chickens digging up plants

[Deleted]

well, my chickens love scratching and digging. My newly planted lilies and buttercups are laying on top of the ground I'm thinking about narrowing my flock from 20 down to 4. Probably want but sure is tempting,especially this time of year.
tnborn

[bbird]

I hear ya!

I battle dh every year about having the chickens and geese out. I just get my yard and gardens looking nice and dh thinks it's cute to let them all out to free range. Do they free range in the woods? No. Do they free range around their coops? No. They congregate in my front yard and destroy it.

Last year I bought some plastic netting. It's actually sold to keep deer and rabbits out. Well, I bought a few rolls and jimmy'ed a temporary fence around the front. All the animals stayed out of the fence and it was so nice. The kids could lay in the grass without getting poop on them, and my flowers did great. Dh took my fence down while I was away one day, and before I could put the fence up, I look out there and it's mostly mud and my flowers looked like a tornado went through.

So, this year I am putting the fence up, and regrowing grass in front of the house and hmmmm...maybe a security alarm on the fence incase dh tries to take it down! Nah...after me griping, he knows not to take it down.

[painteddaisy]

Ya, it's a real pain for sure! My guys, the one's that can fly over the gate anyways, have decimated my flowerbeds already! I finally had some decent perennials going in those one's too!! >:

I read a thing where they say, if your planting seed, what you can do is, plant your seed bed, then lay down some chicken wire on top, hold it in place with a couple of big rocks. Then when they go to scratch, they just can't! It was actually an idea to keep cats out, but it'll work for chickens too. I'm not sure how well it'll work with bulbs and big perennials like phlox and poppies etc? Maybe worth a try? I'm getting kinda fed up myself.

[Deleted]

Thanks. I 'm going to try the netting and chicken wire.
tnborn

[bergere]

Mine are into every thing too. Even my potted plants.
Sigh ~~

However I have such a bug problem,, I will just have to live with them scratching around.
Am also trying to plant things they will not hurt with their scratching or pecking.

Not sure what I am going to do for the little Herb garden I want?
Might put up light deer fencing....hummm....