What impact will 3-4 chickens have on our yard?

[speckledegg]

We have 5 hens in a small residential fenced in backyard. They haven't done too much damage. They like to stay around the perimeters and dig and scratch in the dirt under our trees and shrubs. I have my veggie garden fenced off as I REALLY don't want to take chances with them enjoying it. I do'nt think you can really train them to stay away from places, just use some fencing. Since our yard is fairly small, and I have kids, I'm a little nutty and I'm out there multiple times a day cleaning up chicken poop. I'm trying to keep the flies away and my kids poop free.

I hose off the patio at the end of everyday. You could do a chicken tractor and move it around the yard or fence off an area in your yard for a large run for them. We do the chicken tractor, but I still let them out a couple times a day to hang in the yard. They like it.

 

[RoosterRidge]

We have 27 and we have a huge back yard and large field that they could free range in...

But they insist on coming into the front yard...

We just keep extra shoes on the porch and always wear those in the yard...

I have a dogwood tree that they have unearthed 2 of it's roots as big as my arm...

But we wouldn't have it any other way...

 

[phasian]

Quote:
I think the quality of your yard and soil, your climate and the type of plants you have will have a lot to do with whether they destroy it or not.

I had a green lawn, lush 2' tall groundcovers under the trees, and various other grasses/weeds growing. My three chooks have completely destroyed the groundcover, destroyed the finer lawn grasses (the broadleaf seems to be holding up OK though) and their run is practically dust. This is partly due to the fact that over here it's winter, and very dry, so there's not a lot of rain to stimulate plant growth and what has been damaged, stays damaged. Plus, when they walk over the low growing stuff they just crush it to the ground, and they scratch at the other groundcover stuff and rip it off at the base.

I got them at the end of April this year, so all that damage has been done in barely 3 months.

If I had to do it again I would have fenced off those areas totally and/or only allowed limited, supervised access to them for maybe an hour a day, instead of leaving them free ranging.

I agree with the above. I teach chicken keeping workshops & definitely think as well as express to my students that chickens can have a BIG impact on your yard. So much depends on the first sentence of the above quote. In my largest chicken run I had barberries & roses-- these are long gone. I would not have grass either if my birds did not spend much of their time free ranging our farm. (They do have to remain in during strawberry season.)

Breeds with shorter &/or feathered legs are often a good choice for a smaller area as they do not scratch as much-- Dorkings, Brahmas, Cochins, etc. Bantam breeds also have less of an impact. Setting up a dust bathing station will often help keep the hens from wallowing in planted beds. Letting your birds free range closer to dusk will typically keep them closer to their henhouse and less likely to range the whole yard.

Training can work, but requires a lot of consistent effort over many days. Typically more than most people have time to devote.

 

[TheSpiceGirls]

I limit the amount of time my girls have in the big garden. Because I can see from the hour or so they spend out there each evening, that they could do an amazing amount of damage. I have several big rounds of welded wire that I can put over the tops of plants that I want them to stay away from or that they are doing too much damage to.

I bring a big plastic container filled w/ sunflower seeds out with me and rattle that when I want them to follow me back to the run. So they know that sound means treats. And I don't have any trouble getting them to come back out of the garden into their run.

You might want to try letting them out on a limited basis and see how it goes.

 

[yinzerchick]

My chickens like to make craters. They make holes, lots of them, and deep too. I was really surprised at how much earth chickens can move. And, as far as the "grassy run" they HAD. Well, it is now all dirt, and hard, like concrete. ( I wish I could get the barn floor to look like that) They're not even in it all that much...they can free range all day. So, I'd say, think how much damage a puppy can do left alone in a room...ever see that movie Turner and Hooch? (Well, maybe not that bad...)

But those yummy eggs make it easy to forgive them!

 

[patman75]

I would let my chickens free range for my first 2 years of having chickens. They would always go for the mulch beds and dig around for bugs, throwing mulch everywhere. The compost pile was another favorite. They would go around the entire house just to get into my neighbors yard to search for bugs after they combed our yard.

