Whats good for the dog? will it work for the chickens?

[grmitchell]

Well .... Still planning my backyard chicken estate. Can I keep the "girls" in the same area with some of my vegetables? or will they peck them to death? One friend suggested raised beds but I really wanted to make the whole thing chicken loving and not go through the cost of raised beds. Is there vege that they don't like?Bye the way... my chicken friend thinks I'm a bit nuts.

 

[PeepsAreForMe]

You're not nuts! We all cater to our chickens here! And they will scratch and peck pretty much everything. They can decimate a flower garden in 5 minutes. If I did not see it for myself I would not believe it!! I have a pretty p***ed off hubby to testify! I am not sure what they like and don't like so I can't comment there. But maybe you could put some chicken wire up to keep them out.

 

[ChickensRDinos]

They are VERY destructive and will eat and dig up a whole garden. Seriously. If you are wanting to grow plants for the birds to eat there are several ways to do that. You can use screens like this to keep them from digging up the sprouts so that the plants will keep growing.

http://pinterest.com/pin/212372938649535788/

Or you can grow them fodder, which I recently started doing and is pretty fun.

http://pinterest.com/pin/212372938649357049/

If you want a vegetable garden for food for you unless it is really big the chickens will likely destroy it unless you have wire or fencing around everything you dont want eaten or dug up.

 

[HEChicken]

Chickens love a fresh salad even more than we do, so yes, if you want to grow vegies for you and your family, it won't work to let the chickens have access to it. What I did was fence off the vegie garden. I grew extra greens to throw over the fence to them, and my pest control consists of manually picking pests off the plants. I collect the slugs, caterpillars etc as I pick them off, then offer them to the birds, who get a high protein treat without the need for pesticides in the garden.

At the end of the season, I open up the gate and let the flock in to clean up for me. They will very efficiently eat any leaf material or vegies that are left over, till the ground and fertilize it for me, so it is ready for spring planting the following year.

 

[grmitchell]

Well.. I guess that idea is out the door. Ok, a chicken pen it is and I have a spot for the coop picked out. Now I have only a million things todo before spring. Thanks everyone!

 

[yo burrill]

If want to use them in your garden build a little chicken tractor just wide enough to fit between the rows. Then you can put them in the tractor in the morning and move them around the garden to till between the rows. Just make sure you use a fine hardware cloth for the sides of the tractor so they cant eat through them. I was very lucky this summer and my bantam chickens never bothered my plants. They loved sitting under the potatoes and picking the potato bugs. I would find them there every afternoon when it got hot out. I now have some LF Easter eggers they will not be out to free range because Im sure I will not be so lucky with them!!