Veggie Garden and free ranging

[itsmechrissy]

Luckly my girls 'discovered' my garden late in the season, I'm pretty confident it'd been a bad thing if they'd done so earlier. They love tomatoes and the tops of carrots. And I agree with the earlier poster, I'd be worried about the impacts of their 'output', fresh chicken poop in the garden isn't a good idea.

Now that the gals know (

) where the garden is I'm letting them hang out as there's nothing growing anymore...but I've absolutely started to check out fencing options for next year!

 

[BackyardChick12]

I turn my chickens loose in the garden when it is finished in September. By October, they have mowed off every last green plant and have tilled up the soil like they were backhoes. Gardens and hungry chickens do not co-exist without good fencing. That's my experience.

I believe you could fence off a 50'x100' run area of lush grasses and plants, and if you turned out 24 chickens, they'd turn it into a moon scape within weeks. Just sayin'.

My neighbor has chickens as well; 18 of them in a 25' x 15' fenced in yard. In a matter of two weeks, it's as barren as a desert. They have to then relocate the pen and the process repeats.

 

[KnobbyOaks]

Good thread and good suggestions for questions I had too. Thanks.