Chickens in the garden

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Ok, my family is getting some hens (maybe about 4, for now). I know that chickens can be good for the garden but I also read that they will just destroy many plants and veggies. Does anyone have chickens in their garden and how do you handle it? Would the benefits be worth it to have two separate gardens each fenced in and only let them in the garden with the plants that they won't eat? I was thinking that , this way they would have more space while still being safely fenced in.
 
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Cherie, we have hens, and believe me, they will eat almost anything! We let our girls into gardens when the gardens are finished--they are great at removing weeds and dead veggies, as well as digging up the dirt. In a growing garden they will eat young plants, tomatoes, squash, and anything they can get their beaks around. We have two big vegetable gardens and one small fenced seasonal garden, and let a few of our hens (we have 16, and let five or six out into the gardens) forage. If we let all of them out, they roam. If there are a few out, they stay pretty close to home and we don't have to worry about them hitching a ride on passing vehicles.
You also need to consider predators. Are there neighborhood dogs and cats, do hawks fly over, and do you have coyotes or skunks? If so, only let your ladies out when you are out with them, and can keep an eye on them.
The major benefit of the hens is their manure. Put it on your compost pile for at least three months, or six in cold weather, then spread it on the garden. This stuff is great!
 
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Chickens do not have to EAT a garden to destroy it: they love to scratch up the dirt while digging for bugs. While they are at it they will also scratch up your young plants. Chickens are NOT good in a garden, unless your garden consists of 4 foot tall sweet corn!.

Now, chicken poo CAN be good for a garden! I do not use it on things like lettuce, but corn does well with it, and you can scatter it across a garden spot before it has ben planted. The poo will break down long before most veggies are ready to eat! Though, since I start eating greens when they are only a couple of inches tall I do not use poo on that spot. Lettuce thinnings and such are perfectly good in a salad!
 
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I agree with Kansas Terri, I had chickens... never too many, of course, but I did noticed mine didn't care so much about the plants and were more interested in removing dirt looking for bugs. Some of them went even more far by lying on the dirt and digging a hole, taking a dirt shower. While doing that they dig out some young plants... but other than that my chicken didn't really do anything else to damage the garden. I only had two at the time... not sure about 4 tho.

They were ornamental chicken; ''cochin chicken''.

bantam_cochin_barred-MD.jpg
 
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If you're going to have chickens you should have a chicken run. That way you control where the chickens roam and you can restrict them from garden areas with active growth. You can also supervise them when they are in the garden to be sure they are getting the bugs and not eating the produce.
 
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If you end up getting chickens, make sure that you get a cage that is sturdy enough to deter predators. If you have cayotes or the like in your area, they will try to get at your chickens. We lost some ducks to cayotes a while back and had a very strong cage for them. You have to make sure there are not vulnerabilites or they will get at your chickens.

They will trample your garden if you let them in, so I would not advise that. Perhaps take some of your garden remenants and put those in the chicken cage.
 
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I have been raising chickens and ducks for years. As of now I have about 50 hens and 20 ducks And let them 100% free roam around. They have been nothing But great in the gardens, Never had them eat any plants, only insects or the Occasionally snake.

Although Most Plants I transplant Into the gardens are usually 6 inch's or bigger.

Pros: Insect control, help Cultivate

Cons: ????

And depending on were you live you might not even need that great of a pen.
 
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I don't think our city will even allow this, but having chickens in the yard sounds more like a mess than not. If I live on a huge piece of land, then I wouldn't mind, but we are in the city and livestock would have the neighbors complaint up and down all over.
 
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Icy, you wouldn't believe how the complaints go away with a present of a half-dozen farm eggs! We are in the country surrounded by farms and cattle ranches, so my hens are not a problem. When we were planning to get bees we went to each and every house in a three mile radius and asked if anyone was allergic to bee stings. The only answers we got were "When you have honey, will you call us so we can buy some?"
If you want chickens, take a look at your city's code. Most haven't thought of "town chickens" and there is no prohibition. If you get chickens, and there are complaints (see reference to egg presents) you are grandfathered in if they pass an ordinance prohibiting chickens.
Chickens in the yard aren't messy--they roam around enough that there isn't a "poop concentration", and they do dig and scratch, but so do dogs!
Can you tell I love our little feathered ladies?
 
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I've heard that the chickens will eat up all of the plants in your garden! I let them roam around my yard and let them eat the plants in my yard, but won't let them touch the garden for that reason. Sometimes I'll bring them vegetables from the garden to eat, but I prefer not to let them in my garden.
 
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If you are worried that they will destroy your garden, there are mobile chicken coops. That will keep them were they are supposed to be and won't let them go after those flowers. There are a whole lot of different models all you have to do is google 'mobile chicken coops'.
 
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I have heard that these animals are not quite good for gardens because they like digging in the ground and therefore, they mess up the whole ground, they also start eating the little plants and well, it's a bigger mess. I do not really know who told you that big lie about chickens in the garden, but you should take all the cons into account because unfortunately there are more cons than pros, that's my opinion though.
 
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i had the same problems with chickens eating everything and scratching up plant roots. i bought a 160' electric chicken fence. its portable so you can confine them to wherever you want them and can move them to greener areas after they have done their job. the fence and power source from amazon comes to just under $200. its worth it to protect my berry plants which are chicken favs! also will repel predators up to a bear!
 
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Take a look at "chicken tractors", which are mobile coops. We (meaning my husband with my encouragement) built one and we put three or four hens into it and let them eat the bugs and weeds in the garden around mature plants.
Getting the ladies into and out of the tractor was the only problem. If we had thought of that earlier, we would have had an entry/exit from the chicken tractor to the outside coop. Since he built it, I get to stoop over and grab an unhappy hen and stuff her back into the outside coop. I think it's called reciprocal duties.
While they are scratching they are also fertilizing your garden patch. Our ladies enjoy their time in the tractor, and if we move it slowly, they walk with it and don't complain.
 
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The caretaker of our extended garden has loose chickens that roam around the garden. They are good in a sense that their waste matter is natural fertilizer for the plants. However, there are some vegetables that are delicious to chickens like the native lettuce which they eat the leaves. Right now our extended garden have cassava, sweet potato, banana and some small trees so they are quite safe from the chicken. Another plus for the chickens is that they eat pests particularly insects. So depending on the vegetables in your garden, the chicken may be a boon or a bane.
 

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