Chickens should be corralled in some way, but I have one Houdini chicken that cannot be contained unless locked in the coop. And I’m not going to do that to her. So, I have chicken-damage.
Hens do three very damaging things to my garden. Scratch, dust bathe, and peck. They scratch the dirt looking for bugs. They wiggle down into the loamy soil and flig it EVERYWHERE. The poor little seedlings never have a chance. And in the summer, they peck the veggies. I’ll deal with that third one later. Today, let’s tackle one and two.
To avoid the two most annoying problems in my garden, scratching and dust bathing, I installed this just after seeding the fall garden:
It’s just a width of chicken wire strung over some strategically placed nails. The other two beds of mine have been destroyed, but these two remain untouched by chicken kind.
This works great for above ground ‘greens’ crops, but for below ground crops, you will want to seed around the edges so you can peel up your wire and get them out. In the middle, you’ll never get to them without ripping up all your other plants that have grown through the wire. But, for lettuces and other above ground crops, this set up is just fine anywhere.
Mine doesn’t even reach across the whole bed, but they hate it. I think I’ll do the same thing in the summer, but cut holes for transplants, like tomatoes. Or come spring, I’ll have a few of these:
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That’s a great idea! Its a choice you have to make I guess, free range chickens or free range veg!!! Very impressed with the handy work!
I need to buy stock in chicken wire…I recently wrote about my crafty chickens, too…where there’s a will, there’s a way. And they want IN THAT GARDEN!
Have you tried clipping the flight feathers on one wing? That can help keep them from flying up to fences and jumping over, and it doesn’t hurt.
Perhaps you are going to practice ‘Cubed Foot Gardening’ next year??
Great ideas!
I’ve tried the wing-clipping, to no avail.
Last summer, I discovered my husband and daughter intentionally putting the chickens in with baby zucchini plants.
Yes, I threatened to clip their wings, too.
I understand your issues as I have them also, but with ducks. I’m very impressed with your fortress
http://www.whatupduck.com
One year, we pounded some 1′ lenths of 1″ pvc into the corners of the garden, and a couple on the sides. Then we stood up 5′ sections of 3/4″ pvc in them for posts. We used plastic chicken mesh and zip ties to attach it to the posts, and it made a great chicken fence. It was easy to take up when the garden was done too. For a gate, we just used a couple of spring clips to hook the free end of the mesh to an anchored section. If I had longer legs I could have just stepped over it. The chickens were too scared of it to try jumping over, and it didn’t even look bad from the road. Oh yeah, this was to keep the chickens out, not in.