[simange]

Hi I am new to this so please bare with me.I have just finished my own little veg plot in my garden now I would like to go further and get some hens. my problem is I am worried the hens will ruin my grass and my veg plot. I was thinking of warrens or rhodies.can anyone help.My garden is quite large and laid to lawn and do not want it scratched up but i also want the chickens to roam as much as possible.

[poultrygeist]

Hi simange,

I think you can be safe in teh knowledge that yes.....they will destroy your veg patch and churn up your lawn !

Depending on how many hens on how big an area, they can turn grass into dirt/mud fairly quickly.
Some people only let them roam for a couple of hours/day over a large area and seem to get away with it. We keep ours in a fixed run but I'd like to fence off a roaming area at some point.

But I think the veg patch is a no no.

Rob

[GrannieAnnie]

Chickens just Luuuuuurve gardens.  But they will wreck the lot if you let them!!!!  You'd be better giving them a run for most of the time and letting them out when you are around to keep an eye on them, but they love digging and scratching everything up.

[jammy]

Hi Simange, welcome to the forums.

I got my chickens last year and allowed them free range of the garden for at least half a day every day.  After a few months I got very fed up of clearing up after them all the time lol.  They didnt actually do too much damage to the lawn but they demolished all my flower beds and made a nice big bath out of the veg bed :roll:.  
The coop and run has now been moved to a different part of the garden and I have netted off a piece of the garden around them so they can still roam around but nicely contained.  They have their area and I have mine  

[peggyprice]

 They have their area and I have mine  

That's definitely the way to look at it ... mine freerange round the lawned bit of my garden and apart from one corner where the grass was already damaged (from a shrub being removed last year), they haven't scratched it up at all although they do spend lots of time nibbling at it.

My 'flower beds' though - that's another story.  Not a problem for me because that bit of the garden needs completely re-doing, so I'm not too fussed what they do at the moment - but they reduced a five foot high mound of earth to less than two feet high in less than two hours, and cleaned it of all green bits, so that gives you some idea what they are capable of  

[blulagoo]

We have an omlet cube for our chickens - they are great - we move it around once a week and the chickens are removing all the moss from the lawn as we go. The patches it has stood on looked quite bare at one point but strong healthy grass (with no moss) is now growing back.

We move a temporary chicken wire fence around with the cube so that they can safely range in limited areas when we are home.

Good luck with the chickens - it is addictive.

[Foxy]

You might want to have a look at more sedentary birds as some birds are voracious foragers and some are less active. Also chickens with big feathered feet are not supposed to do as much damage :?:
For example pekins -which are bantam sized- cochins are a bigger version and lovely like cuddly giants! Sultans are lovely as well as the faverolles-the bantam version are fantastic and lay good sized eggs too!
 But there are always exceptions to the rule I am sure someone on here has pekins that are like mini rotatavators!!

[Aunt Sally]

I believe buff orpintons are reasonably garden friendly and low barriers will keep them off of garden beds.

[Porffor]

A breeder i spoke to said that Brahma's are non-flighty and a 3' fence would stop them. we considered till we found out they were 3x the price of the girls we bought! that's to do with the raising costs as they don't mature till 18 months and were at 14months POL.

Good luck getting chooks though, it's worth going to the trouble of whatever your plans are.

Though mine sat asking to get out in the rest of the garden this morning! I held strong and they've settled back down now!

[Foxy]

hmmm cochins are very similar to Brahmas -less common I think and not so tall. Most pure breeds will be in lay slightly later than hybrids - usually around 23 -25 weeks. This includes brahmas. Beacuse they are slower growing and bigger eventually can take around 18mths to get to final weight and size.
They are still sold at the same age as hybrids though!

[Porffor]

i wouldn't have known that they didn't lay as young if it weren't for the breeder i spoke to. He was very honest.
Hubby would still like some young brahma's to bring on, if only we could guarantee they were hens and not cocks. he's have them from chicks if we could.. so would I, I must admit!

not sure what we'll add, but once the bigger house is built (in time) I'll be ready to make a more informed decision.

[mtoyne]

hiya, i will add the same as everyone else. We got 2 chickens in january and had plans to build them a run very quickly, it didnt go to plan as hubby has been very busy, we also have got 4 more chickens and the garden is destroyed, we arnt too bothered but we plan to build their run this week while weve got a week off, hoping garden will then recover a bit. Also chickens and veg, dont do it, your chickens will have your plants eaten in minutes. Weve got a big front garden that weve built some raised beds in for veg instead. Do get chickens tho, they are gorgeous pets.