[woodsmoke]

I have had my chooks a month and loads of eggs.  They (the hens) have lots of character.  They are Lohmann browns but all differently marked.  One is very arsy and has to be last in at night, one is a greedy guts and sneaks back in the run when they are all in the garden to eat uninterrupted, one is a JCB and one is gobby. 
I have an ark - so I can move it to fresh grass.  There is no fresh grass.  It is all brown, well scarified and full of holes.  They are trashing the borders when they are let out (about three hours each day) and I have little cloches on a few treasures.  One hen delights on flying up a foot to land in the middle of a plant - sort of dive bombing.  Despite all I read I did not expect so much damage.  I love my garden but it is small.  I think a lot of my plants are going to move to the allotment.  Most of the shrubs are okay, it's the smaller stuff. 
I saw a lot of pictures of hens in gardens (e.g. omlet site) with all green grass.  Now I know the truth.
To be honest a little depressed about the state of the garden now.  Keep raking the worst off the lawn and once it rains I think it will be better but looking forward to getting the chooks onto concrete with bark for the winter.  Trying to work out how to keep them to one area of the garden at a time so that the whole lot does not get trashed.
Anyone else feel the same?  I don't regret them but I wish I had known.  Keep picking up small plants and potting them up to save them!
And they don't like cabbage.
Will my frogs be okay?

[poultrygeist]

Hi woodsmoke. Firstly, chooks love frogs. And they can eat a whole one 

It is a very difficult time of year due to the lack of rain and the fact that the grass is slowing down growth.
Obviously, a wet period just makes muddy but there is a happy medium somewhere. I'd love t know the minimum area per hen in the average garden to avoid damage. I can only suggest fencing off maybe half at a time to give it time to recover between trashings.
We have 6 in an area about 10-15sqm I should think and it looks like a chemical spill has happened, followed by opencast mining.I think you'll find it easier in Spring and early summer when the grass grows a bit more enthusiastically.

Good luck and try not to worry too much. The eggs are a compensation.

Rob

[grumpydad]

all our softer plants are fenced off, they only have access to the borders under the shrubs, which are already established, they do like scratching, but usually round the edge of the lawn.they tend go go into the montbretia and scratch like mad, as it hides slugs etc.
if you dont want them in one part, fence it off, its the only way.
martyn

[mintymoos]

i agree with the fencing off, or putting in pots + tubs if you want to save anything. we used to have borders under the hedge, now the dirt + grass just blend in together round the edge of the garden, i just go round and kick all the stones, rocks + sticks back under, ready for them to scrat out next time,  most of the plants + shrubs are now in planters + lge chook proof pots. also when you move the pots theres always a super feast of slugs and worms underneath them

[nzdunn]

well i keep 5 girlies on roughly a 75 sqm and you wouldnt even know i had chooks apart from the two big dustbaths that they have created, i have no plants or beddings just grass.    nickyx

[Brambles]

Yes I agree with mintymoos, lovely large chickenproof pots are not only nice to look at but they do keep the treasured plants safe.   At the moment, while my "new" chicken area is being built (still in the OH's thinking pot at present... I will get it one day )  My chickens are on a large patio... lots of compost on the flagstones to rake about in, replaced every few days.   This is not ideal but they are very happy and I do get lots of eggs

[Sassy]

You could try splitting the garden in two to give the other half chance to recover but I do not know if you have enough space for this to work. I suppose it depends on what part of the country you are in and the time of year. It could be fenced cheaply with netting and stakes so that it is easily moveable.

Yes they will eat frogs and fight over them - you would be amazed at how far a frog will stretch!!

[8doubles]

The best is yet to come...........................MUD ! 

[GrannieAnnie]

Don't you just love em!!!!!   

I'm sorry you feel as you do, but that's why we all try to give people as much info as we can if we get them on the site here before they get their chooks.

Sites like Omlet aren't really playing fair when they show a bunch of chickens in a nice eglu walking about on grass, but they don't want to put people off by showing the chooks walking around in the mud!

Hope you sort it all out, and don't get to hate your little feathered friends, but small gardens and chickens don't always go well together.

[LittleRedHen]

It took my girls all summer, but they have thoroughly trashed my garden too - borders and all.  Sigh.  The draught here didn't help any.   

[woodsmoke]

I know I was very negative with my post yesterday.  And one escaped next door as well!  I thought 6foot fences would be enough but she flew onto the compost bin and it was easy from there!  May have to clip wings which I don't fancy much.  I will try fencing off part of the garden at a time.  You are all very helpful on this site but there is some misleading stuff out there.  I have made some bottle cloches for some diddy plants and the fact is I love having the chooks! 
Any advice on wing clipping?  Katie Thear's book gives a diagram but interested in hearing what you say if you have done it.
The eggs are wonderful!

[beulah59]

We clipped the ex-batts wings ... but they've not really tried to take off anywhere yet!

It was fairly straightforward with two of us.

[PJM]

Hi woodsmoke, an easy and cheap way of directing the chooks to an area is the Orange plastic netting that builders use for keeping people off their work. It just rolls up when not in use and stands on Metal rods to make it movable, Available from any builders merchant. I use it to direct the girls to whichever bit of garden I want digging at the time. Plus I use it as an extra barrier to keep foxes away from the run/coop at night.

[matilda duck]

Clipping wings is easy!!! Sit them on your lap stretch out their wing ( you only need do one) and cut the wing line about 10 cm down.
That will be enough to stop them flying off

[RichardH]

Here's my solution to keeping the chickens in a part of the garden - the panels are kept in place by the fencing pins mentioned abvove, so it's easily moved to a different place



More info on how I did it here