4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[Brindles chooks]

Hi everyone,

 

I'm new to the boards - my partner and I are going to get an eglu and two chickens soon. I have wanted them for 5 years while living in a flat, and I am SO excited!

 

My boyfriend is a very keen gardener, and I'd like some advice about what chickens to get to minimise any damage - I don't want my chickens in the doghouse! I've read on here that the Speckledy breed is very good for not scratching up flowerbeds etc - ideally I want two chickens from different breeds for variety.

 

Anyone got advice on particularly good / particularly bad breeds for keeping the gardener happy?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Kate

[Margalot]

I hear that Orpingtons are not garden wreckers! they are not known for their foraging skills apparently

 

Not like my scratch scratch, gobble gobble gang

[katieadams]

Hi I can't tell you what kinds won't ruin your garden but I can tell you that I have a white star, an amber star, and a bluebelle and they're all really naughty when out in our garden -and most of what we have is fruit and veg so I have to stay out there all the time they are freeranging so I can guard the beds!! You can buy netting etc etc though to keep them off things but I've never used it. So exciting after such a long wait!

[cluckbok]

Congrats and welcome to the forum!

 

The worst garden wreacker is our Rosie (Calder Ranger - Columbian Blacktail) she's raked up all our bedding area we had slate over compost and she's dug over that so it's all mixed in! We've now put a chicken wire fence around that area.

 

Our speckledy does go in the holes that the others have dug but doesn't tend to dig herself. She just watches from the sidelines

[madchickenlady]

It depends what you want, really I have pekin bantams, and I still have a lawn! Feathered legs and feet tend to mean less scratching and digging

[chelsea]

The feathered leg variety dont tend to scratch (brahma, cochin) but they are very large hens.

 

My maran is a scratcher and digger and they are related to the Speckeldy so I would have thought a speckeldy would be a digger too?!

 

I think it just depends really. You could always fence/partition off bits of the garden you dont want dug up.

[Brindles chooks]

Many thanks for the replies. I like buff orpingtons very much so maybe I'll aim for one of those and a speckledy

 

I've seen a few (heritage) skylines though and I think they're lovely, plus I like the idea of blue/green eggs! Anyone got one of these? Scratch up the garden much?

 

Thanks again,

 

Kate

[Omletina Kyckling]

Many thanks for the replies. I like buff orpingtons very much so maybe I'll aim for one of those and a speckledy

 

I've seen a few (heritage) skylines though and I think they're lovely, plus I like the idea of blue/green eggs! Anyone got one of these? Scratch up the garden much?

 

Thanks again,

 

Kate

 

My skylines (Merrydale cresteds) seem to be digging for Australia at the moment, they are keen free rangers and like their greens too!!

 

Just bear in mind if you are wanting lots of eggs that buff orpingtons don't lay so many eggs and the eggs are smaller and they are also prone to broodiness!

[Egluntyne]

Pekin Bantams won't wreck your garden.

[Falkor]

I have two Orps, an Amber Star and a bluebelle and I still have lawn

 

However.............the orps arrived last Novemeber and ate EVERYTHING in my herb bed, EVERY signle pansie in the flower border and then proceeded to uproot them too............leaving me with lots of earth thrown all over the place and roots that used to be plants!!!

 

I have now sectioned off the garden so us humans have one end and the chooks have the other! In their end there is a large conifer with earth underneath and all four chooks spend a lot of their day under then having dustbaths and throwing the soil all over the place!!! I have built them their own little raised bed in the sunshine and they spend a fair bit of time in there too I have never seen the Orps do any major scratching on the lawn

 

In the human end of the garden is the poo free lawn and veggie beds! The chooks are allowed into the human end under supervision as they help keep the grass down and weed free. They are also top slug detectives The veg is fenced off with pond netting.

 

The bluebelle and the Amber do scratch up the lawn a bit but at the moment are raking out the moss so that is ok! Not sure what will happen when there is just grass left!

