keep chickens out of garden

18 years ago

We have banties and they are there to get rid of the ticks. They've done there job superbly and it's fun to watch them. But they are wrecking my new garden. Some plants are pretty well established, most aren't. They are loving the loose dirt and when I water the moisture. But they have killed almost every single plant I have planted this year. They are now costing me money and giving me a migrane...Anyone here have a problem with there's? Can anyone offer a solution?

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Comments (6)

CrisH
18 years ago
Razor wire and machine guns....just kidding, LOL
They can be a problem in a garden, some of mine made their way thru my tomato patch last weekend hollowed out 3 nice big red ones before I could get to them!! I've had to fence off any areas I dont want them into and keep them in their pen instead of free ranging all day. They threw mulch around, dig holes , eat the tomatoes and otherwise had a big chick party. In the fall and winter I let them run thru the garden more as there isnt much growin for them to eat and the digging is ok too.
sullicorbitt
18 years ago
Yup a fence, it's the only way I know to keep my chickens out of my flower beds. I have a large fenced area where all my "special" flower beds are and all the rest.... well they've been pretty well trampled by my happy hens.

Do you have an outside pen for your chickens? or a chicken tractor? those are the only alternatives I can think of. I can't imagine letting the girls out in my veggie patch! they are great bug eaters but could care less about being selective with their foraging. Good luck :)

Sheila
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Chicken tractor is the way to go. Floating covers will just help them smash the plants down. Try planting your garden in wheat and clover seed in the winter. Early spring before you start putting the garden in run the chicken tractor down a row and let them turn it and fetilize it for you. Skip a row and do the next row. Contine until you have as many rows as you want. Then once the garden is planted put them in the remaining untouched rows. But move them often enough so that they don't kill the wheat and clover out. It's a great supplemental feed, rich yellow yolks and you get the rest of the garden fertilized for the following year of rotational gardening. They help keep pest down, can't tear up your plants and in my case give me a place to walk the rows without sinking knee deep in the clay during the wet seasons.
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I had major problem with rabbits and yard rats (squirrels). That was in 2011. Now - 95% control. Here is what I did. PlantskyddÃÂ® Repellent && Repels All -- I purchased my first bag of Plantskydd in late 2011 and swore off the stuff because it did not seem to work. I then did extensive research on squirrel and rabbit behavior and learned that when the garden is actively growing is not the time to start the repellant use. In 2012 I started applying the Plantskydd in mid-February -- a very light dusting around the perimeter of my garden. The label says the stuff lasts for months but I decided to dust the garden area every 2-3 weeks until April. In April I put a heavy dusting all around the garden. We have a 6 foot privacy fence with a 4x4 post every 8 feet and on top of each post I put a tablespoon of the Plantskydd. I also put down the Repels-All the week after the Plantskydd each time. In 2012 I had ONE ""rogue"" squirrel. That monster was resistant to everything except red pepper and garlic. I mixed 50% red pepper powder and 50% garlic powder in a kitchen squirt bottle with mineral oil and put it on the ground around the little "rogue's" favorite spots to dig. Since it was just garlic and pepper I also put this around the top of each container. By the time my tomatoes and sweet peppers began to color and get ripe I had just about 95% control over these little monsters. I grow exclusively in EarthBox (25+), Containers (15 +/-) and raised beds. I keep all of my containers and EB's on wood pallets to keep them off the ground. I sprinkle the Plantskydd and the Repels-All on the ground around the containers and not on the soil inside the EB's or containers. From my research I have learned that using the same repellant each time is not wise. For my garden a fence was not possible. Plantskydd is expensive and not readily available so this year I have used Organic Blood Meal after the Plantskydd ran out. I alternate it with the Repels-All and so far so good. Not 100% but 95% is OK by me. We love stewed rabbit but in the city we are not allowed to shoot the little buggers. Cheers, DL Disclaimer:: I am not in anyway affiliated with Plantskydd or Repels-All. I only report what works for me.
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I use a regular light bulb - heat lamps are TOO HOT! My light is on an extension cord with a metal-cone shield around it like the heat lamps, but it is not a heat lamp. I have had it for a long time. I think you can still get them at lumber yards and hardware stores - maybe WalMart too. I have it strung up to the ceiling and hung on a large teacup hook over their cardboard box. I laid aluminum window screens on the top to keep them in and safe. The lamp lays right on the top of the screens. It should not be too close to the chicks however. No closer than two feet anyway. You have to check it often until you figure it out. Much depends upon their brooder box (container). They need room enough in the box to move away in case they get too warm. Don't set the lamp over their water. I just use a large, carboard box for my Brooder Box (a lawnmower came in the one I am using now). No need to buy fancy equipment. They grow too fast to put out money for a few weeks worth of use, unless you are going into the chicken business for earnest. Put the box in a safe place where other animals cannot get to them and where they are out of any drafts and weather. In the bottom of the cardboard box, sprinkle just enough pine shavings (or you can use cedar shavings) to lightly cover the bottom (about $9 per bag). This is their litter and it is also their bedding, so it needs to be changed regularly, as you would any baby. Once a day or every other day, clean it out and put in fresh shavings. It scares them, but as long as you talk to them calmly when you care for them, they will eventually calm down. You can put the soiled litter in your compost pile. Their droppings are tiny beads, about the size of a pea, but very odoriferous. Change their water several times a day. Clean it out with Clorox bleach and water once in awhile to keep down germs and other icky stuff. Make sure they have fresh, clean, cool water, even on cool or cold days. They can go longer without food than they can without fresh, clean, cool water. If the chicks huddle together under the lamp, then it isn't warm enough. If they huddle together away from the lamp, then it is too hot. If they are scattered all around in the box, pecking and softly peeping, then the heat is perfect. If they are peeping loudly, then something is wrong. Check all of the above to see what is the matter. They do prefer to huddle together when they sleep however. As they get older, each week you can raise the light lamp up a little. During the day if it gets warmer where they are kept, and more and more as they grow bigger until they don't need it any longer - when they get their real feathers. I have noticed that chicks get so accustomed to the light that they are afraid of the dark, so I keep a nightlight on in the chicken house. If you ever need to move them or take them to the vet, box them up in a pet taxi or cardboard box with a lid on it after sundown, at night and in the dark. (you can use a flashlight.) Chickens don't put up a fight in the dark, even the meanest old rooster in the world. That is why foxes and other predators raid the henhouse at night. Easy pickins! The hens don't even make a sound. If you go to a feedstore, you should be able to find little booklets on raising chicks and chickens. Also, there are a hundreds, if not thousands of websites you can go look at. Everyone does it a little differently, but the basics are all the same. Mine are only three weeks old. Already they are flying about in the bottom of the box. They hop up onto the top of their watering pot (which gets pooped on - ugh). They also have started to hop onto my hand or arm when I reach in to change their food and water. I have just this week begun to give them very finely clipped bits of tender grass and chickweed. I use kitchen scissors. Chickweed tastes like juicy lettuce. They love it and fight over it, even though I put plenty in the box for every chick. This is normal chicken activity. You learn as you go. You make mistakes, but you become "The Mom" very soon. ~Annie
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plantcollector
Original Author
18 years ago
Razor wire and machine guns!!! That was too funny! I actually have been thinking of staking a couple of my golden retrievers out in my garden, except I hate tying up dogs! My dogs can't run loose with the chickens. Or else it's dinner time. I would fence it off but we don't clip their wings. We live in the woods and we don't want to leave them defenseless. And especially in case we forget and let a dog out. Already happens once in a while. I'm thinking about trying to put chicken wire around the vital plants that are to easy to dig up and putting mulch around it. Last year I had mulch and it all ended up in my walk and in the dry creek bed I made in it. So this year I decided no mulch. I'm thinking the chicken wire would catch their attention. Maybe I can wire it up!! Shoot some voltage into them!! Just like an old circus show, dancing chickens! Well that won't work. My DH just said if its on the ground it'll just ground out. Oh well... What is a chicken tractor? I'm picturing a special "shoot" for them to walk to through to their designated area. We free range our birds everyday in the afternoon. Like I said, share time with the dogs. What do you two think of my chicken wire idea? I know they can't get through it. Get frustrated trying too.
sullicorbitt
18 years ago
Here is a link to some pictures of chicken tractors. They are movable floorless pens so your chickens can roam on fresh ground while still contained, you can move it as often as needed but the ground does have to be fairly flat. This way you wouldn't have to worry about your dogs (unless they are persistant diggers?).

