rarara Posted March 5, 2009 Share Posted March 5, 2009 Please. I want to know how much damage they do - really Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 5, 2009 Share Posted March 5, 2009 well, it really depends on how much free ranging time you're going to give them. Ours free range when the weather is nice for about 30 mins to an hour a day, just to get a good stretch of the legs If DH is working in the garden, they can be out for nigh on a full day sometimes. The rest of the time they live in a fairly spacious walk-in run. If you let them free range all day every day they will trash your garden. Here's some pics taken after about 12 months of chicken keeping. They do chuck the soil out of the borders and chuck the stones from the path all over the place but it takes moments to brush it all back into place. The end of the garden, where the fruit and veg grows, is fenced off to keep them out http://www.liverpoolpoet.talktalk.net/290808.8.jpg http://www.liverpoolpoet.talktalk.net/290908.2.jpg http://www.liverpoolpoet.talktalk.net/290908.6.jpg http://www.liverpoolpoet.talktalk.net/290908.7.jpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluekarin Posted March 5, 2009 Share Posted March 5, 2009 Can I have your garden Poet? Mine is looking very sorry for itself. I really want to get our run built to contain them for most of the week. I'll post a pic when I get it onto photobucket (last time I tried I got very cross with it ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rarara Posted March 5, 2009 Author Share Posted March 5, 2009 If I get chickens will my garden look like yours? Tis lovely Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 5, 2009 Share Posted March 5, 2009 thank you but it's all down to my hubbie, he's a marvel Hope the pics helped you make your mind up anyway Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poachedegg Posted March 5, 2009 Share Posted March 5, 2009 This is ours in the first week of February - not bad seeing as nothing has had chance to grow yet! We are similar to Poet in that ours only come out when we are in the garden, most days, but not for a long length of time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atsw Posted March 5, 2009 Share Posted March 5, 2009 I'll post a pic when I get it onto photobucket (last time I tried I got very cross with it ) If that fails, give ImageShack® a try. Uploaded images have to be less than 1.53 megabytes when using the free version, which can be an issue for the very high resolution camera's you get today, but other than that, it seems easy enough to use. It has an automatic option to reduce the hosted image size down to 320 x 240 especially for e-mail and websites (which ensures the picture stays within the forum thread). It will also give you the links which will put your pictures into any posts you make without having to use any of the buttons on the Omlet forum. Andrew Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madchickenlady Posted March 5, 2009 Share Posted March 5, 2009 Hmmm. I haven't got a chicken trashed garden! I have pekin bantams, and they don't really scratch, so my garden is very much intact. They do poo everywhere, and roll over all my young plants , but to be honest my sons create more mayhem than my six girls Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluekarin Posted March 5, 2009 Share Posted March 5, 2009 I'll post a pic when I get it onto photobucket (last time I tried I got very cross with it ) If that fails, give ImageShack® a try. Uploaded images have to be less than 1.53 megabytes when using the free version, which can be an issue for the very high resolution camera's you get today, but other than that, it seems easy enough to use. It has an automatic option to reduce the hosted image size down to 320 x 240 especially for e-mail and websites (which ensures the picture stays within the forum thread). It will also give you the links which will put your pictures into any posts you make without having to use any of the buttons on the Omlet forum. Andrew Thank you for that link, I'm having a go now I do need to take some photos of my building site, er sorry garden and then I'll post up the link. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alk630 Posted March 5, 2009 Share Posted March 5, 2009 (edited) Not too bad.... now they've got their own electric-fenced-off section of garden: ... and got some chicken grass mix to throw in their run at the end of the month when the weather's a bit warmer Edited March 5, 2009 by Guest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 5, 2009 Share Posted March 5, 2009 what a fab big garden! Where does the gate go? I love having a nosey at other people's gardens Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chelsea Posted March 5, 2009 Share Posted March 5, 2009 wow Alk 630 your garden is lovely...great set up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Falkor Posted March 5, 2009 Share Posted March 5, 2009 ooooh I am What a lovely garden! They are super posts around your chook garden....are they wooden? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alk630 Posted March 5, 2009 Share Posted March 5, 2009 what a fab big garden! Where does the gate go? I love having a nosey at other people's gardens The gate leads onto a bridle path, with a primary school playing field behind Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alk630 Posted March 5, 2009 Share Posted March 5, 2009 ooooh I am What a lovely garden! They are super posts around your chook garden....are they wooden? They are called ecoposts... I found the original electric netting posts very flimsey and they kept leaning so the netting shorted on the ground. They're a bit expensive (about £100 for 16) but they look much better and are very secure. See: http://www.electricfence-online.co.uk/ishop/1047/shopscr325.html for more information. