[Dominic]

Mine have completely "scorched earthed" 1400 square feet since may.

[4chooks]

If you prefer not to let them out in the garden....

when ur doing the gardening just through in the odds & sodds for them to pick at.
grass cuttings, soil, worms e.t.c e.t.c or even buy in the greens (a fresh cabbage 50p from likes of morrisons)

This will be plenty enough

[joyfull]

I hate gardening so my chickens have all the garden 

[viettaclark]

Don't forget the bonus points; no weeds (except brambles which I can pull up) in the beds, free scarifying of the "lawn"(in excess this leads to the "scorched earth" syndrome already mentioned), free pest control and an abundant supply of very excellent poo.
And I forgot to mention....very happy hens that provide endless enjoyment AND eggs!

[feathered friends]

Hello all, I'm a new member to this site and about to become the owner of 3 ex batt hens, and gathering lots of info before I get them.  Is anyone  aware of any plants that are poisonous to chickens?

[Carolf]

I hate gardening so my chickens have all the garden 

I'm with you on that one joyfull   I do have a veggie garden however which the chooks are kept well away from but other than that they have ruined - or re-landscaped if you will, the rest of the garden 

[viettaclark]

I'm just waiting for the bluebells to flower. My destructive flock of 6 go round snipping off every stalk. Such a shame.
Wouldn't mind so much if they wanted to eat them......the daffs aren't even touched!

[alaj]

Feathered Friends, no idea on that one, and that makes me look really bad
My lot love garlic and nettles though!

[viettaclark]

Chickens are clever and avoid plants that might upset them. Plants poisonous to us may not be so for them. What would they do in the wild?
Mine have (unfortunately) enjoyed rhubarb and foxglove leaves with no ill effects.
I think there's a list on the site.......?

[feathered friends]

Hi, glad I read your reply. I'm new to keeping chickens and I'm waiting for them to arrive, and plants were one of my concerns.  I grew some fox gloves from seed last  year and planted them out at the beginning of Autumn, their really coming on and I hated the idea of digging them all up. But there again the chickens will probably do that for me! 

[ChristyRose]

Well, over a 3 year period and I had ended up with 17 chickens.  I tried different sizes of runs - getting bigger and bigger till they had 8m x 8m but I still felt bad as they had eaten it bare.  So, I used to let them free range the garden. 
I love gardening and I loved my chickens.  But my garden ended up looking like a farm yard with mud every where - over the paths and patio.  With hindsight I should never have got so many chickens really.  Caught one yesterday tucking into the hellebore flowers!! 
Anyway today they went to live on my friends farm.   I am so sad and missing them already.    Dont know if I have made the right decision.  Am abit excited about making my garden pretty again but still feel pretty choked up when I think of them. 
Wish I had abit of land.  I keep telling myself that one day I will have chickens again when we have more space.  It is a very difficult decision though if you love your garden and your chickens.

[Touché Turtle]

Aw! Sad news ChristyRose. Hope you'll get to go and visit them...

A quick question on the subject of chickens on lawns....

How much area do you need per chicken for the grass to survive? Or will they basically clear any amount eventually?

I ask because my lawn coped pretty well over the summer with just 3 chooks on it, although it did get a bit bare towards the end of Autumn once the grass stopped growing. Im hoping it will soon perk up in the Spring. (The girls are confined to their coop at the moment with greens being added!)
However there will be 6 hens grazing it this summer, and I'm thinking the grass won't survive...
I'm not wanting a manicured lawn, or anything like it, but hopefully not a bare mudbath either.

[Mrs Bee]

Our chooks are confined to barracks these days because of the increasing fox problem but before there were so many urban foxes by us we used to let the girls part free range when we were in the house.

I love a pretty garden!! So we made a fence with bamboo poles and netting which we moved to different parts of the garden when the girls had scratched the life out one part of the grass. I am not too precious about the lawn but I draw the line at the borders and especially my snowdrop collection.

I believe that the Eglu people do a moveable fence to keep chooks off your prize flower beds which is similar to the one we made and a little more robust!

One of our little characters, 'Nutty'had a way of finding her way out of the fence at the weakest point and into the veg patch. She then showed all the others the way out and I had a jolly time scuttling round trying to round them up before they ate ALL the ripe tomatoes. Nutty wasn't hard to catch, she just stood waiting to be picked up and stroked. Problem was catching the others! Coaxing them over to me with a handful of sorrel when they had the tomatoes in their site was not easy.

They would always make a beeline for the sorrel patch.

It really upsets me that we can no longer let them out on to the grass but we have so many foxes around that they would end up being dinner.

[ChristyRose]

Yes that was the only reason I could part with them because they were only going 5 minutes up the road so I could still see my girls.  But my neighbour has taken a few up to his small holding which is about 1/2 an hour away.  Regret letting him take them but he was so kind helping me move them.

[nerdle]

My garden is sacrificed on the altar of happy hen and therefore happy me.

I live in fox territory too - good foxproofing is hassle and expensive but you only have to do it once for years of henny happiness (hoping so anyway).