The chickens ate my broccoli plants

[sahminaz]

Great. My 1 month old chicks have been free ranging during the day. They loved the grass until they discovered my garden! They were all picking at my cabbage this morning. The way i have it set up i cannot fence it in. I have 4 beds. Maybe they wont be free rangers after all. I have started everything from seed and we now have tiny fruits. I dont want them to ruin all the hard work i've put in.

 

[Im4Eggcellence]

Just a thought here - maybe you could cover your crops with one of the thin spun garden fabrics designed to keep insects out. I've also been wondering about chicken behavior and if chickens will cross over a barrier of tall grass (like 2 ft). If not, then maybe a natural fence of tall grass is a possibility. I haven't found an answer to that yet.

 

[NancyDz]

Well I'm WAY overdue to mow my back yard as my mower is at the shop and the chickens have no problem running through the tall grass, It's almost knee high at this point...

My dog is actually more scared to run through it and goes way around the perimeter just to avoid it

Nancy

 

[columbiacritter]

Quote:
LOL!!! Tall grass just encourages them to come see what's there.

 

[GoldenSilverLaced]

I put a wimpy little fence around my garden (like 1.5 feet high, mostly to indicate the garden area and perhaps keep the girls from wandering in) and they just jump over it to attack the lettuce and bean plants. Mostly they just want to dig for worms, but I watched them ravage some baby pea sprouts once.

 

[CoyoteMagic]

Quote:
Only the broccoli?!!! Mine ate EVERYTHING!!! Even pulled down my bean and zuke vines!!!

 

[badgerpendous]

Mine have taken to eating all of the blossoms off of my pomegranate bush/shrub/tree. Now we just a couple of the beautiful flowers up on the top of the plant. I doubt I'll get m/any pomegranates this year!

 

[Ravenseye]

I successfully kept my hens away from the asparagus plot...especially after planting a dozen new plants this year. They didn't touch one plant. Monday morning at 5:30 AM a deer at all of my asparagus!

Hey....at least I couldn't blame it on the chickens!

 

[b.hromada]

Quote:
How true a statement!

 

[lux_interior]

I built a separate garden for my girls inside their run, it includes broccoli and lettuce... maybe if you give them their own, they won't eat yours