Do you want your chickens in the garden? Here’s what you need to know about protecting chickens and plants!
Chickens in the Garden: Strategies to Protect the Harvest
While they may not be the first animal you imagine, when you imagine a creature preying on your vegetable patch, chickens Love garden. Because they are such determined and enthusiastic foragers, gardens are in many ways a chicken paradise, with not only delicious vegetables and weeds, but also a protein-rich smorgasbord in the form of worms, insects, and other insects.
Because of this, some people tout chickens as the gardener’s best friend, who can weed out weeds and eliminate pests with very little work.
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However, what some swear by will only make others swear; some will tell you that nothing destroys a garden like a flock of chickens, their frequent sand baths and indiscriminate chewing (Chickens will eat most things when they are hungry).
In this article, we’ll look at both sides of the problem, examine the pros and cons of letting chickens into your garden, and review some of the strategies chicken gardeners use to get the most out of their chicken chews. to deal with negative consequences.
Why keep chickens in the garden?
Image Source Heiko Stein from focus on
Probably the number one reason people keep chickens in the garden is that they act as pest control, devouring caterpillars, aphids, flies, and other creepy reptiles that love to make trouble in the garden. This is certainly true, and your chickens will be glad you delegated this responsibility to them.
Especially if you can’t keep your birds free-ranging on a regular basis, a visit to the garden can replace many of the health benefits of foraging. Your birds will get more exercise, use their brains, be entertained, add extra protein to their diets, and also add variety to their diets, which will make them happier and healthier. Birds that forage a lot and eat more than just chicken feed also produce healthier, tastier eggs and meat.
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From a human standpoint, keeping your chickens in the garden allows you to control garden pests without using toxic pesticides or unfamiliar chemicals.
Of course, nothing is without some disadvantages, and the main disadvantage of chicken pest control is the indiscriminate taste of birds. Your bird exterminator will be happy (if not happier) eating a beneficial worm as a crop-destroying caterpillar. Unfortunately, if you plan to keep your chickens in the garden, there are things you can do to prevent this from happening.
Chickens and Gardens: 3 Disadvantages
eat harvest
Image Source Villemononen from focus on
Most gardeners think that no one likes the taste of fresh vegetables as much as they do. While this may be true, a flock of chickens is sure to make them run for the money. The zeal with which chickens chew vegetables may only be matched by their proficiency in destroying them. Your chickens aren’t malicious in destroying your plants — they’re just hungry — but that doesn’t make their presence less destructive.
Gardeners can take various steps to lessen (but not eliminate) chicken damage to their garden, if they still want them in.
- configure fencing, bird netand other obstacles around your most desired or delicate plants are one such measure.
- Another is to simply grow “burning plants” that your chickens can have as much as they want. This may mean either planting extra plants that you know your birds will enjoy, or planting a separate plot for your birds to enjoy.
contact with poisonous plants
Image Source Rudy and Peter Squithrian from focus on
One thing to keep in mind when considering chickens and plants is that danger can go both ways. Yes, chickens can tear up plants and ruin your harvest, but certain plants can also be poisonous or even fatal to your chickens.
Even common garden plants such as rhubarbazaleas, tulips, Buttercuppotato sprouts can be toxic to chickens and should be avoided, or at least safely fenced off.
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Also, depending on where you live, there may be other native plants that may pose a threat to your birds; it’s best to do some research on poisonous weeds and native plants before your chickens go out and roam in your yard and Look for them in the garden.
Dust (bath)
Image Source USD – Susan from focus on
Some first-time chicken owners are surprised that their girls don’t need regular baths, but chickens solve this problem with the seemingly counterintuitive sand bath. In the dust bath, a hen finds some privacy for herself and kicks up a big cloud of dirt and dust.These particles get into her feathers and help suffocate red mites and other parasites, and feel good about the bird.
While chickens love them, dust baths can wreak havoc on gardens as they remove large circles of dirt and dust, sometimes crushing plants or sprinkling them in suffocating clouds. Chickens will bathe anywhere, including your flower beds, so most people consider a dust bath a reason to keep your flock out of the garden.
Ways to secure your harvest
fencing
A fence is probably the best way to keep chickens out of your garden, and as a bonus, it can also be a strong deterrent to other critters and critters that want to feed on your carefully grown pumpkins and petunias.
Any fence that can hold off chickens should be at least six feet tall, although this depends on the breed you’re raising. Counterintuitively, smaller breeds like bantams may actually need taller enclosures because they are more able and willing to fly over objects than heavier standard birds.
You should also make sure to bury any enclosures six inches to a foot underground around the garden, as chickens are stubborn diggers and can easily dive under any shallower enclosures.
If the only animals you want to keep out are chickens, then standard barbed wire should be a good choice for your enclosure. However, if you also want to stay away from weasels, chipmunks, snakes and other pests and predators, hardware grid Or hardware cloth is the way to go. This may be more expensive than barbed wire, but the smaller holes should keep all unwanted guests away from your garden and plants.
slice
Image Source Mark Valencia from focus on
Dividing your garden is a way to compromise with your chickens and let them enjoy your garden as much as possible without sacrificing your harvest. In zoning, you divide your garden into sections, grouping plants based on when they bloom, bear fruit, and mature. Use hardware mesh or barbed wire to create a fence between each section.
This way, you can get your hens into one section at a time, when your plants are least vulnerable to beak and claws damage. For most plants, this is after they reach full size but before they start bearing fruit.
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Slicing may not be for everyone. Especially if you have a smaller garden, building different sections and enclosing them based on harvest time may not be worth all the work you put in. However, it is worth considering for those who want to reap the pest control and soil agitation benefits of chicken presence without causing too much crop damage.
Should you let chickens in your garden?
In the end, the question of whether to let chickens into your garden comes down to each gardener’s personal priorities. Chickens may be the perfect solution for someone with a serious pest problem who is highly suspicious of chemical pesticides. For those interested in maintaining a particularly beautiful flower bed or vegetable field, getting chickens into your perfectly planted row is probably the last thing you want to do.
One thing to keep in mind, though, is that any decision you make now isn’t permanent. You can choose to let the chickens into the garden for one season, and if unsuccessful, fence them off for the next year. As with most things in gardening and raising animals, it takes a process of trial and error to find the perfect balance for you, your family, your flock and your flowers.
What do you think?
Do you let chickens in your garden? If so, how do you protect your plants? Let us know in the comments below!
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