COPYRIGHT © 2020 ASK THE EXPERTS LLC. An orchard, patch of meadow, or paddock would be ideal, but even the smallest garden can take a couple of Bantams. If you cultivate your whole plot, decide how much you are prepared to sacrifice to your chicken flock’s territory, but bear in mind, the more space you dedicate to your flock, the less you’ll notice their predations. 12 Replies 4036 Views March 16, 2012, 20:18 by Yorkie : Keeping chickens in the garden Started by Batloaf on The Hen House. Thanks for reading. Like all of us, hens have varied appetites for plants. While the UK government does not require you to register with DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) if you have under 50 poultry (poultry includes chickens, geese, ducks, partridge, turkeys, quail, pheasants, pigeons for meat, emu, ostrich, guinea fowl and rhea) you do have to register if that number exceeds 50 at any one time to the Poultry Register. What stories can you share about chicken environments gone wrong? I’m not going to lie and tell you that chickens do what they are supposed to do. Stripping certain plants of their leaves and flowers. We occasionally link to goods offered by vendors to help the reader find relevant products. This makes it easy to block off the peppers and tomatoes from the late-producing winter squash. I keep two chickens in my garden! They’ll provide you with excellent manure, control pests and offer some of the tastiest eggs you’ll ever eat, but sharing your garden with chickens takes careful planning, as long-time hen keeper Francine Raymond explains. Place Garden Staples. Areas of new planting and salad beds should be netted  or covered with permanent low cages; up-turned hanging basket frames are useful. Keeping poultry in the garden Started by tosca100 on The Hen House. Chickens seem made to stretch your expectations, and challenge the typical gardener. Then I move them into the chicken run in the spring where they’ll live all summer, so they won’t eat up the garden. A chicken run is an excellent option for giving your birds an opportunity to scratch and forage without tearing up your veggie patch- if you can build one that actually contains them while giving them enough space to roam. If you’ve read any of my previous posts about winter chicken care, you’ll know that I am a firm believer in NOT adding electricity to the chicken coop. henkeepersassociation.co.uk for chicken advice and support. I have had seasons where there were more eggs than eggplants in my garden! Keeping Chickens. The fourth side is where I like to let my plants “do their thing.” If you keep roosters, you know that they have a purpose. If you’re keeping your chickens in a chicken tractor–a chicken tractor is a house your chickens sleep in that is light enough so you can move it around–you can plant your garden beds where the chicken tractor used to sit. The easiest way to keep chickens out of your yard or garden is to fence them out. What do you think about that? Here is more about what we do. Hens are excellent pest controllers, first-class weed seed devourers, and supply the best eggs you’ll ever taste. They joined the older one for nearly 4 weeks. 4 Replies 10180 Views January 13, 2008, 14:18 by scara : keeping hens near mine Started by karlooben on The Hen House I have done this with just three sides of my garden most years. Do your best to keep broody hens near their regular laying boxes. I’m not going to lie and tell you that chickens do what they are supposed to do. These include setting proper boundaries, and implementing safer ways to integrate the worlds of fowl and flora. Choose the right chicken, and you’ll have far fewer bad behaviors to deal with! If you are in love with the idea of having your chickens work the garden, and you are beyond frustrated with trying to keep them sorted out, perimeter work may be for you. By entering your details, you are agreeing to Gardens Illustrated terms and conditions and privacy policy. • I use flowerpot saucers for feed (one per bird) that I clear away at night to deter vermin. Some hens have feathered legs, which can make them less likely to scratch in flowerbeds. Children will learn a lot from your chickens and with supervision it can become an absorbing hobby. I cover the garden with netting so they can’t fly out and predators can’t fly in. The truth about why I homestead has forced me to be realistic concerning the facts about chickens and my harvest. If you’re keeping chickens in a small garden, I’d recommend the following breeds: Smaller breeds, such as Pekin and Silkie. My free range chickens know how to fly, so putting them in just a fenced area is probably not going to work. Keeping chickens in the garden is the perfect way to boost the quality of your compost, as well as enriching the soil across your entire garden. You can also erect fences if you are having trouble keeping chickens out of the garden. That’s why I liked the idea of her chicken run. Here are some of the best ways I know to maintain harmony between chickens and the garden. Building a chicken run along the outside walls of your garden is better than nothing. Keeping chickens is a great time waster, but it is time spent enjoying your garden, and it can soon develop into an all consuming passion. Should I… Read more », Where are you located, Jenny? Hi Joyce, great question! A