gaufron Posted January 20, 2010 Share Posted January 20, 2010 I have only had my 3 girls since last June and kept them in a copse which we fenced mainly to keep our Spinger from murdering them! Over the months the Springer has decided to let them live and they have become more adventurous, ranging far and wide. I expected some damage to the garden but had no idea just how much earth they can shift. I can't fence the Veg garden and anyway they would just fly in (they fly over their fence). Can any other keen vegetable gardeners give me any idea of just how much dammage I can expect and any ideas to reduce it? By the way we have 5 acres for them to roam in and the veg garden is 200 yards away but it is their favorite place. Stella (Gaufron) also hens Rosie,Wendy and Amardine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ophelia Posted January 20, 2010 Share Posted January 20, 2010 Oh dear, I suppose the veg patch has al the tasty plants and tasy bugs plus it's easier to scratch the muck for worms. Can you put some chicken wire around your patch? When I start planting out this year in my patch I am going to use bamboo sticks and chicken wire to make a barrier to hopefully keep them out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christian Posted January 20, 2010 Share Posted January 20, 2010 I have a 5 foot fence around my veggie garden They are allowed in, in the winter, as they do a good job of hoovering up bugs, slugs and slug eggs How about the Omlet netting? It isn't solid, so they can't fly over it! The only other option is this - done before i redid the veggie garden - It did have grass at one point! Now bark chipped Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ladyjulian Posted January 20, 2010 Share Posted January 20, 2010 Christian, how did that work when you wanted to get in to weed / harvest / whatever? Did you have to move the whole thing? I'm wondering about what to do this year - last year there were no chickens but lots of veg. I suspect that if I don't fence off the raised beds, there will be smug chickens and no veg. Is it worth putting up a whole fence, or should I just cover the beds with hoops and netting until the seedlings are able to stand up for themselves? (Hoops and net kept the wild birds off last year, but the chooks have already used my climbing plants to demonstrate that they are considerably stronger than wild birds...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicken Shirl Posted January 20, 2010 Share Posted January 20, 2010 Oh dear, I suppose the veg patch has al the tasty plants and tasy bugs plus it's easier to scratch the muck for worms. Can you put some chicken wire around your patch? When I start planting out this year in my patch I am going to use bamboo sticks and chicken wire to make a barrier to hopefully keep them out. Chicken wire works for us. They can't land on it so they don't fly over it. Well mine don't and they are bantams so not very heavy. We have raised beds and put chicken wire around the ones that we don't want them to go into yet. We also plant certain beds just for them so they always have something to go at. Works a treat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickencam Posted January 20, 2010 Share Posted January 20, 2010 We only grow a few bits at home because we have an allotment, but we use chicken wire barriers, which were great the first year but as they get older they learn what they like and how to get to it. We lost most of our blackcurrants to the hens this year. You really need a fairly sturdy fence around either them of the veg. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeckyBeak Posted January 20, 2010 Share Posted January 20, 2010 I did have a pre-chicken veg, plot but it was where we put their WIR. but I retained a small patch to grow Cavalo Nero my favourite cabbage. Yes and we all know how much chickens like cabbage. I tried keeping a moveable fence in front, but the chooks would balance on it and make it waver and crash. I eventually gave up. Here they are eyeing up their feast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjp Posted January 20, 2010 Share Posted January 20, 2010 I kept my lot off the bits of veg beds with debris netting fences which worked great most of the time,I only put it up when they started to dig my congo spuds up. they now have free access to all the beds till spring as all I've got in them is a few cabbage which is for them any way which they only eat if it's hanging in the run I bet I wont be able to keep them out this year through Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suebee Posted January 20, 2010 Share Posted January 20, 2010 Hi gaufron. Like peckyBeak, our veg plot ended up as the girls' WIR! What can you do eh! However, I did use plastic veggie netting as a barrier around the cabbages/broccoli. They pecked what they could reach through it, but never attempted to fly over it even though it was only about 3 feet high. If you like parsnips, leeks, potatoes or Jerusalem artichokes, you may get away with them. My girls ate around them. Beetroot foliage was gone within days, as were my sorrel plants. The veg patch, which became the base for the WIR Aggie, caught on camera, trying to hide the veggie netting! (This is the type of netting I use to enclose forbidden zones) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicken Shirl Posted January 20, 2010 Share Posted January 20, 2010 Lovely pictures of no veggies. You have to love them. they are so happy eating cabbage. We give you lovely eggs when we have some cabbages to eat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicken Shirl Posted January 20, 2010 Share Posted January 20, 2010 A couple of happy hens in the veg patch. This was taken a few years ago when we only had a couple of hens so the damage was limited. That's all changed now. We net everything we don't want them to eat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chook n Boo Mum Posted January 20, 2010 Share Posted January 20, 2010 A couple of happy hens in the veg patch. This was taken a few years ago when we only had a couple of hens so the damage was limited. That's all changed now. We net everything we don't want them to eat. Errr Shirl...that one on the right .......is it really a hen with all that headgear..............?!?!?!? I think I'd consider a fruit cage effort if my garden ever had anything worthwhile growing in it and the chooks insisted on escaping out to it...... Sha x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henriette Posted January 21, 2010 Share Posted January 21, 2010 When we had hens in the UK the veggie patch had chicken wire around it which worked really well, unless I was digging, then, believe it or not they would fly over it to get at any worms I might have found! At the moment our chickens can't get to all the goodies as they are in an enormous WIR, but we are planning to let them have more space this year, so will have to think long and hard about fencing off our veggie patch somehow Again, I do so love all your photos especially your