My Pet Chicken Blog

How many of us have some unwanted  garden helpers? I may have a few chicken garden helpers here and there.

“We were looking for bugs and worms, we swear! I promise I wasn’t eating your pak choy!”

Likely story, Nugget. No one is buying it.

I could put in a higher fence, as even my fattest hens can easily scale my low, 4-foot fence when the motivation is free reign of the garden… but if I did, then my feathery garden helpers wouldn’t have the opportunity to tear up my newly planted vegetables or eat all the tomatoes and squash, right?

“Excuse me, Treat-bringer. There is nothing to see here. Nothing at all. Move along now…”

Most of the time, I don’t mind the hens in my garden. They keep the bugs down, go after squash bugs like crazy, slurp down slugs, and will sometimes even discourage ants! Other times I really wish I had put in that taller fence.

I’ve tried a number of different quick-fix approaches to keep the hens from destroying the garden.  Temporary fencing, “raised” beds with a hardware-cloth cover over the carrot patch, dollar-store trash cans and laundry baskets over new plants. But normally, to prevent my garden helpers from tearing up newly planted sprouts, or scratching up my freshly-sown seeds, I usually have to keep the hens in their run for at least three weeks.

Clearly, I haven’t had much luck, as these ladies do what they want.

However, once the garden takes off, I am always grateful for their help.

Take that, squash bugs!

Zing-POW, grubs!

KABLAMMO, cabbage starts—OOPS!

Silly chickens!

There ARE actually some good strategies to successfully combine chickens and gardening—even a great tip for keeping your chickens from scattering your mulch!—but somehow I just find myself in the eternal struggle. What do you do to keep your hens out of your gardens and landscaping?