chicken tractor that you move every day down rows of your garden will allow the chickens to eat bugs, scratch around and aerate your soil, fertilize and generally be happy chickens, while also protecting your plants from chicken attacks. If at any point they find the greens to be tasty enough to reach for, they get put back into perimeter duty. But they also cause hens to fight and distract from the job of pest control. Plants with thorns like roses or sunflower plant possessing strong … A hybrid hen will reliably lay an egg a day for a couple years, as will a pure breed hen during her first year, but in subsequent years as her laying season shortens, she’ll lay less. Ideally, you want the hens to lay in the coop before they go out into the garden. That’s why you should be on the lookout for the following troublemakers who would be better off free ranging in the field than inside the fence with your plants: These gals will find a place to nest (usually somewhere in the wild mass of overgrown tomatoes) and refuse to leave. There is, if truth be known no economic benefit in keeping chickens at home for eggs these days but the difference in freshness and quality beats shop bought eggs by a long way and the pleasure in seeing a group of hens scratching around the garden providing you with a daily dose of amusement as well as organic bug control makes them so worth while. I keep them in the garden during winter season (when nothing’s growing in the garden), let them poop everywhere on the mulch (till-free gardening). Garden fences are prime real estate for many of my experiments, so I’m not willing to give them all up to the chickens! Hens don’t need a cockerel for them to produce eggs, and without crowing, there’s no reason why neighbours should complain, and the occasional half dozen eggs will compensate for the odd cluck. You can read Why We Don’t Add Lights To The Chicken Coop for more details on why not. The coop can be built to your own specifications, other garden buildings such as a shed can be converted and re-purposed as a coop, or most people purchase one that is either ready built or that needs assembling. Sign in to manage your newsletter preferences. They are also plant pluckers, mulch movers, and diggers of hen-size holes in any soft soil left open to them, so keeping chickens in the garden comes with special challenges. It is to feed my family. The broody, five-year-old Black Australorp hen with ideas about the world is not. The other two 20-week-old ones haven’t laid yet. To prevent unsightly pockmarks created by hens’ dust bathing, it’s wise to supply a purpose-built dust bath below the henhouse, by putting the building on legs and boarding the space underneath it. Chicken poo is one of the best fertilizers for your garden. I have a problem with chooks - my own chooks, which I like to let out in the late afternoon for a wander and a peck about. Surely, I must be doing something wrong in keeping chickens and garden separate? • For easy cleaning, line your hen house floor with newspaper – I remove the top sheet every day. I’ve taken to covering the whole bed, which is a hassle when I need to work in there… Read more ». In my many years of attempting to give the birds small, carefully monitored roles in the garden ecosystem, I have learned a few things. Given time they will reduce a small lawn to bare earth. The use of pebble stones, bricks or cement blocks is also a practical idea on how to keep chickens out of garden. Fill this area with ash from a wood fire or sandpit sand. I’d never recommend those with a new garden to keep chickens; wait until plants are established to a reasonable size. The most important decision is your choice of breed. Of course, it takes management to share your garden with chickens, but I can’t imagine mine without them. Just like us, there are some scents that chickens can’t stand – … We’d love to see photos if you do try this DIY project- be sure to share them with us on Facebook, and check in with your progress! I live in Haringey North London and can’t find anything on their website regarding keeping chickens in my council house garden ???. I've had them since October 2005, and they have proven invaluable. However, if your chickens are regarded as a nuisance or a health hazard, or their welfare is affected they can be removed. Use Raised Beds and Pots. by Dianne Brehaut (Blackheath NSW) I do enjoy your newsletters and have just had a good read of the link on pests and recipes for sprays. Ask feed merchants, go to poultry shows, read the poultry press, or go online, but always visit before buying. If you follow a few basic ideas, you’ll be keeping … Hens that lay a lot, eat a lot, and if what’s on offer is your garden, well you won’t have much of your garden left. The fourth side is where I like to let my plants “do their thing.”