Tired of destroyed landscaping. You are BANNED from free ranging!!!

[silkiechicken]

Yeah, I fence in the gardens as they will go after anything you plant. Nothing like shooing out a bird that sneaks in to pick up each seed you plant as you are planting it.


As for hang out spots, out of the cleared acre they could roam, they prefer to sit on the porch, and deposit goods in the door way WE HUMANS use to go in and out of...

 

[DutchieWannabe]

@silkiechickens- Mine also love the step by our backdoor... they sit there and look in at us.... in the summer i dont mind but
in the winter when its below freezing and the snow is swirling, they look like sad homeless street urchins looking for any donations...

also what kind of fence do u use?

 

[geepy]

Raking the mulch back up used to bother me also. I finally just gave up. I live out in the woods and my girls are having a blast. The up side is I have not had a bug in the house in three years. Oh, and the deposits, I have turkeys (big deposits) lol. I just hose them off. Now when they roost on the truck, that's another problem.

Oh, well the joys of raising birds.

 

[Urbanfarmerkc]

I have fenced off my garden with a picket fence and a 5 foot wire fence inside. They still find their way in and destroy my beds. Makes me crazy.

 

[Judy]

I used 5' chicken wire around the garden and had no trouble keeping them out. I gave up pretty quick on mulch under the bushes and just spray under there with Roundup. They ignore them now. I have a flower bed -- well, a shrub bed -- circled with rocks and mulched with cypress. I have no idea why, but they leave it alone. And they walk by it most every day on their rounds. Have I stumbled over something???

 

[PaulaJoAnne]

The garden rotation will work out well for you.
Meanwhile, is it possible to start one or two large compost heaps on the other side of the property that would entice them away from the landscaping?

 

[patman75]

Well I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one that is fed up with the chicken destroying the landscaping.

Quote:
The compost is currently in the garden where they have access to and it is about as far from the house as any other place.

I swear as soon as I let them out they are running/flying up to the house to dig around in the cedar mulched beds. They were not too bad digging in the beds during the summer because they were hunting for grasshoppers in the lawn.

I have been trying to think of a "stylish" way to keep the mulch in the the beds and not all over the grass. I was thinking of raised brick or a stone/rock border but those cost money.

So in the end I think the rotational garden/pasture will be best. The soil will be fertilized and worked up. The chickens will get good greens and bugs. I will be less worried about the chickens wandering into the neighbors yard where to dogs have been waiting for a chicken to come over and play. And I wont be always raking mulch back into the beds. I will have so much extra time on my hands I might have make a turkey tractor.

 

[urbanchicksta]

Yup, it's a pain. I've limited free ranging to 30 minutes while I clean out their coop. It's kinda sad but our backyard is fairly small and it can get messy especially in the winter with the dormant grass turning into mud. Not a fan of raking drainage rock or hosing off the patio.

I think they now know how to utilize their time wisely now though--if the sun is out they go straight for their dusting holes.

 

[Chicken.Lytle]

I am having some difficulty keeping my birds in the run and keeping them from pulling foolish stunts .

 

[KooKoe]

I just have to lay my egg here as well.......

my beloved bonsai....

I don't know if it will ever recover! and I can fix it and replace the pretty gravel around it, but half a day and it looks like above..... But I love my chooks. feel bad to lock em up.