yannovitch Posted May 17, 2007 Share Posted May 17, 2007 AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!! am i gonna be able to cope!!!! the more i read about it, the more i understand that nothing in my garden will survive!!! i have doubts now!! i m a keen gardener, and even if i manage to save my veg patches by fencing tham properly, my lawn, clearly, is not going to survive more than a few weeks! my garden is quite small you see... 5 meters large, 15 meters long, but just under half of that is decking. plus the rest of the garden has three raised beds for veg, so the lawned areas are not so big!!! my god! what have i done??? is it going to work for me?? i don't know what to do or not to do now how did you all feel the day before you got your chooks??? bisou a tous, Yann Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Frugal Posted May 17, 2007 Share Posted May 17, 2007 Hi Yann, Don't worry!! I have a tiny garden and keep my girls in a permanent run we keep the Eglu in at the bottom of it. The hens come out to play for a few hours in the daytime in summer but not in winter as the grass doesn't grow back and I fence off everything precious with netting that I roll up at the end of the day. They eat the grass and stretch their legs and are happy as happy can be and my garden still looks lovely. Their run is big enough for them to have plenty of space each too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chelsea Posted May 17, 2007 Share Posted May 17, 2007 my garden is mainly decking/pebbles with small amount of grass. I dont know why but my chickens are extremely good and havent ruined my newly laid turf and apart from eating the falling petals from the cherry blossom and pecking the compost out of my pots my garden is pristine and intact!! Dont worry - enjoy - its always worse when you think about it. The joy/fun and eggs the chickens bring you will out-weigh the negatives and you might be lucky and get good little chooks like mine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly Posted May 17, 2007 Share Posted May 17, 2007 I agree - a permanent run and supervised free-ranging is the way forward if you want to keep your garden. Your hens will be perfectly healthy and fine, and you can still enjoy it. I'm lucky as I have quite a large garden, but chickens are demolition experts given the chance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowy Posted May 17, 2007 Share Posted May 17, 2007 Definitely a permanent run area. My garden is fine as they have restricted access to the lawn (they do prefer flowerbeds though ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted May 18, 2007 Share Posted May 18, 2007 how did you all feel the day before you got your chooks??? bisou a tous, Yann Pretty much as you are feeling right now! If your garden is amall and you don't want to wreck the grass....make them a permanent area. On the other hand if you are able to move the Eglu every couple of days, the hens do a super job of dethatching the grass. it is just constant scratching that does the damage. You'll find a way round any problems.....and you'll be so besotted with your hens that you won't care. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kathy C Posted May 18, 2007 Share Posted May 18, 2007 Definitely a permanent run area. My garden is fine as they have restricted access to the lawn (they do prefer flowerbeds though ) This seems to be the case, so far, with us too. We did put in log roll around the flower beds recently, because they were throwing soil and bark chippings on the lawn and scratching at the edges to make the flower beds bigger. The constant re-raking after "play time" was beginning to wear out the lawn and our patience. So far the log roll has kept their scratching to "play areas" only. Incidently, the local field mice seem to love scatching around after the hens have gone home. The girls must be unearthing treats for them too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hen Watch Posted May 18, 2007 Share Posted May 18, 2007 Hi yannovitch It will be fine. The chooks will arrive and within a few days you will reaslise that your garden looked boring before they arrived to liven it up. When we let ours out they pecked everything just to work out what they could and couldn't eat. Hubbie had a choice, fence off the veg or fence of the hens. The veg won. So now our veg is behind netting and canes and it all adds to making the garden look a bit more like "the Good Life" TV program. I move my run every few days, and after a while, the lawn does go a nice dark green where the run has been. Let us know how you get on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
