Will chickens eat my watermelon and cantelope plants?

[operator16]

Yes!!! Those are some of their favorites. They will devour all types of squash, melon, tomatoes, strawberries, grapes, cabbage, herbs, broccoli, raspberries, anything green, soft, sweet, tart, etc... that you plant. Even if they don't like it, they'll take a little peck or two just to test it out. If you let them have access to your garden, you'll get NOTHING!!! They tore through my whole garden and ate each soft leave off of every rose plant I own as well. We have put in fences this year... Give them all your cuttings, weeds, kitchen extras, old fruit and veggies that you forget about in your fridge (not moldy though)!

 

[swimmer]

Play it safe and fence it off. Nothing more stressful that watching your chickens destroy a garden.

 

[jomercer]

Mine go over a 4' fence effortlessly, even with a clipped wing.

They'll taste everything at least once (pecked-damaged at least, and newly planted things will be uprooted completely), forget and try it again awhile later (damage, etc. ), and then scratch all around and through everything they decide they don't like to eat (absolute destruction).

All my berry plants have chicken wire cages around them in the spirng so the girls can't pluck off all the new leaves.

 

[HHandbasket]

Quote:
You cannot have a garden and chickens unless the garden is fenced off. They'll eat everything. I had to do the same thing, but it was worth it.

I would occasionally let the girls free-range in the garden for short periods under my supervision to keep the bugs under control. It seemed to work well & they didn't descemate the plants last year. We have not started a garden yet this year, had to move right in the middle of planting! We will have a late summer/fall garden this year, but I will do the same ... fence off the garden with 3-foot tall chicken wire (which they cannot clear with one wing clipped, and I have to keep one wing clipped on my birds anyway to keep them in our yard... we live in the woods & they would be dead chickens if they got out).