I put wood chips down on my (non precious) flower beds and the vast majority got kicked into the lawn, I swear they were having a contest to see who could sweep more into the grass....it's a mess but I did learn a bit of a lesson.

Sheila

Here is a link that might be useful: chicken tractors
plantcollector
Original Author
18 years ago
that is a neat idea. Love the one on wheels looks like a delivery truck! How do I get them to go in it from our chicken house? We have a big flight pen my husband used to use for raising pheasants and I've often thought of that. You know in the summer there isn't any reason we couldn't build a coop in it for them to roost, lay, hatch, etc. And free range from the chicken house over the winter which they're never a problem in the garden then. I'll have to talk this over with the hubby. Only thing about it is that my one female golden is a pheasant hunter and I had trouble getting her to quit circling the flight pen and come in when the birds were in there. She is a very focused and obsessed dog. A real hunting dog. The chickens are no different to her. What kind of chickens do you have? We have seabrights and crosses. One plymouth/banty cross, and one barred/banty cross. We like the little chickens. I do for the smaller poop! heehe!

....thanks for your help
velvet_sparrow
18 years ago
I agree, a chicken tractor or you stand over them and only allow them a few minutes at a time in the garden for bug hunting duties, then they get shooed out before the digging starts.

I love the razor wire and machine guns, though.... *L* Sometimes with banties you feel that's just what you need!

Velvet

keep chickens out of garden

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CrisH

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keep chickens out of garden

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CrisH

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