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griffin Posted March 5, 2009 Share Posted March 5, 2009 I'll take photos of mine in the morning. It's shocking Not a blade of grass to be seen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plum Posted March 5, 2009 Share Posted March 5, 2009 Lawn is fine. The slope I seeded last autumn is looking chickened but the borders have never been so clear at this time of year . I've omlet fenced them away from them now so my perenials come up. I'll post some pictures tomorrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karlotta Posted March 6, 2009 Share Posted March 6, 2009 Mines a horrendous mud bath at the moment!! But that's nothing to do with the chickens, more to do with 15 years of Newfoundlands galloping about! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chillicat Posted March 6, 2009 Share Posted March 6, 2009 Well, we've just survived our first winter and our lovely green lawn disappeared by January so we had to fence the chooks off for a while - they free range all day from around 10.30 till bedtime So, yes, like Griffin, we had a mud lawn for a couple of months. OH, to my surprise, said that the grass would grow back as the roots were still there, but we had to give it a while. I then hastily added some extra seed to fill in the gaps and it snowed the very next day However, it's not looking too bad now..... Anyway, who cares about a bit of grass when the chooks give you sooooo much pleasure? Save harder Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickencam Posted March 6, 2009 Share Posted March 6, 2009 We have put planks around the edges of the borders and this stops too much soil being thrown about. Our hens come out for about 2 hours a day and they keep the lawn well clipped but otherwise ok, the only bit that they damaged was under a tree and very wet and mossy. we have since taken the tree out and made another border in that area. My one tip would be don't have any gravel because they throw that everywhere. We have some large pebbles on one side of our pond and they can even heave those about the place You won't be able to grow small herbaceous plants or annuals without some protection. We grow annuals in pots which sit on other upturned pots and hanging baskets to give some colour. Herbaceous plants are protected with empty wire hanging baskets over them as they come up and we largely just have fruit trees and large shrubs now. The more delicate plants go into the front garden. You can have a nice garden and hens it just requires a bit more planning and flexibility We have had ours for nearly 2 years now The tree at the end of the run has now been taken out, this picture was taken last year Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busybird Posted March 6, 2009 Share Posted March 6, 2009 I took these this morning for you and show my garden after a winter of rain, snow, frost and free range chicken damage (I have had the girls for over a year now). the chooks usually get at least a couple of hours of freedom each day and more at the weekend. This one shows the 'Chicken Garden'. It suffers the most damage as they are netted into this area if they are 'naughty' (i.e. if they keep escaping from the main garden which is not totally secure). These one's are a view of the main garden from the top of the house. It shows the main lawn below which we have a decked area and then a steep slope that leads down to the children's main play area (we have terraced our garden to provide four distinct area's). This lawn is the only bit of the garden that I really want to keep looking nice as it is the view from the house. As you can see we have grass but it is very short (much shorter than before we had chickens). The only really bare patch is under the bird table - caused as much by the wild birds that we encourage to visit as by the chickens. I hope these illustrate my view that yes, chicken's damage a garden but, given enough space to free range, not unacceptably. The children's main play area is under the tree's at the bottom of the garden and the chickens have scratched out many craters here where they dustbathe. However, the children cause at least as much damage with their games My children have complained in the summer about there being poo everywhere when they want to play so I ensure I give the chicken's plenty of bokashi bran and try to 'poo pick' each day. And, of course, chicken's add more to a garden in terms of pleasure than they take away Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busybird Posted March 6, 2009 Share Posted March 6, 2009 Help! My photo's have grown enormous!! How did that happen? They look the right way round and have been resized on photobucket... Sorry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rarara Posted March 6, 2009 Author Share Posted March 6, 2009 You all have lovely gardens! If my garden looked half as good as yours withougt chooks i'd be happy! My garden is also pretty darn small in comparison to all of yours Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
debbie26pet Posted March 6, 2009 Share Posted March 6, 2009 Well, we've just survived our first winter and our lovely green lawn disappeared by January so we had to fence the chooks off for a while - they free range all day from around 10.30 till bedtime So, yes, like Griffin, we had a mud lawn for a couple of months.OH, to my surprise, said that the grass would grow back as the roots were still there, but we had to give it a while. I then hastily added some extra seed to fill in the gaps and it snowed the very next day However, it's not looking too bad now..... Anyway, who cares about a bit of grass when the chooks give you sooooo much pleasure? Save harder can i ask what you have used as fencing etc to keep the chooks in Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ain't Nobody Here Posted March 6, 2009 Share Posted March 6, 2009 Lovely gardens everyone, they're all so big and beautiful . Here's my grass ...... no damage whatsoever . (Although that might be because it was laid yesterday and the chickens haven't been allowed anywhere near it . Don't worry, I've not got rid of them, they were living on the driveway but have now been moved onto the square of turf where the walk in run's going to go.) This is what it used to look like (although it was rubbish BC so I can't blame them entirely!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