. This method of keeping backyard chickens includes the metal chicken tractor within a wire fenced area of about 30m2 in our orchard. I wasn’t sure if that would be enough to keep the bugs down or not. Chickens make great slug munchers, but don’t let them near your vegetable patch. During most of those years, we tended to large gardens and kept a sizeable flock of poultry. Droppings that fall on beds soon disappear (home-reared chicken manure is less acidic than that from commercial birds), and mixed with bedding, feathers and leftovers will turn into excellent compost. We are here for you. By scratching … ). I read that using a pooper scooper and putting it all in a compost pile is the best option. Most eggs are laid before 10am, so if it’s after that, you should be fine without a portable laying box. Protect the base of newly planted trees and shrubs with large pebbles or flints. Also, what age are your hens? • Fence the run with weld mesh panels. The rising popularity of back garden chicken-keeping has been fuelled by the growing range of henhouses on the market, in particular, the plastic ‘Eglus’, available in multiple colours from Omlet. This is the easiest way to keep chickens out of the garden. October 11, 2018 at 5:00 pm Reply. Hens are omnivores. So if they are young, you should start by training the… Read more ». Which henhouse is best for keeping chickens? Keeping healthy free range chickens sometimes means having to sacrifice part of your garden. You can convert an existing shed, provided it’s waterproof and draught-proof, but you’ll need to drill some ventilation holes above head height. Enjoyed the post very much. As Tillers. I wish I could swear chickens make the best under-gardeners, but the most I can promise is they add movement, colour and drama, that my egg rack is full of the tastiest eggs and I’m never alone when gardening. Pure breeds need less space, they live longer and, because they lay fewer eggs, their appetites are smaller. First, consider your garden. While they can coexist, there are some deliberate (and often labor-intensive) steps that you’ll need to take to keep both birds and growers happy! I leave perennials uncut during winter and then cut back in spring, leaving six inches  of stem to protect new shoots. On to eggs. They tend to get tripped up and lost in the maze of plants. There are always some tradeoffs when animals and vegetables are sharing space in the garden, wouldn’t you agree? “Time Zone Gardening” (as I’ve dubbed it) puts plants that produce at around the same time together. If you're used to buying our magazine from the shops,  you can now order and receive the next issue delivered to your home. The clucking of contented hens also adds a new level of homeliness to a back garden. If you keep the ground of your garden densely covered but have a separate area of bare ground within view, most chickens will leave the garden behind and gravitate toward the uncovered soil. If they are used to laying regularly in the coop, then you could leave the door open for them so that they can get back in. I have got 3 hens. If you’re keeping just a few birds, you may not notice their presence too much, but terraces will still need to be swept and paths cleaned with a burst of a high-powered hose. It’s everywhere. Overzealous pumpkin vines are redirected to this fourth wall, or I may allow an heirloom cucumber to make its home here. Chickens can be absolute gems for your garden if you section of precious areas and move them around frequently. How much feed they need depends on how much access they have to your garden. On the subject of poisons, hens either avoid or are not affected by plants that are dangerous to humans. Fence off an area of your yard for your chickens. Again, this is probably best for the better-behaved, smaller hens. All you need to keep chickens in your garden is a coop or hen house and an enclosed run. Tiny bantams who have no idea that there is life outside the netting are ideal for this type of environment. These should be folded out into an apron to prevent predators digging and, if foxes are a problem, cover the roof with fruit cage netting. The truth about why I homestead has forced me to be realistic concerning the facts about chickens and my harvest. A run can be an integral part of the coop's design or you can construct one using wire mesh. Discover some of the most glorious gardens from around the world.Find out more, Already have an account with us? Even now, I have a flock of 50 or more, and my garden plots seem to multiply every growing season. Why & How You Should Lime Your Lawn and Garden, Add Cooling Crunch to Your Cuisine All Season: How to Grow Cucumbers, Satin Flower: Darling of the Pacific Coast, What Every Gardener Should Know about Peat Moss (Plus 5 Alternatives), 23 of the Best Defensive Plants for Your Landscape, Garden Folklore Galore: Reviewing Popular Garden Myths, Plant Spanish Flag For Unusual and Brilliant Late Summer Color, How to Identify and Treat Common Rose Diseases, The Best Natural Methods to Protect Your Garden from Slugs and Snails. Chicken tractor with fence. Even the pins on Pinterest make it sound so beautiful. Every few years or so, I’ll see an article in a magazine, glamorizing the “chicken-friendly garden.” It will include idyllic photos of small red Bantams plucking beetles from a new squash vine. We've already covered things to look out for in the Vegetable Garden (see Chickens and the Vegetable Patch), so now we'll have a look at the general garden. One chicken can till 50 square feet of established sod in just 4-6 weeks! no wing clipping or other modifications), they can – and will – learn to fly as high as their little wings will take them. Very few will think to crawl underneath, but you can always use small tent pins or a similar stake-type fastener to secure the fencing to the ground soil. Chicks