The strawberries were given to me by my Mom who dug them up just as they were fruiting, so they didn't produce more than a dozen berries. Not that I got any. The blueberries were just about ripe for the picking last week. But we didn't get a single one. Because even though we have a fence around that garden, there are about a half-dozen chickens that manage to flap-flap-flap their way up and over and into that succulent berry feast.
So even though we just planted the grapes this spring and I don't have any high hopes of getting much of a grape harvest, I do not want to lose all three types of fruits to the stinking chickens.
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| There is a chicken-created crater around this little bush. And do you see all the blueberries? Me neither. |
So two nights ago as the biddies were going to roost, I caught the known perpetrators and clipped their wings. And they haven't been in the garden since. I haven't done this before now because I was worried that the inability to fly would make them an easier target for the numerous carnivores hanging around the woods. But if I don't get any berries out of this stinking garden, I will be the carnivore they need to worry about because I'll soon be munching on some fried chicken.
Creating the balance that is beneficial to us, the plants and all our critters can drive you right up the wall! In the past we've had our poultry free-ranging on the homestead but I couldn't tolerate the problems you've just described nor do I like going out the back door and falling on my butt because I slipped on goose or duck poop. (I'm funny that way.) So we've made a poultry yard that is big enough to hold roughly 1,000 assorted birds (slight exaggeration) and even though there is only a 4' high fence around part of it (7' high in other parts) they seem happy to stay within their boundaries and outta my food, thank you very much!
ReplyDeleteCarolyn Renee,
ReplyDeleteNow that you have resolved the chicken problem, what about the free flying birds? How do you prevent them from targeting your berry bushes? We have no choice but to put up bird netting. Those little bastards can destoy a garden in just two days. They have tried to do that to mine, but I fixed them :-)
Mama Pea, I have a feeling that as soon as we have the pasture fenced for the mule/mini-horse/goats, we'll be making the current goat/chicken barn & pen into a permanent run to contain the chickens.
ReplyDeleteSandy, our gardens are new enough that we actually have yet to harvest any fruit from the fruit trees or berries from the garden.....so I'll let you know - probably in a cuss-filled blog post - what happens when fruit starts to appear!
I keep reading about folks who blissfully intermingle their poultry with their gardens. What are they smoking? If you put a chicken in a yard full of grass with a few raised beds in it (ratio of grass to garden being 10:1), where do you think the little buggers will be heading? Ask me how I know this.
ReplyDeleteSusan, I don't get it either! I actually bought the book "Gardening with Guineas" thinking I could, well, garden with poultry. Now maybe guineas are totally different, but there is no WAY that one can successfully garden with your run of the mill backyard chicken. Tulips, mums, small bushes, berries, marigolds, hyacinth, lilies and countless others have all met their demise at the beaks & claws of my poultry. I refuse to plant any more flowers in my garden until the pecker-heads have a run of their own.
ReplyDeleteWhat Susan said... bahahahaha!! I hear all the trendy "green-sustainable types" here in the city talking like that and it makes me laugh :)
ReplyDeleteOh, you are so right. Chickens dig around the base of a plant and can be very destructive. I hope your plants survive and are productive.
ReplyDeleteMy grape vine is LOADED with little grapes this year and I know that if I don't get some bird netting over it SOON the wild birds will eat every. last. one!!
ReplyDeleteChickens in the garden...yeah, right! LOL!!
I think I'll keep my chickens where they are for now... I would love to be able to have them free range, just not out in my garden!
ReplyDeleteI had to put all mine in chicken jail til next winter so I can have ripe tomatoes and red peppers and blueberries and grapes. And have a pretty yard that's not been scratched up by chicken feet. And I do not feel bad at all about it. Today when I got home form town, I saw 2 hens out of the coop. I caught the Buff but a game hen is also out. If I am lucky she'll be roosting in the stall with the sheep and not up in the highest branches of the tree. So I know exactly what you are talking about. But I have clipped wings and it did not stop mine.
ReplyDelete