very special "hen" chickenshirl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted January 21, 2010 Share Posted January 21, 2010 You could invest in some wicker cloches. Very pretty, but rather expensive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicken Shirl Posted January 21, 2010 Share Posted January 21, 2010 A couple of happy hens in the veg patch. This was taken a few years ago when we only had a couple of hens so the damage was limited. That's all changed now. We net everything we don't want them to eat. Errr Shirl...that one on the right .......is it really a hen with all that headgear..............?!?!? Now don't be picky Sha! It's the lovely Sir Minky of course.xxxx Can't believe how young he looks, and Marilyn is almost completely white now. Bless them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ladyjulian Posted January 21, 2010 Share Posted January 21, 2010 A couple of happy hens in the veg patch. This was taken a few years ago when we only had a couple of hens so the damage was limited. That's all changed now. We net everything we don't want them to eat. The one on the left - CamoChicken! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GGLGirls Posted January 21, 2010 Share Posted January 21, 2010 We have a veggie garden too, and decided to grow some willow (a fedge I believe they call it) around the area to stop the girls getting in. However the clever girls they used to get in between the gap at the bottom of the willow stakes, so for improvement this year we've added some chicken wire behind the willow so they definitely cant get through. As its a living fence/hedge the new branches seem to deter the chickens from flying over. Good luck, and here's to a bumper crop this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C&T Posted January 21, 2010 Share Posted January 21, 2010 Our hens look longingly through the Omlet netting into our veg patch. Seems to work quite well, although do have a secondary fence about a foot high behind that of small mesh netting. This prevents them putting their heads through the omlet fence to get to the green goodies. And so far, that is the closest they have come.... There are a couple of posts on here that imply that the chickens may not eat all the contents of a veg garden if they get in, and may not massacre it... In my experience, they will eat everything they can reach - in the time it takes you to turn around and scream "where have all my lettuce gone"! If you want a veg patch, and you don't want to see all your hard work eaten in under 5 mins by greedy chooks, then make sure you fence it off really well! It's possible to have both - as long as you have a good fence! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docsquid Posted January 21, 2010 Share Posted January 21, 2010 We've got some of that orange plastic netting that we used at another site for a building project. We put that round our garlic bed and it has kept them out after a couple of slight hiccups. I will replace it with Omlet netting when I get around to it so it looks nicer from the kitchen window, but it seems to do the job. The runner beans will go in there too. I am also going to try and fence off a couple of flower beds mainly to stop them making the paths mucky. Otherwise the veg go in the front garden! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Minnie&Moose Posted January 21, 2010 Share Posted January 21, 2010 I find the Omlet netting works well. I surround the veg patch with it once the hens have dug over the beds for me in Feb, and then the netting stays until I've removed absolutely everything by the end of the season. Once we're down to bare brassica stalks the monsters are allowed back in to hoover up any juicy morsels. The additional bonus of the Omlet netting is that whilst I can just step over it (I'm only 5ft 6", honest) my 9 yr old and his mates can't, so it keeps their ginormous feet out off the veg as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christian Posted January 21, 2010 Share Posted January 21, 2010 Christian, how did that work when you wanted to get in to weed / harvest / whatever? Did you have to move the whole thing? I used a few bamboo canes and just pulled them out when I needed to weed and harvest etc They have their own 'garden'' now and are only allowed in the veggie garden in Winter. Even if you protect the veggies until they are bigger, then hens might dig them up whilst scratching around Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gaufron Posted February 1, 2010 Author Share Posted February 1, 2010 I have enjoyed reading everyones replies to my original post. There is nothing for it but lots of temporary netting. I had fogotton all our currant bushes, strawberries raspberries etc. Does hanging old DVDs and CDs on them put them off? like it does the wild birds. i have a feeling that the hens will just admire their reflections in the discs and still eat the fruit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daphne Posted February 1, 2010 Share Posted February 1, 2010 I moved my lot to the veg garden at the weekend to do a bit of turning over of the soil, whilst still keeping the kale/purple sprouting fenced off. Because the winter has gone on for so long, and during the summer the veg garden is all fenced off, I'd forgotten how lovely it is to see the birds scratching about there amongst decaying vegatation. It made me feel really content! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicken Shirl Posted February 1, 2010 Share Posted February 1, 2010 I moved my lot to the veg garden at the weekend to do a bit of turning over of the soil, whilst still keeping the kale/purple sprouting fenced off. Because the winter has gone on for so long, and during the summer the veg garden is all fenced off, I'd forgotten how lovely it is to see the birds scratching about there amongst decaying vegatation. It made me feel really content! Hurrah I know what you mean. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandyhas3chucks Posted February 3, 2010 Share Posted February 3, 2010 I moved my lot to the veg garden at the weekend to do a bit of turning over of the soil, whilst still keeping the kale/purple sprouting fenced off. Because the winter has gone on for so long, and during the summer the veg garden is all fenced off, I'd forgotten how lovely it is to see the birds scratching about there amongst decaying vegatation. It made me feel really content! How funny I did the same yesterday, I have 7 girls but only let 3 in at a time while I too was playing in the veg patch . So I could keep an eye on them. The whole patchg is surrounded by 4fy green fencing from Wicks or home base erc. It has big holes and they can gret there heads and loooonnnnggggg necks in so as long as I don't plant things they like too close, or things for them close! all is ok. Mine as ex bats don't try and fly up though. The whole path has 3 gates for access and little raised beds through out. oooo makes it sound rather posh which it isn't Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
