Chickens will help you with the gardening too. Tilling the soil, pruning the leaves LOL (destroying the garden)... best to let them have it after you've got what you want out of it 
If you've been feeding them fruit with seeds such as papaya, watermelon, cantaloupe and vegetables such as winter squash you can expect your flock to "plant" those seed throughout the area that they occupy (or that you transfer their excrement to). Caution with letting them at your tomatoes though, the fruit and seeds are perfectly fine for them to have, the leaves are poisonous to them; not saying that they WILL eat the foliage, just saying to be mindful of it. Some chickens have more common sense than others on what they can and cannot eat.
I have a surprise garden all over my very large, enclosed yard (I'm thinking that I'm on about a quarter-acre, all chain link fenced.) I had surprise watermelon, zapillo (a hearty, pumpkin-like winter squash), and loads of papaya spring up, seemingly out of nowhere!
The watermelon and cantaloupe came in at a bad time of year for them, and the fruit rotted on the vine, the zapillo loved the extra water and was prolific (my neighbors are still thanking me for the free groceries), and of the papaya, I've left five growing in an area that I find acceptable, and that they'll thrive in.
If you've been feeding them fruit with seeds such as papaya, watermelon, cantaloupe and vegetables such as winter squash you can expect your flock to "plant" those seed throughout the area that they occupy (or that you transfer their excrement to). Caution with letting them at your tomatoes though, the fruit and seeds are perfectly fine for them to have, the leaves are poisonous to them; not saying that they WILL eat the foliage, just saying to be mindful of it. Some chickens have more common sense than others on what they can and cannot eat.I have a surprise garden all over my very large, enclosed yard (I'm thinking that I'm on about a quarter-acre, all chain link fenced.) I had surprise watermelon, zapillo (a hearty, pumpkin-like winter squash), and loads of papaya spring up, seemingly out of nowhere!
The watermelon and cantaloupe came in at a bad time of year for them, and the fruit rotted on the vine, the zapillo loved the extra water and was prolific (my neighbors are still thanking me for the free groceries), and of the papaya, I've left five growing in an area that I find acceptable, and that they'll thrive in.
Glad you joined.
