chickens and gardens

[quackaddict]

do any of you folks have chickens that you let free range in? I've heard that once the plants are decent size, that the chickens are a big help by keeping bugs/weeds down. i've also heard that they can be a PITA around gardens. If you have a coop available for them, do they willingly go back in at night, or will you have to herd them in? What about eggs...if you have laying boxes in the coop, will they actually lay their eggs in the boxes, or just randomly around the yard?

The wife and I kind of want a few(5-10) chickens that we can get a few eggs off of, but want to be able to free range them.

Another question...if you have a rooster, but are collecting eggs daily, will it bother egg quality if they are fertilized eggs?

Comments, concerns, anything for the good of the cause?

 

[bp fick]

First, there are excellent books and websites and forums specific to chickens and their raising. Might want to have a look and do so reading.

Chickens will indeed use their nesting boxes and prefer to huddle up in their own coop every evening. A Rooster is not necessary for egg production. The fertilized egg is fine, but only you can decide whether the hen riding and crowing are worth having the fella around. Predation is also an issue, but depends on your area. Hawks? Free ranging here means a free lunch offering too much of the time.

 

[chrisdvorak]

I have 13 chickens 12 of them are hens and they can be a pain if your crops have not reached maturity yet also if you have hilled crops the birds will scratch at the bottom of them looking for worms ect. my chickens are free range most of the time and if you have good hay in your laying boxes and make it comfortable for them to lay in they will go in their house to lay eggs, if you do not they will either try to make their own laying box or find your hayloft and have a field day (nothing worse than going up their on a hot summer day to move some hay and be smashing eggs everywhere) Also if you leave your chickens alone they will become more curious and bored and move further and further out of their zone and possibly will get lost or eaten, so what i have to do is about every 3 hours i herd them back to their zone and if i leave or do not want to deal with them on a certain day i just put them back in their pen. the chickens will go in the coop at night if you have proper roosting bars and if they do not get to far away and can't find their way back.

suggestions- #1 even though you would be keeping them free range all day and inside the coop at night i would still build a small pen that will contain them.

#2 you should still have a feeder somewhere even if they are free-range and eating bugs, worms ect.

#3 when they go in your coop at night you should close the doors to ensure that nothing gets in there and open them in the morning

 

[Western]

First, there are excellent books and websites and forums specific to chickens and their raising. Might want to have a look and do so reading.

Chickens will indeed use their nesting boxes and prefer to huddle up in their own coop every evening. A Rooster is not necessary for egg production. The fertilized egg is fine, but only you can decide whether the hen riding and crowing are worth having the fella around. Predation is also an issue, but depends on your area. Hawks? Free ranging here means a free lunch offering too much of the time.

Good points by bp fick.
I don't have chickens right now but have for years. Most of my hens would lay in their box, occasionally a hen, probably a young one, would lay one out side or on the coup floor, Like " **** what was that". Chickens in time will wear out an area, so you may have to move them around occasionally.
I never kept the first few eggs of a hen, my grandfather told me to pass on the first few, don't know why, but that's what I always did.

Generally I think I would do chickens now more for nostalgia, I can buy eggs easier and cheaper than I can grow them as few as we use.

Good point made by bp fick, is the web sites you can visit by searching. You will find allot of Ag sites with info from coup construction to free ranging all the way to controlling disease. Years ago I took some schooling at the University of Georgia and at the CDC for avian /ratite medicine, don't over look hygiene in the chicken house...

 

[quackaddict]

thanks guys

chrisdvorak- once the vegetables get to be reasonably sized, are they fine to let in the garden. i mainly want them for eggs, compost material, and to help keep bugs down.

 

[Tororider]

Chickens are pretty easy, although I don't free range mine because I am in a suburb. I hardly ever have to use my garbage disposal in my sink because they will eat all of that.

Roosters will try to protect their hens, so if you are going to have small children around it may not be a good idea. Although we have friends who have roosters who are lap roosters and just want to be around people. As a side note, if you have fertilized eggs they have about half the cholesterol I believe.

A good website you can spend altogether too much time on is backyardchickens.com

Have fun

 

[irvingj]

Yes, do the research-- Either buy or get from your local library the "bible"-- Story's Guide to Raising Chickens.

Everything you ever wanted to know about chickens and then some!

We just got into it this summer, as my better half decided she wanted to have chickens. It's been a long process getting the coop built --I'm no builder-- but it's done and we're just getting our first eggs. Kinda neat. (We got 10, 5 pairs of different breeds, all hens.)

