Keeping chickens in your garden is a very rewarding and enjoyable experience for many reasons.
Perhaps the main reason for keeping chickens in the backyard or garden, is that they can provide you with a regular supply of fresh eggs. This seems more and more important in these times of rapidly raising egg prices!
As with veg, homegrown eggs are often tastier and more nutritious than store-bought ones. And not only that, but raising your own chickens allows you to know exactly where your food is coming from, and how fresh it is.
Chickens are fantastic for controlling pests and weeds in your garden, as they love to eat insects and scratch around in the soil.
Unfortunately, if you are a gardener, then you may not enjoy them digging up your prize flowers and vegetables, and it may be best to keep the chickens in an enclosed area.
Though you can grow less important plants in these areas, you will most likely also need to make use of a chicken feeder.
What is a chicken feeder?
At its simplest, a chicken feeder is a device or container that has been designed for holding and dispensing chicken feed.
Good ones should enable you to a steady supply of food to your chickens. There are numerous Chicken feeders available, and they can come in numerous shapes and sizes.
These are usually made of plastic, metal, or wood.
Most chicken feeders are designed in a way to prevent feed from spilling out or being contaminated by droppings. Many feeders are available that allow multiple chickens to be fed at once.
You can also get automatic chicken feeders. These are designed to dispense feed at predetermined times. These eliminate the need of constantly manual refilling the feeders.
Can I use a chicken feeder in a garden for free range hens?
Chicken feeders are great for using to provide a consistent supply of food for your free-range chickens that also have access to your garden.
This readily available supply of food can help in preventing damage to your plants by chickens, as they can be encouraged to spend more time in the feeder's designated area.
However, chickens are natural foragers, so they will still roam around your garden looking for insects and other food sources, in addition to what you put out in the feeder.
They are also messy eaters. This means that they often scatter feed around the feeder; this can attract rodents and other unwanted pests to the garden.
This makes it a good idea to place the feeder in an area that is both easily accessible for the chickens, but a bit out of the way, and in an area that allows for ready cleaning and maintenance.
How do I stop chickens digging up my plants
Here are a few ways that can be used to deter chickens from digging up your plants:
Create a designated area for chickens to forage in: Providing a designated space where they can forage and scratch should hopefully make them less likely to venture into the garden.
Ideally, this area should be closed off by the use of fencing and chicken wire. This will both help protect your garden from the chickens, and the chickens from predators such as foxes.
Use physical barriers: The use of chicken wire, netting, or cloches placed around your plants can help to prevent chickens from digging them up.
Rocks placed around the base of plants can also make it harder for chickens to dig around them.
Use repellents: There are many natural and commercial repellents that can be used to deter chickens from digging up plants.
Natural repellents include citrus peels, garlic, cayenne pepper, and vinegar. The commercial repellents are designed specifically for safe use around gardens and plants.
Supervise your chickens: simply keep an eye on your chickens when you allow them access to the garden. Be ready to move them on, if they look like they are going to dig up your plants.
A quick shooing away, or a bit of water aimed in their general direction from a garden hose should do the job!
Be aware that some plants are more attractive to chickens than others, so you may want to avoid plants such as Sunflowers (they like both seeds and flowers), clover (they eat for the protein), Dandelions (most parts, but they love to dig up the roots), Green veg in general, any type of beery (they are tasty after all!).
And although they love Comfrey, this plant may be toxic to them if they eat too much of it, so perhaps avoid growing it all together.
So, to sum up, Using a chicken feeder can help to reduce feed waste, promote hygiene, reduce pests, and help to regulate the amount of food that your chickens consume.
References and further reading
The Happy Chicken Coop: https://www.thehappychickencoop.com/
NDSU – Beginners Guide to Raising Chickens: https://www.ndsu.edu/agriculture/extension/publications/beginners-guide-raising-chickens
University of Minnesota Extension – Raising chickens for eggs: https://extension.umn.edu/small-scale-poultry/raising-chickens-eggs
RuralSprout – Raising Chickens On a Dime: 14 Ways To Save Money On Your Flock: https://www.ruralsprout.com/save-money-raising-chickens/
Raising Happy Chickens – How to Raise Chickens: https://www.raising-happy-chickens.com/how-to-raise-chickens.html
I hope that you enjoyed this blog post on Why to use a Chicken Feeder, you may also enjoy these guides on how to grow plants that chickens love: How to grow Amaranth, Growing Sunflowers, and Corn plants.
