Chickens in the garden

[jeremynj]

I am going to pen my chickens up in my vegetable garden for the winter so they can work their magic on the soil there. I think I will feed from scratch a lot more than from a feeder so they get more exercise and dig up more soil. They will be on the north side of my house so they won't get the most amount of sunlight.

Does anyone else do this as well and what have your experiences been ?

[NickieL]

I use a moveable pen to place them over parts of the garden. Due to restricticions, they can't be in a large run or free ranged. but they do a number on the patches I put them over! They can clear the ground in just a few days...with just 4 chickens.

[akane]

I used to throw a few bantams in the garden fence every fall and spring. They'd decimate any leftover vegetation I hadn't pulled and mix the compost in. We made a little 3x4' plywood box with door for them to go in to if necessary but light enough it could be picked up and moved.

[offGridNorthern]

My girls go in to the garden in the fall and again in the spring (before I start working the garden). They are great for clean-up!

I do it every year. they get a couple weeks of free food, then they go to scratching. After the middle of January, I go in and turn over the ground every week or 2, depending on the weather. Every time I turn the dirt, they find a few more grubs and a few more seeds to eat. A couple weeks before I'm going to plant the garden, I'll turn the ground every other day. The last time I do it, I drag everything out flat, and that night I'll get the chickens and move them, the next morning I start planting the garden. it helps the chickens and helps the garden. The eat seeds, grubs, and do some fertilizing. Here's a picture of last year, a few days before I took them out of the garden to their summer place...

[NickieL]

hehehe I love itzong!