Garden: How To Keep Chickens Out Of Garden

Leave a reaction | Ayanda Kunene | Last modified September 4, 2023

Keeping free-range chickens is arguably one of the best aspects of backyard farming.

The chickens are happy, healthy, and provide loads of entertainment as they flock excitedly from one end of the property to the other hunting bugs and grubs. On sunny days, you can watch them lazing in the sunshine, digging their dust bath areas in the warm soft soil. You can almost hear them sigh with contentment.

There are downsides!. Its spring and you just laid down bags upon bags of mulch in your flower beds, or had every hard-laid bag of mulch redistributed onto your lawn. There are solutions for keeping chickens out of your gardens.

One of the most popular topics among free-range chicken owners is how to keep chickens from destroying flowers and vegetable gardens?. Once the ladies get a taste for young shoots or ripe tomatoes, you have a real problem on your hands.

They’re also notorious for waiting for the moment you leave after covering all your beds with mulch and digging through to find the insects. This effectively transfers all your mulch out of the beds and onto the lawn. There is nothing more aggravating.

Here are some tips for protecting your gardens.

Perimeter fencing is the most effective way to protect a garden. You can build one with any wire. The easiest to install is chicken wire or an electric fence. If you build a more solid fence, even if you clip their wings, the fence still needs to be 4 or 5 ft. tall.

Raised garden beds work well if you cover them with wire cloth or chicken wire. The best part about this type of fencing is that you can easily take it down after the garden is done for the season and let the chickens eat the insects and fertilize the area.

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Protect your mulch by placing chicken wire or wire cloth over the mulch and beds. This will prevent the birds from digging into the mulch. You can also place flat stones fairly close to one another on the mulch and around the plants. This will prevent the birds from relocating the mulch.

You can try using strong-smelling herbs and spices to deter your chickens from gardens. Some find this work and other personal accounts say the odors had no effect on keeping chickens away. The theory is the strong-smelling spices repel the chickens and discomfort is caused when they walk over the spices. The downside to the spices is that they need to be reapplied several times a day if it is very windy and after it rains, snows or there is heavy dew.

Keep in mind when starting a garden that well-established plants will survive much better than seeds or seedlings when you have chickens roaming about. If the hens do get through your fencing, an established plant will probably not be dug up or destroyed whereas small sprouts will be decimated.

For many winters, I’ve fenced my chickens in the garden area itself where I also happen to have perennial plants growing. These plants are very well established and are many years old. But when they begin to grow in the spring, the chickens devour them as fast as they can grow. Eventually I move the hens back to their coop area, and I’ve never had a problem with those older established plants growing and thriving.

Consistency Is Key!

The key to success with any system you use is consistency. Whether you are running out the door and spraying the intruders, or setting up a mechanical system, you have to consistently use the deterrent every day for at least a week. If you are not 100% consistent, the birds will not be trained to stay away. Consistency is necessary to break the habit.

Thank you for tuning in. I bless you.

Until next time.