Chickens vs the Veggies

16 years ago

Among my 41 critters are three roosters. Their job is to run around in the horse pens, scratching apart manure piles and keeping down flies.

Their job is not to eat my strawberries. And beans. And peas. And tomatoes.

Does anyone have a brilliant solution for keeping them out of my garden without having to fence the whole thing? (It's an eighth of an acre, for crying out loud!)

I know, I know, I can pen up the roosties. But they'll beat each other up in close quarters, and they won't get their real job done.

Alas.

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Comments (8)

kayhh
16 years ago
If they can scratch it, they will. The only option is to either pen up the roosters, or pen up the garden.

Personally, I've never met a rooster I liked. Mean, ornary, nasty old animals. Way over protective of their hens - having little chicken heads, they don't understand that they are MY hens.

I guess having more space and no hens to fight over, they might not be so mean, tho' it seems to me they would be meaner. Must be a chicken thing.
npthaskell
16 years ago
Seeds of Change has a newsletter; once in a while they mention a book called "The Power of Duck". Letting Ducks roam rice paddies keeps the pests down, and many other good things. Maybe you need ducks instead? I haven't read the book nor ever had chickens nor ducks.
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ruthieg__tx
16 years ago
A garden is no place for chickens...they will scratch and bathe until everything is ruined...fence the critters...
anney
16 years ago
Guinea fowl are also great bug-foragers, though they like to roost in trees. My neighbors where I used to live had a flock of them, and they roamed at least a half-mile circumference to their favorite insect-catching spots, including my garden. They never ate any of the veggies there, though I didn't grow strawberries. Boy, they're prehistoric looking birds, I must say!
beebonnet
16 years ago
I don't have roosters but i do have 3 hens, who also scratch and relish seedlings. So, I cover new plantings with remay until the seedlings are up and have 3 pairs of leaves (or so) and then the chickens leave them alone. I have raised beds, fairly high, and they are allowed to run between them finding bugs, slugs and other thugs. Another thing is that they are only let out for 2-3 hours a day under close supervision. However, just yesterday, Penny got 2 kale seedlings that I had intended to cover but hadn't yet. She was as fast as greased lightening about it. I love the hens but i would be scared of roosters.
albert_135 　 39.17°N 119.76°W 4695ft.
16 years ago
My family were remote rural subsistence farmers and we had many chickens and a large garden and the chickens could have gotten into the garden if they were so inclined but I don't recall that being a problem and reading this I don't recall why it was not a problem. My grandmother trained a couple of dogs to keep out rabbits and the like, perhaps they kept the chickens out too.
tessie_gardener
16 years ago
this is just a funny suggestion. Feed them so much that they dont want to eat any more:D just kidding, chickens can eat for EVER. but heres an idea. Next time you have full grown plants, put the plants they dont usually eat on the outside. Ive found they stay away from carrots, they dont like radishes. Mostly the spicy roots. It might buy you some time with your lettuce and other tasty treats for them. Not sure if itll work though.
bejay9_10
16 years ago
Like beebonnet - I garden with raised box beds - mainly because of "other" critters that also will wreck havoc on my vegetables.

Unfortunately, these critters also like chickens - (coons, foxes, coyotes, hawks) - so in order to protect my vegetables, and my chickens, I had to cage my veggies and my chickens - and let the wild critters roam outside.

For awhile, I thought the movable chicken tractor idea would be great - putting hens into a tractor-like cage placed over my raised beds. Sounded great, but in actual practice, the contraption just wasn't strong/manuverable enough to keep out all of the other critters that roam around - resulted in 2 dead hens.

Also, because veggies grow in strong sunlight, the area was much too warm for chicken habitation.

Result - built a strong chain link fence chicken enclosure with a metal rabbit cage for night housing - and a box of dirt for them to dig/dust in.

Soooo - now when I turn the compost pile, I save all of the grubs/pill bugs, etc., and serve them - ala-cart. Not to mention refreshing their area with clean straw, etc. (what I don't do for those 2 eggs and some fertilizer they give in return).

Just my 2 c's.

Bejay

Chickens vs the Veggies

Comments (8)

kayhh

npthaskell

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ruthieg__tx

anney

beebonnet

albert_135 　 39.17°N 119.76°W 4695ft.

tessie_gardener

bejay9_10

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