4 Ways Your Chickens Can Help With Yard Work

Having chickens in your backyard can be more than just a source of fresh eggs; they can also be invaluable helpers in maintaining your outdoor space. Chickens help with yard work in various ways, from pest control to composting. These feathered friends can make a significant difference in keeping your yard healthy and thriving. In this blog post, we will share four ways that chickens assist with yard work, turning them into indispensable partners in my gardening efforts. 

4 Ways your chicken flock can help with Yard Work: 

1. Pest Control: One of the most efficient natural methods of bug reduction is having free-ranging chickens. Chickens help with yard work by patrolling the area for countless hours, tirelessly watching for the tiniest twinge of movement in the grass. They move through the lawn like a front across a weather map, each chicken watching her own space for a treat. When one lucky hen finds a jackpot, the others quickly take notice and scramble to get their share.

2. Weeding: Another way chickens help with yard work is by weeding. They are excellent at clearing a space for a garden. Integrating chickens into your garden not only helps with weeding but also contributes to a healthier ecosystem. Their efforts in pest control and fertilization, combined with their weeding prowess, make them indispensable partners in maintaining a thriving garden. By leveraging the natural behaviors of chickens, gardeners can achieve a more sustainable and productive outdoor space. 

Here’s how chickens help with weeding:

• Constant foraging
• Targeting weed seeds
• Clearing garden beds
• Weed Control in hard to reach places
• Chemical free weeding

The coolest part of the pest control and weeding is that it all translates into more nutritious eggs than you can get at a grocery store!

3. Fertilizing: Chickens also play a vital role in fertilizing your garden. Their natural behaviors and poop can significantly enhance soil fertility, leading to healthier plants and more bountiful harvests. This natural, sustainable approach to fertilization not only benefits your plants but also reduces the need for synthetic fertilizers, promoting a healthier ecosystem overall.

By incorporating chickens into your gardening routine, you can take advantage of their natural fertilizing abilities. Whether through direct manure deposition, composting contributions, or enhancing soil structure, chickens help create a more fertile and productive garden environment.

4. Working compost.

Chickens are excellent composting partners, providing invaluable assistance in breaking down organic matter and accelerating the composting process. By incorporating chickens into your compost management system, you can create rich, fertile compost more efficiently.

By allowing chickens to work your compost pile, you can create high-quality compost with less effort. Their natural behaviors support the decomposition process, enhance nutrient content, and help manage pests. This symbiotic relationship not only benefits your composting efforts but also provides your chickens with a stimulating and nutritious environment. The result is rich, fertile compost that can significantly improve soil health and plant growth in your garden.

Do not count on your chickens' help for mulching jobs.

If you have those beautiful, manicured, picture-perfect flower beds, chickens will almost certainly not be welcome helpers. If you don't take proper precautions, your chickens will do yard work you don't want them to do. They will rake every bit of mulch out of a bed and into the yard. They do look cute while they're doing it, though. Once you've tired of their adorable antics, and you're looking for some real-world solutions to chickens v. flower beds, learn how to keep your chickens from scattering mulch.

How do you have your chickens do yardwork? Please let us know in the comments!