Only a fence will keep them out of where you dont want them. I ended up fencing in about 6000sq feet and made it their chicken pasture. They like it and I dont worry about them getting to what they shouldn't be. It has saved me many our hours raking mulch back into the flower beds. You can see pictures of it on my BYC page.

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

YES you can!!! fortunately...it was cute the first time the chickens got on the poach, oh look how cute...then the poops got bigger, and really stuck, and I had to sand it all off....here's what I did, put 2 foot high chicken wire around the outer edge, (cause it's a 50 foot poarch and cutts off access,) we don't have rails up yet -got a broom, yelled, get off my poarch, waved the broom around, good smack to one rooster behind...it took several days but each little flock got the idea. It would have been much easier if I had detered them immediately! Now they pretty much avoid it, since it's an unfriendly zone....creatures of habit really, just think out beforehand where you don't want them, and make sure they know it.
I actually throw scratch into my shrubs and flower beds, the scratching and eating bugs hasn't done any harm at all,and they pluck out weeds and eat any grass down to nothing (it looks cool) if you want to spread compost just dump it in piles where you want it and they'll rake it out for you, nice and level too. They went through my strawberry patch and raked it up and now there are new strawberries everywhere, they ate some too, but so do the chipmunks.
The best part is the bugs, they will eat all of them they can find, it looks like they are eating the landscape leaves but no, picking at bugs, and alittle prune here and there doesn't hurt anything anyway, you'll figure out which plants are too tasty to chickens and those can be protected too, chickens don't work too hard at something if there something else better over there.

 

[revolutionarygardens]

I have four pullets who free range. We live in the country, but free range still basically equals our yard. Right now they are making a mess because we are having a brutal heatwave and they want to go into the garage to cool down and I let them. I would rather clean it up than let them die. That situation aside, I agree with everyone who has said that they will not do much, if any, damage to your landscape plants. I also agree that you will not be able to train them to stay away from any given area. For example, my chickens love to dig dust bath holes in a flower bed and unfenced herb bed that I have (my gardens are fenced). They throw dirt all of the sidewalk and generally make a mess. I spend a little time sweeping all the mulch back into the beds whenever they do this, and it is kind of a pain in the butt. You will have times that you look around and think, wow, the chickens made a real mess here! That said, I am so happy to have my chickens free ranging. They clearly enjoy having so much space to move around it. When they first leave their coop in the morning, they usually go on a nice long run/fly. They definitely keep the bug population down (which is good for your feed bill). Also, I just love seeing them roaming around and having them run up to me whenever I go outside. If you do decide to free range, one thing to think about is making sure that you train them to go to sleep in their coop at night, so you can protect them from predators. Also, I would suggest having a run that you can keep them in in case one is sick or you need to keep them in for some special reason. I kept mine in their run for a couple of half days when the first one got close to laying. I installed the nest boxes and kept them in so they would get the idea. It worked like a charm, so now they free range but go back to their coop on their own whenever they lay. I just shut the door to their coop at night and open it in the morning. Hope this helps!

 

[joskt0204]

I have four who are about 20 weeks old, various breeds, and they free range from morning until sundown. I don't see any damage from them, BUT my dogs are on a wireless fence that keeps them within 90' of the house, so the chickens avoid that area. It works out well. I still walk around in the rest of the yard (okay, it is 7 acres, but the chickens don't go out in the front pasture much, which is five of it) barefoot and haven't stepped in poop. Mine like to hang out in the woods, and they do most of their pecking AND pooping back there. They haven't bothered our garden at all either. I must have Stepford chickens!

 

[vclark321]

I have 3 hens myself and they get to run all over and they know when I say no to them getting at something I don't want them to touch. I did find them in the kitchen one day. They do poop, but its not a huge mess. Anyway, my girls don't really do any damage. They just enjoy free ranging and roosting on some fallen branches in a snag out back. Good luck.