Chickens in the garden can be both beneficial and challenging for gardeners. But most chicken farmers at some point tend to wonder if it’s worth the hassle.
On one hand, chickens can provide natural pest control and fertilizer. On the other hand, they can damage plants, disturb soil, and create a mess.
In this article, we will explore the advantages and disadvantages of chickens in the garden and ways to let them coexist peacefully. By the end of this article, you should have all the facts on the garden and chicken debate.
Advantages of Chickens in the Garden
- Natural Pest Control: Chickens love to eat insects and other small creatures that can damage plants. They will scratch and peck at the soil, finding all sorts of bugs to eat. This can greatly reduce the amount of non-natural pest control you place in your garden.
- Fertilizer: Chicken manure is a great natural fertilizer for your garden. It’s high in nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus which are essential nutrients for plant growth. Also known as black gold, chicken manure is one of the absolute best additions to fertilizing your garden.
- Entertainment: Chickens are fun to watch and can provide hours of entertainment. They have unique personalities and are curious by nature. It’s nice to be working in the garden while having them nearby clucking and running around.
- Physical and Mental Health: Allowing chickens to go through your garden is excellent for them physically and mentally. On the physical side, they are getting much-needed exercise and plenty of juicy bugs that contribute to a well-rounded diet. On the mental side, chickens are natural free-ranging animals, they love to be out of their coop scratching and running around being curious.
- Saves Money: Chickens in the garden provide free pest control and fertilizer. The bugs are also free nutrition for your chickens to aid in egg production.
Disadvantages of Chickens in the Garden
- Soil Disturbance: Chickens love to scratch and peck at the soil, which can disturb the delicate balance of your garden’s ecosystem. They can damage plant roots and uproot seedlings. Chickens also love to take dirt baths, which will leave nice holes in your garden. Chickens will also dig up and eat freshly planted seeds if they find them.
- Plant Damage: Chickens can damage plants by eating leaves, buds, fruits, and vegetables. They may also trample on plants, causing physical damage. If you like to eat it, chances are so do chickens!
- Mess: While chicken droppings can be great for your garden, it’s not so nice when they leave them on the vegetables or fruit that you’re planning on eating. Chickens can create a mess in your garden by scattering straw and bedding as well. This can be unsightly and even unhealthy if not cleaned up regularly.
- Noise: Roosters, while great at protecting their flock can cause an unusual amount of noise when navigating through the garden. Also, baby chicks can make quite a bit of noise just trying to keep up with their mother going through the garden. In general, chickens will be noisier in the garden than in the coop due to all the scratching and happy clucking. Chickens are more susceptible to being startled or put in danger outside the coop, which can also make them quite a bit noisier.
Helping Chickens Co-Exist Peacefully with Your Garden
Now that we’ve mentioned the advantages and disadvantages of chickens in the garden, let’s concentrate on how to maximize the advantages and minimize the disadvantages.
1. Use Fencing To Shield Garden Areas from Chickens
Installing chicken wire, or similar fencing is a great way to keep your chickens from tearing up your garden plants. If you plan to use fencing with larger holes than chicken wire, make sure you install it a bit further away from the plants since chickens can poke their heads through! I find the best way to install fencing, is to keep some T-posts handy and drive them into the freshly tilled earth and shape my fencing around it. This will allow your chickens to freely roam the areas of the garden that you permit.
Since the fence is around your plants, no chicken droppings should get on them either, which eliminates most of our mess issues.
While this is the most effective method, it’s also considered to be the hardest method. Installing fences will be extra work for you while gardening, and you’ll find yourself needing to adjust it based on where you’re needing it at the time.
If you’re looking for a good type of chicken wire or hardware cloth and aren’t sure which to get, check out my article on Hardware Cloth vs Chicken Wire!
2. Grant Garden Access to Hens Only
While roosters are protective of their flocks, they tend to cause more harm than good once in the garden. For example, roosters tend to chase hens around at random for seemingly no reason which can cause a chicken to get scared into your freshly planted vegetables. Roosters also tend to make a whole lot of noise compared to hens when free-ranging. While roosters fulfill the role of the flock’s protector, they constantly are alerting the flock about potential threats through their clucking.
Baby chicks are also not a great idea to let roam your garden. Not only do they make tons of noise, but baby chicks also seem to get stuck in places they aren’t supposed to be. Remember, if you install fencing, baby chicks can walk right through some types of fencing if young enough, causing them to get separated from their mother. Once in the wrong area, the mother may cause a ruckus trying to get to that baby.
Broody Hens are also not a welcome sight to gardens. To a chicken, a garden can be a perfect place to sit on eggs away from predators. A pea patch for instance can provide an abundance of cover for a broody hen to safely hatch her young, not to mention she has plenty of food nearby! Broody hens tend to make nests for their young and will destroy a good area in the pea patch to ensure their young are well hidden and comfortable when hatched.
The only chicken you want in your garden is a non-broody hen. They will cause the least amount of trouble on all accounts.
3. Use Chickens on the Border of the Garden
This may seem obvious, but if you don’t want your chickens to mess up your garden, don’t let them in the actual garden. Chickens are able to greatly help the garden by surrounding the borders of your garden. If you put fencing around your garden, your hens can keep most bugs from ever getting into your garden without endangering your fruits and vegetables. If you’re trying to find a new place for a chicken run, consider placing it on the borders of your garden. Your chickens will love you for it since gardens always attract tons of bugs!
4. Determine the Right Times to Let Chickens into Your Garden
There are good times to let chickens into your gardens, and then there are bad times. Generally, the best times to let your chickens into your garden are, after you’ve tilled, but before planting and after your plants are done producing for the year. Chickens will happily eat up any bugs in your gardens before you’ve planted and will absolutely love the fresh-tilled earth to scratch around in.
If you have some compost to place in the garden, make sure to put it in the garden with the chickens as well, they will not only scatter it for you, but they’ll end up burying it while scratching around in the fresh dirt! It’s even a good idea to let your chickens have access to the compost first before placing it in the garden so they can get rid of any unwanted bugs before it gets placed in the garden.
Once your garden is done for the year, it’s a great idea to let the chickens in and let them have at it! Chickens will find any vegetables and fruits you may have missed as well as get rid of any of the bugs that are still lingering.
Remember, any time you don’t have a garden planted is a good time for chickens to be in them. Chickens are excellent at weed and bug control year around.
Table Summary
| Advantages of Chickens in the Garden | Disadvantages of Chickens in the Garden | Methods to Let Chickens and Gardens Co-Exist |
|---|---|---|
| Natural Pest Control | Soil Disturbance | Use Fencing to Shield Garden Areas from Chickens |
| Natural Fertilizer | Plant Damage | Grant Garden Access to Hens Only |
| Entertainment | Can make a Mess | Use Chickens at Garden Border |
| Physical and Mental Health | Will be Noiser | Determine the Right Times to Let Chickens into Your Garden |
| Saves Money |
This article was originally published on farmapt.com. If it is now published on any other site, it was done without permission from the copyright owner.
Conclusion
In conclusion, chickens can be both beneficial and challenging for gardeners. While they provide natural pest control, fertilizer, and entertainment, they can also cause soil disturbance, plant damage, mess, and noise. However, with some careful planning and management, chickens and gardens can coexist peacefully. By using fencing to shield garden areas from chickens and granting garden access to hens only, you can maximize the advantages and minimize the disadvantages of having chickens in the garden. With proper care and attention, your garden can thrive while your chickens enjoy a happy and healthy free-range lifestyle.