Chickens in the garden

[Vinaya]

I have reared chickens as well as planted vegetables. sadly, these two do not go well.Chicken poop is high quality fertilizer, however, chicken will destroy your plants. Chicken will love to peck on your plants picking not only worms and insects but also plant leaves. If you want to do both put the chicken or plants inside the fence.

 

[SirJoe]

Mobile chicken coops can keep the chickens were you want them with out running the risk of them eating what they shouldn't.

They can be as simple or as complex as you would like them to be.

 

[katiegert]

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.

I guess I would try it out and see how it goes. Monitor the situation and then put up fencing if needed. We have a lot of chickens running around our farm and they don't seem to bother the vegetables. They are however after the pests which is fantastic. We have geese too though and we have a lot of trouble keeping them from eating the seedlings and taking bites out of the vegetables just to find a bigger, juicier one just down the isle. They have caused us so many problems over the last few years that my mother wanted to give them away. Because we know she loves her geese, we just couldn't let her do that and put up fencing as best we could without spending a ton of money.

 

[HouseE]

One of the best way to combine chickens and gardening together is to keep your chickens confined to a run or using chicken tractor in your garden. You could place a mobile coop in the garden, this allows the chickens to a fresh part of your garden each time.The one major benefit of having chickens in your garden is bug control.

 

[AntonioCalcano]

You shouldn't let your chickens run loose for obvious reasons, as it's been said they will eat your plants but more importantly there is an environmental risk involved. You should have them in your garden but in a confined space, like a cage. You should let them go out every once in a while but you need to be in control and be aware of them so they don't do anything wrong, like babysitting them