My poor yard!

[murdeb]

I have 2 BO's who free range during the day and they are tearing my flower beds up! They are constantly"scratching" and have dug large holes all over the yard. I love that they are free range but have no idea if its even possible to keep them from tearing up my plants and yard.......any advice? I'm thinking I may need to fence them in a small area so that they can still free range and just limit the space available to them.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I fence in the things I don't want them to touch like new lettuce and let them run everywhere else.

 

[sunnysideuprarebreeds]

I have about 8 different holes in my yard as well. Cant do anything about it just use some chicken fencing and keep them in an area you dont care about. They just love to dig holes and do their dust baths and keep cool in the summer.

 

[gryeyes]

Oh, you poor thing! You thought you could keep free range chickens AND have a garden?!?!?! <*pat pat pat*> There, there. It's okay. We all had such dreams, once.

 

[mommissan]

Designate a spot for them. I tried to reseed a 5'x10' section of my lawn and they ate all the seed. So, if ya can't beat 'em. join 'em. Now I toss scratch on it, straw..... whatever keeps them coming. At least it's not the rest of the lawn.

 

[Mattemma]

I used some plastic fencing,bamboo poles,and zip ties to mark off certain spots. For a while I fenced in the chickens. In the fall I let them go everywhere.In the summer I herd them to a fenced area in my far backyard due to the poop/flies.

I never had issue with fliers so I think a 2 foot fence is more than enough.If not you just switch out or clip wings.The plastic fencing and bamboo is cheap.

 

[cmom]

When we first got chickens we decided to let them free range. They discovered our gardens and compost. It was either fence in the gardens or the birds. The birds lost. Now I do let them out when I can be out to supervise them. Here are some pictures. I love to take pictures.

 

[peterlund]

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My yard is just an extension of their run I guess.... Try to mulch your flower beds.... That is futile. Free range means a free for all.

 

[peterlund]

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Is this a recent photoshoot??/ We are just getting set for snow. I am jealous! REAL jealous.

 

[cmom]

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Is this a recent photoshoot??/ We are just getting set for snow. I am jealous! REAL jealous.

No the pics aren't current, but we just started our winter gardens. We live in North Central Florida. We do get some freezes but so far this year it's been pretty mild. We do have frost covers if we need to put them up.