip ties. We usually get it at Home Depot. $70 for 100 feet. We must have 1000 feet of it in use. We also just use temporary poles. Those $1.99 landscaping poles the big box stores sell each spring. Our's are 4 years old and look like new still.
This year I am going to try raised beds, my cinder blocks arrive tomorrow. Last year my chickens destroyed what the Texas heat wave did not kill. I have left the "old garden" for them and will rebuild (with a temporary fence) on the opposite side of my house.
