Considering adding chickens to your garden plan? Read this article first.
The coexistence of gardens and chickens is a debatable issue. There is a certain amount of literature on sustainable gardening techniques for the farmer using chickens in the garden as an aid, but when you read suggestions on how this works, you realize that a lot of advice focuses on keeping chickens OUT of the garden with a few exceptions. And many experienced gardeners and chicken farmers will agree with this sentiment. Yes it’s correct; Overall, chickens are lovable destructive forces of nature that sometimes thank you with eggs, but that’s not enough when it comes to total destruction of your flower beds. Is it even possible to allow chickens and their gardens to exist, together, permanently and happily? Well, we’re here to tell you that it IS possible under the right circumstances. In fact, it is!
Through years of trial and error and patience, and through much research and discussion among fellow gardeners, farmers, and backyard chicken keepers, we’ve compiled a general guide on how to make chickens and gardens coexist happily. And it’s possible to make it happen no matter where you live or how you live, or how many birds you have, with a few tweaks and reality checks.
Many people will recommend keeping chickens indoors, which of course solves all these problems. And for many reasons, keeping chickens running around is a great idea. However, many of us recognize the dangers of the free range and risk it for the benefits. This article refers to these chicken keepers and garden diggers.
Accept that there are plants that will always be the target of chickens.
First of all, there are plants that it will be impossible to allow chickens access to without total disaster. Consider just about anything you find edible, whether it’s leafy greens or fruit-bearing plants, to make it on the menu. Chickens will obsessively devour these foods, digging up shallow potatoes and devouring them, and jumping to tall tomatoes on tall vines for a chance to peck at a sweet, juicy tomato. Even the oldest, most experienced chickens who turn up their noses at a lettuce treat will still eat it and scratch it to nothing, even if there are plenty of bugs and worms abound, given enough time. We’ve compiled a list of edibles that chickens are sure to destroy, and if you grow them with free-range chickens, your only hope is to completely enclose these plants from chickens with a good fence.
*Tomatoes
*peas
* Berries of all kinds
*Green leafy vegetables
*Most kitchen herbs, especially green fleshy new growth
*Pumpkins, summer and winter, and even pumpkins
*Beans
*Corn
*Quinoa
*Sorghum
*Sunflower Shorts
*Amaranth
* Tomatoes
* Sweet, Mild and Even Squeaky Hot Peppers
*Eggplant
And whatever else you find tasty, they will too. There have been some exceptions. For example, in my experience, I have yet to have chickens destroy the roots of tubers, but gobble up the tips. I’ve heard of chickens scratching up potatoes and eating them, but mine haven’t done that yet in my potato patch, and mine have generally left the tomato leaves alone.
Give them space and minimal fencing work.
The good news is that if your chickens have access to lots of productive feeding areas, they will generally leave the vegetables alone. They are also easily distracted and even small fences that they can’t really figure out seem to annoy them enough that they don’t bother trying to get past the barrier problem. For example, my flock of ten hens and one rooster are kept out of the garden beds by two foot high chicken wire fencing with about a half acre of free range area. That’s it. Plants will grow over the top of fences and sometimes get nibbled on, but my chickens won’t bother trying to jump over a chicken wire fence if they have lots of other things to do and eat. Short picket fences of roughly the same height have also been reported to have the same effect. As long as a chicken can’t easily crawl under or through a gap, as long as there’s plenty of room to occupy their minds and stomachs, they give up barriers pretty quickly. A short picket or chicken wire fence is also inexpensive, easy and quick to install.
There are some ornamental plants, such as plants that you would put in containers like salvias, petunias, marigolds, impatiens, coleus and others that chickens like to eat too. Include them in inaccessible areas or baskets like tall hanging baskets or planters, and you won’t have a problem.
With the right plants, you can enjoy the benefits of scratching and pecking!
Honestly, there are a lot of things chickens do that HELP plants, with all the scratching, pooping, and pecking they do. Around the bases of my established shrubs and trees, they clear weeds and grubs, and remove insects from the plants, from the soil, and even from the air. Since we established chickens on our property, we have noticed a drastic reduction in mosquitoes, as the chickens pick up larvae from the pools and pond, and eat the mosquitoes that buzz in the air. Chickens can help keep containers of stubborn petunias bushy and clean by incessantly pecking at new growth, although this should be watched. There are perennials that chickens generally ignore that work fantastic in the landscape as well, and are rapidly filling the beds that chickens have access to.
These plants include:
* Lilies
*Liatris
* Resilient Sages
*Strong Lavender
* Evergreen trees such as junipers and pines
*Creeping thyme
* Thinking
*Mallows and all mallow
*marigolds
* Hens and chicks
*Yucca
*sedums
*Astilbes
*Jacob’s Ladder
*Aruncus (all types it seems)
*Grasses and plants native to the prairies of North America in general
*Pulmonaria
There are many others, and a lot of figuring out which plants will leave your chickens alone will involve a lot of trial and error. For example, I’ve heard from many other chicken farmers that their ferns and hosta are completely ignored by chickens, but mine were eaten immediately after my chickens discovered my shade garden.
Maintaining mulch in the garden is a bit of a hassle for chickens, but a weekly rake helps not only remove weeds chickens miss (like those little woody tree sprouts!) and problems (and enjoy, of course!).
If you want birds but are still not convinced… get ducks.
And, if your heart is set on a couple of farm birds for pets and eggs and to help out in the garden and you’re not yet willing to risk your hard work in the garden, consider the humble duck. Ducks are kind to the garden, eating bugs, fertilizing as they go, but not scratching or destroying plants. There has been one exception to this in my experience. My poor elephant ear bulb sprouts haven’t had a chance with the ducks, but that’s been my only bad experience. Those wide, flexible feet walk on the soles, but never damage them. Ducks will decimate slug, snail and grub problems very quickly, and for the fast bird they will also destroy grasshopper populations. Even in a small yard, a small barrier keeps them away too. And on a breeding note, ducks are calm and healthy animals compared to chickens, and they are less needy. A duck or two might be a better option for the gardener!
Chickens and gardens are possible with careful consideration and many exceptions. We hope this article gives you hope and a better idea of what to expect when keeping a garden and chickens together.