Protecting the Garden

[Kimmyk80]

My husband does a huge garden every year, but this will be the first year of gardening with free-range chickens. Any advice on how to keep them out of the garden? We really want to stay away from fencing if possible because he needs to get his big tiller in and out at least every 2 weeks. Any ideas? I’ve read essential oils work, but that seems pretty impractical for a garden our size. TIA

 

[hysop]

I am curious of the answers you’ll get because fencing was my initial thought til you said giant tiller.

Maybe let them free range later in the day instead of all day. I used to free range my chickens all day but since March I put them up when we started our first garden after two years and now I’m debating on what to do since I’ve never had free ranging chickens and a garden just like you.

Stand guard is my current answer since that’s what I’ll have to do when I let them free range soon.

 

[hysop]

Some options I’m reading on Google are

Make a separate garden for your chickens
Plant herbs chickens don’t like
Sprinkle spices around the garden
Place citrus peels around garden
Spray chickens with water hose if you see them in the garden

Not sure if any of these work.

 

[Kimmyk80]

Some options I’m reading on Google are

Make a separate garden for your chickens
Plant herbs chickens don’t like
Sprinkle spices around the garden
Place citrus peels around garden
Spray chickens with water hose if you see them in the garden

Not sure if any of these work.

Thanks! I have read those things too, but wondered if they’d work.

 

[hysop]

Thanks! I have read those things too, but wondered if they’d work.

Is the garden really close to their coop?

 

[Mrs. K]

You can either fence the chickens in or the garden out. 6 chickens in a freshly planted garden, in the time it took me to tell my mother on the phone I would call her right back, but I had left the gate open, had pretty much demolished 2 hours of previous work.

They LOVE garden soil, they will bath in it, and dig up and root up everything. The moment you are not looking. It is amazing how much damage they can do in a very short amount of time.

Your only real option is a fence.

Mrs K

 

[hysop]

Speaking of which : I let my guineas free range. They were in a far off field and when I came back to my garden hours later they were dust bathing in the soil!! Thankfully they didn’t destroy the plants that are already growing but I’m pretty sure the seeds he planted yesterday are all over the place now

 

[aart]

We really want to stay away from fencing if possible because he needs to get his big tiller in and out at least every 2 weeks.

How big is tiller?
Pics would help.
First thought is a gate big enough to get it through...
...in a fence at least 6' tall with a floppy top edge.

 

[hysop]

Were you able to find a way to keep em away?

What I have found that works is a sprinkler.

Chickens don’t like getting wet and will run away from it.

Since you have a large garden then multiple sprinklers.

 

[oldhen2345]

Your only real option is a fence.

This is the only answer I have come up with. Once the vegetables get large, the chickens love to go hunting around in among the leaves and occasionally I would find an egg among the squash. Until then, don't let them near it. They also ate the figs off my dwarf fig trees. And I wanted those figs.
I finally had to fence off the birds after losing over $200 worth of roses and an entire garden full of vegetables. This year I planted dill, cantaloupe and carrots in the holes in the cinder block dust bath. Next time I looked, no carrots, no dill. The cantaloupe was picked clean of leaves. Rosemary did last a little longer. The mint is still there.