Flower beds WITHOUT Chickens

[Carol Dee]

For the last 4 summers my flower beds in the back yard have been pitiful. The chickens would dig up, lay on etc.. al the plants. DH finally gave them away! Now I have my flower beds back and they look amazing!

 

[digitS']

I couldn't trust the chickens having the run of the backyard.

Even if they were only out on spring mornings before hoop house and greenhouse were opened up, they would even tear up perennial beds. They got into the rhubarb and chewed on the leaves. One pullet died that morning.

I set up temporary fencing on the Kentucky blue grass lawn but they became good enough scratchers to tear pieces of turf up.

Bringing weeds, trimmings, etc. to them proved the only tolerable way to go. One thing: in Southeast Asia, they can easily and regularly range a half mile from their village homes. Wild chickens in India are recorded to have ranges of that size even for small flocks. Too much is expected from "free-ranging" by many chicken owners. A 50' x 50' backyard can make only a small contribution to their diet.

Steve

 

[Carol Dee]

DH felt sorry for them in their pens. They where provided, clippings, weeds, kitchen scraps and reg. chicken feed. But he would turn them out into the yard and then forget to put them back. It only took a short time for them to do some real damage. I just gave up fighting him and the hens. So I am thrilled to have my flowers undisturbed this summer.

 

[thistlebloom]

Your flowerbeds look very appreciative Carol Dee!

I downsized my chickens and only keep 4 now. You'd think with that size flock and 10 acres they could manage to stay away from the house flowerbeds. There's plenty enough to keep them busy elsewhere, but they zero in on the flowerbeds within minutes and I'm shooing them away and having to keep watch. I don't like netting in my beds, I find it too fiddly and annoying (that's just me, I know others find it to be no problem) so my solution is to keep them on restriction. Sorry girls.

I felt sorry for them a few days ago and let them out about an hour before sunset, thinking they would surely not get into too much trouble before they headed for bed. Nope, they dug up the raspberries the neighbor gave me a couple weeks ago.

 

[Carol Dee]

Your flowerbeds look very appreciative Carol Dee!

I downsized my chickens and only keep 4 now. You'd think with that size flock and 10 acres they could manage to stay away from the house flowerbeds. There's plenty enough to keep them busy elsewhere, but they zero in on the flowerbeds within minutes and I'm shooing them away and having to keep watch. I don't like netting in my beds, I find it too fiddly and annoying (that's just me, I know others find it to be no problem) so my solution is to keep them on restriction. Sorry girls.

I felt sorry for them a few days ago and let them out about an hour before sunset, thinking they would surely not get into too much trouble before they headed for bed. Nope, they dug up the raspberries the neighbor gave me a couple weeks ago.

That sounds about right! silly birds.

 

[SweetMissDaisy]

My girls are grounded to their coop for more reasons than being bad gardeners. we have lots of big birds of prey here, not to mention past bad luck w neighbor dogs, so even when I let them out every now and then in the evening with supervision, I end up regretting it. They are spoiled with lots of goodies though, and not just from me... the neighbors love to bring treats over for them too, especially in the summer.

 

[SweetMissDaisy]

Carol, your beds look amazing! Love all the textures!

 

[SweetMissDaisy]

Speaking of chickens and gardens, just yesterday I put in a new flower bed at the end of their yard. It’s about 2.5’ wide x 10’ long..... I finally found a gold hops plant (Thistle, the cuttings I got from you didn’t survive) *cry* and I wanted to plant it at the end of the coop. So naturally that called for putting in an entire new bed. Ha! I also had a few other things I could transplant.

 

[Carol Dee]

Carol, your beds look amazing! Love all the textures!

Thank You Anna, your place always looks AMAZING so it is a great compliment

 

[thistlebloom]

View attachment 32331 Speaking of chickens and gardens, just yesterday I put in a new flower bed at the end of their yard. It’s about 2.5’ wide x 10’ long..... I finally found a gold hops plant (Thistle, the cuttings I got from you didn’t survive) *cry* and I wanted to plant it at the end of the coop. So naturally that called for putting in an entire new bed. Ha! I also had a few other things I could transplant.

Hey, I found a successful way to propagate hops. I just bury a stem and when it roots cut it off the mother vine. I gave away several already this year. Just a little note of caution here Anna, that sweet little hops you installed on your pen will get monstrous. You may have to relocate the other perennials next year. .
I planted a single on my garden fence and it's huge and needs whacking back to keep it from taking everything hostage.