Wondering who has strategies for living harmoniously with free range chickens. All attempts at adding mulch to fruit trees have failed. I’m also trying to add some landscaping to a new area and I have things looking nice only to find it scratched and scattered everywhere the next day. The mulch on my BlackBerry bed has been dragged off across the yard.
I love my ten girls. The hens change over time of course but I have had chickens for maybe eight years all told. They are hilarious to watch as they follow me around the yard like I’m the pied piper. They are good producers and great at removing insects but truthfully they are getting on my last nerve. Some days I feel like shipping them off or just penning them up for good.
I have always had hundreds of birds for decades. There is no magic bullet. My flocks are penned. But they all get let out one flock at a time to provide pest control and run like hooligans.
Agreed, but there have got to be ways to live in the peaceable kingdom with the leopard roaming around.
I have found that letting them out later in the day gets them in less trouble. I know of someone who has two automatic gates. One to the run and one to the yard. That seems more complicated than what I’m doing. Does anyone use a similar system?
I put a chicken wire cage around everything I have planted in the backyard to protect them from them. I only let them roam the backyard for a hour or so every few days when I have time to sit out and manage them. My yard is only fenced on two sides so I don’t want them roaming too far with as many cats as there are that roam. Also my chickens existence is somewhat unannounced to the town so would rather not attract unwanted attention.
I don’t have chickens but Indian runner ducks (eggs + slug control). They don’t scratch, however, they stomp. So I keep putting sticks from pruning willows, maples and hazel around things I don’t want trampled or sat on. They can get their beaks around to do their job, but can’t be bothered to tank over the sticks even when they race through the garden for whatever reason.
It sounds like less is more for your strategy. I let the toddler roam the house but only in places that are safe for her to be. You may need to find ways to gently redirect them from the areas you want preserved, or only let them in for a short amount of time.
I’ve been considering getting an automated gate for my father in law, it would save him some time but then he wouldn’t have an excuse to go home early every time to put the chickens to bed.
i have had chickens my whole life (and im old) I love them so. my girls are like pets, but I dont let them out to wreck my crops. I have 2 pens that I rotate them in and out of, so they get to experience fresh digging and lots of greens. I plant one while they are in the other.
We have a little Banty Rooster named Tyrone. He was more or less a spoiled pet. Followed us around. Liked to be picked up and petted. Then we gave him a little game hen. We done ruint Tyrone. He’s a mean little angry snot now.
If you even point at Tyrone now he will chatter and fluff up. Bite twigs and leaves. And dare you to give him any part of you to attack, Dang Fart.
we had a silver duckwing bantam roo named Beau Bob. he was super chilled and would come to be picked up. only chicken ive owned that came to me like this. he had a coop of 10 big girls all to himself. he literally weighed a half pound, yet the girls never bullied him. lived to a ripe age of 7. ive read that the Japanese kept this breed in cages indoors like a parrot. the hen is a good egg layer with huge eggs for her size.
If you let some strong perennials and active reseeders get established for a year before the chickens get in there the coop will recover even faster when it’s off rotation
Yes, Banties; especially Woosters have always been our specialty here. We had a little B.B. Red named Shocka. He loved to run up behind big roosters and flog them in the butt. Then he would run and fly up in my arms for a get away. He lived to 13. But the last 2 years we brought him in in a big parrot cage. As his toes had come off. The first and only time we allowed a rooster in the house. Everyone would carry him outside in the day though.
A lot of young. spoiled mini-banties have been sold as kid’s companions here. Including one married adult who keeps one in the house. They claim he even uses the litter box and toilet. We run into them at sales and he or one of his 3 boys are always toting the rooster with them.
i recommend everyone raise at least some chickens. they are so easy to care for and you can recycle food scraps through them. in turn you get meat. eggs and manure. after the 1st few years you get free composted manure every year. why the yard bird was so cherished by our forefathers. turkeys and waterfowl are equally easy. raised all of them at 1 time.
Helps when you can turn your dog into a LGD, also when they get close to somewhere I don’t want them I just tell Maya to go corral them. While I haven’t seen a coyote in the day, I have seen a fox so whenever they are out of their run I make sure the dog is with them.