There's also --no surprise here-- a ton of good info on this site!

 

[sal64]

hello i have 25 chickens that i free range i dont think i would let them in my garden thou they would eat the green plants , also when u free range u dont have to feed them i only supplie a little cracked corn at night.

 

[randy41]

Chickens and gardens don't mix well, particularly for fruiting vegetables like tomatoes. the chickens will walk down the row and peck holes in every ripe tomato they see.

 

[quackaddict]

what if the tomatoes are caged up and the chickens can't get to them?

 

[randy41]

if you can get your hand through the cage I would think that a chicken could get its head through, but I've never tried this.

 

[jimmyj]

We have quite a few chickens and we confine them at certain times of the year and let them range other times. As for the gardens, flower or veggie, they will really damage young plants and as indicated will also damage certain fruit.

They also scratch up soil and mulch looking for food and to take dust baths. My wife gets furious when her fancy gardens are all messed up due to this. On the flip side, once your gardens are very well established they seem to be OK and not to damage the plants. They eat TONS of bugs and pests and it is cute to see them running around on the 'range.'

Our chickens tend to free range in reasonable proximity to the coop, say within a 2 acre circle. Certainly if you have foxes and (even worse) domestic dogs running loose you will lose some. Also as said, lock up the coop at night to keep varmints like coons out. Skunks are interesting, they'll steal eggs and kill and eat mice but I have never lost a chicken to one. We even let one live in the coop this summer to get the mice under control.

After many years, we built a coop with a large enclosure so we have the option of managing the birds whatever way we want.

I have posted some of these pics before but we really like the aviary and coop and I think the birds do too!

 

[farmboy12]

They don't do as good as you'd think. In the garden, if the seeds have not yet sprouted or the sprouts are very small, they can peck them out. I suggest it you want free range bug control, get some guineas. We have two, we let them do whatever the chickens do. We often let them free range with the chickens in the fall. They are great to have around. Everybody asks about them. Their favorite bugs are mosquitoes and ticks, which are what humans worry about on them the most. They do make a lot of noise, which is part of the reason we got them. Because a few years ago a neighborhood popped up, and we needed more noise than chickens to bother them.

That said, let your chickens fertilize and clean up the garden in the fall, but they aren't the best for all year.

And about 20-30 minutes before the sun is completely set, they usually make their way back in, some however, will need to be "herded" in.


Have fun and good luck!


Kyle

 

[jimmyj]

Good point on the Guineas farmboy12.

 

[Johndeere3720]

We dont let the chickens into the garden for a few reasons. They are like living backhoes, they dig holes everywhere. they uproot most plants that arent well established. Also, our roster isnt very fond of the dogs since they decided to attack him once. now he is very mean. So I have to have a shovel to stay safe. They also like to eat the veggies that we plant. So there wouldnt be anything left to harvest. They are best in the coop since the roster is in peace there, he wont attack in there for some reason.

 

[Mike Costello]

I don't free range our chickens because of the preditor problem (coyotes, fox, coons, skunks, and hawks) which is the same as ringing the dinner bell! So, I built a coop with a roof and buried wire to keep them safe. No problems yet.
We're getting about 18 eggs a day and I thought we would be up to our ears in eggs, but the word got out--so the wife is in the egg business. She sells everthing we don't use for ourselves. Also have a couple of roosters because I like the early morning crowing (right on time at 5am). Don't use the alarm clock anymore!

 

[chrisdvorak]

like was said you can free range at different times if you have the coop-fence built, i wouldn't free range in planting and harvesting season because they love tomatoes, strawberry's and pretty much anything else in the garden at that time but you can put them in the garden before and after you plant and harvest and they will fertilize and control weeds for you. the other problem with chickens if you have a lot of lawn and not a lot of exposed dirt and don't have a coop yard for them to go in is take dust-baths, they will scratch up the lawn and make holes everywhere that would twist and ankle or berry a small tire in no time at all. i also take all manure from inside the coop and put it in a big pile that i turn every so often and at the begging of every summer i put it all in the garden and its the best compost that you can find

 

[quackaddict]

bunch of good information here. thanks a ton guys

 

[MarkV]

Another option is a chicken tractor. Basically a coop and pen on skids that you move around as needed so the birds have a new grazing area.

MarkV

 

[Ford850]

Another thing to consider is that all breeds differ. Some are more social, some are best free ranged while others are best in a run. Some will come running and stay at your side while you work outside all day. Others will rarely be seen it left to free range, and will likely wonder off and roost in a tree until they are eaten. Do some research and look for the details about each breed.