 

I put flowers in my hanging baskets and window boxes so the chooks can`t get them

 

Tell OH to think of the chooks as mini gardeners who are there to help

[Chillicat]

Hi - didn't realise you needed both I got rid of my OH gardener on the basis that my chickens are MUCH better diggers We now have an upside down garden

[Falkor]

Hi - didn't realise you needed both I got rid of my OH gardener on the basis that my chickens are MUCH better diggers We now have an upside down garden

 

[loubielou]

If you want a feathered leg variety and one that isn't as large as Orps/Cochins/Brahmas, get Faverolles. I am picking up 2 in 10 days! They are very friendly, good layers, very pretty and docile birds, well renound for being kinder to gardens. Having said that, all chooks will scratch!

 

Good luck

 

Lou

[*mummy_hen*]

Congratulations on finally being able to get soe lovely chickens!

 

My ex-batts are monkeys - they had killed the grass within a couple of months, and eaten most of my plants.

 

We gave in and ended up gravelling most of the garden and fencing off the flowerbeds!!

 

I'm sure there are some less destructive girls out there though!

[Brindles chooks]

Ooh, Faverolles are very pretty looking - thanks for that, I will add them to the list!

 

What about Miss Pepperpot and Gingernut Ranger that Omlet provides? Are they diggers?

 

Thanks again for the help

 

Kate

[Abbey Road Girl]

What about Miss Pepperpot and Gingernut Ranger that Omlet provides? Are they diggers?

 

Kate

 

Pepperpots, YES! My four totally wiped out my small but bindweed-infested back garden in no time. Don't know why they left a singleton nettle.

 

Now they have reduced the soil to a very fine tilth, almost like sand. Have tried to design a garden above chicken level--potted plants too high for them to nibble, raspberry canes which may survive low-level nibbling but prosper higher up.

 

I have the Omlet Cube extension which I hope to use to make them more satisfied than they are now in the basic Cube and run.

 

It's a whole new garden design challenge!

[Olly]

I think any breed of chicken, given enough time, can destroy a garden! However I love gardening and manage to combine the two.

 

I would restrict free-ranging both in time and area - it's lovely to let them out but I always keep mine in the run for at least half the day so they fill up on layers pellets and lay their eggs in the nesting box and not under a bush. If your garden is small, then I'd definitely consider fencing off an area that you can contain them in.

 

Personally I don't let mine free-range without supervision anyway because of the fox problem. Even so, they are capable of finding their way into the veg. bed and doing damage in no time! Fence off anything precious (Omlet netting is good).

 

They will eat tender seedlings, veg plants etc but the worst damage is from scratching. If you've got established shrubs then they won't cause much damage to them, and I'm pleasantly surprised at the number of annuals that have come up despite their foraging in the flowerbeds. They have dug up some daffodil bulbs, not deliberately but in the course of digging themselves a dustbath.

 

The other annoying thing is that they kick earth, stones etc all over the lawn - irritating at best, and expensive if you hit a pebble with the mower.

 

They produce fantastic compost, just keep reminding your OH of that if he moans!

[Brindles chooks]

Thanks for that Olly, good advice! I'm planning on only supervised free ranging anyway, after reading the fox posts As a kid I lost two pet rabbits to foxes (although they free ranged all day for years without a problem), and I don't want my girls going the same way.

 

I'm absolutely in love with the skyline now, which is supposed to be very active and potentially destructive, so maybe I'll just pick the chickens I want and then fence them off an area. I may also end up with an American Dominique as they're lovely, and I can't find any information on their garden compatibility level!

 

Thanks again. I can't wait now, but it'll be two months or so until we're all movedin together...bring on the chooks!

 

Kate

[mostin]

Don't get Black Rocks . My girls can kick soil about 6 feet . We still have a lovely garden though because it's big enough to withstand the damage, and she's dug all the moss out of the lawn for us, better than any scarifier .

[Margalot]

I read an article by Francine Raymond Easter Sunday (shes written books about chicken keeping in the back garden) She keeps Buff Orpingtons and her garden was beautiful!!,

 

She had pictures of them in the house too!

 

But it didnt say of her hens were allowed total run of the garden, lovely photoshoot though it looked soooo idyllic

 

If you google her you might find some info

 

Good Luck