robskyd Posted August 7, 2007 Share Posted August 7, 2007 This will sound like a really dumb question so I apologise up front in case you think it is... but ... What do people do to protect the garden from chooks that free range? We live in what's best described as a family garden with a lawn and a few plants in borders. The Eglu is in a dedicated part of the garden on woodchip and I'm awaiting some netting from Omlet to place around it so they can walk around there. We'd like to keep the garden in a healthy(ish) state but also let the chickens have a wander around every now and then as the kids love to feed them treats and have them chase round the garden (birds chasing kids that is, its very funny!!) Any ideas would be appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neal & ella Posted August 7, 2007 Share Posted August 7, 2007 We keep ours in the eglu which is then situated in a fenced off area at the back of the garden so that they can free range during the day. It's roughly 25'x30' and has some fruit trees in it so is a kind of mini-orchard. We did this in order to keep ours off of the vegetable patch; it was either that or fence off the veg patch. If you have bantams then they don't tend to cause quite as much mess as chickens, so I,ve been told. It also depends on the kind of plants etc in your garden ie some are more chicken resistant. Ours love raking through the ivy at the bottom of the hedge and although they love a good dust bath they tend to only use two preferred sites for this. Hope this is of some help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arowland17 Posted August 7, 2007 Share Posted August 7, 2007 We've only had ours a couple of weeks but have decided to keep the eglu and run in a permanent place due to the mess they made of the grass we didn't think our lawn would recover quickly enough if we moved it weekly! They haven't made too much of a mess - we let them free-range for an hour or 2 in the evenings and a bit longer at weekends but don't want them getting used to being out for hours as while we're at work they just can't. They mow our lawn nicely, and haven't paid too much attention to our plants and flowers as we tried to choose perenials and shrubs and so far they don't seem too interested, they like grass best. I do have to chase them away from our peppers and tomatoes growing on the patio as they peck those the second they get the chance, and they like nibbling our privet hedges but apart from that the garden is fine with them in it, far less destruction than we expected although we only have 2, and it's still early days! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