are better off in a more secure and less overgrown environment. Most hens will start laying around 18 weeks of age, but this isn’t always the case. I have yet to decide if we will deal with the hassle of putting fowl in the gardens this year. The chickens enjoyed the garden very much and want to be outside the run all the time. I have lived on a farm or homestead for 32 of my 39 years of life. Creating a “dust-bath” in the newly tilled soil and smothering any vegetation growing there. Useful resources: flytesofancy.co.uk for chicken coups and supplies. I love the cockerel’s dawn alarm, but many don’t. The compact designs fit easily into even small-ish back gardens, need … At the very least, it’s easy enough to allow them to free-range in my large watermelon and squash patch in the weeks before the fruit sets on, where there is no fencing or other infrastructure to deal with. A little too much...and now your grass is ripped up, your flowers trampled and your vegetables eaten. Ever. That time is essentially after the plants have grown to a size that they won’t be easily mowed down by hungry, broody, or molting hens. I love my little hens. poultrychat.com for help and discussion. Weeds and rotted fruits should get tossed to your hens daily. The most important of these is that these creatures want what they want and are very, very destructive to plants and their fruits. My number one goal in gardening, however, is not to offer them a place to hang out. Make sure it’s predator-proof, unless you’re able to keep an eye on them at all times while they’re enjoying a little play time. You can give your garden the best possible chance of survival by dividing your zones with deer or rabbit fencing. Thanks for this realistic view. How to keep chickens out of garden? They didn't start laying til late November 2005 but have since then produced six eggs each per week (apart from a short spell in summer when the weather was unbearably hot - I think they were protesting! What may be the perfect occasion to provide a little pest control for the squash is ill-timed for the tiny, tender green tomatoes that would just be setting on late in July. poultryclub.org for pure breed clubs. Use Herbs to Repel Your Chickens. It sounds like you have very happy hens and that’s a great way to fertilize the garden! Then fill the nest boxes with straw, hemp or shredded paper. Chickens and gardens CAN live together, so long as everyone knows their place. Apt plants for your yard- If you give importance to tall plants in your garden, then it will not allow the entry of chicks in your backyard. How can backyard chickens help my garden? The yard is beautiful and I want to enjoy it but the poop is too much. This type of gardening only works with very clear boundaries! Garden chickens are gifted compost shredders. Even if you don’t have any plants in your garden, just a lawn, chickens will still scratch up the grass to make dirt baths for themselves and search for food. Sawdust takes longer to rot down on the compost heap. Building a chicken run along the outside walls of your garden is better than nothing. What should I do? Some say chickens won’t like the feeling of the rocks on their feet so this may deter them, but only a real-world test will provide the proof you need- as I’m sure you know, it’s difficult to stop a determined chicken, to the point where some will hurt themselves to gain access to an enticing food source. I made them a run (4×2 meters) and a large garden. kitchen-garden-hens.co.uk for chicken books, blog and courses. Chicken manure can be put into compost where it will be turned into a safer, less nitrogen-rich version than when delivered “in person.” Even eggs shells can be ground down into a fine soil additive for good plant root health! I would always cloche seedlings, fresh growth and newly planted treasures. • Choose a spot to site your chicken run, as spacious, secure and close to the house as possible. I have done this with just three sides of my garden most years. If you have large enough space to divide up your … Finally, if you’re looking for an easier way to let poultry have their fun and do a little pest-control work while they’re at it, put them around your raised beds. Your chickens’ main enemies are uncontrolled dogs, foxes of course, badgers and, if you live by a river, mink. When she’s not working on her next fantasy novel, you will find her in her kitchen, perfecting the Danish recipes of her grandmother with those special ingredients you can only find in a backyard garden. The reason for this is so any substantial poultry owner… But young hens may become confused. But unfortunately, your chickens love your garden too! Chickens can rotate through the zones at the appropriate times, causing little damage from their overzealous grazing or scratching. In this way, you can keep your chickens out of your flower beds. They are wonderful and inquisitive creatures, and their eggs make me so happy! Chickens can make quite a difference in keeping grasshopper and slug populations down by only working the outside edges. Photographs Andrew Montgomery. In either case, you’ll need a henhouse – a chance to show off your decorative flair – inside a secure run. An absorbing hobby creating a “ dust-bath ” in the garden s favourite meal is another s. 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