Jessica is an experienced pet mom with dogs, cats, rats, fish, axolotls, a gecko, chickens, and ducks.
For many of us, keeping chickens and gardening are ways of life. Seeing your chickens free-roaming and pecking around the yard can be a peaceful sight but not if they decide to start pecking at your garden. Luckily, there are ways to keep your chickens away from your garden so you can enjoy both fresh eggs and fresh veggies! This article will go over 5 methods to keep your chickens from getting into your garden.
1. Make a Fence Around Your Garden
The simplest way to keep chickens from messing with your garden is to completely stop them from being in there. As long as they can't fly over, a simple fence might be the easiest way to stop them from getting to your crops. When building the fence some things to consider are making sure that your chickens cant fit through the holes in the fence, and making sure that it is tall enough. Also, make sure that you either choose a material that is not easy for chickens to peck through, or keep your plants away from the fence.
The best types of fences for keeping chickens out are made out of hardware cloth, chicken wire, or wood. Plant cages made out of chicken wire or hardware cloth are effective as well. For plant cages, hardware cloth will keep your plants safer but chicken wire is easier to work with and less expensive. If none of these fencing options work for you, some people have even had success using bricks or cement blocks around their plants to deter their chickens from pecking at the dirt.
2. Grow Plants Your Chickens Don't Like
Another easy way to keep your chickens away from your garden is to deter them with plants that they don't like. Some examples of plants that deter chickens are:
- Peppermint
- Marigold
- Catnip
- Chives
- Marjoram
- Lavender
- Yarrow
- Sage
- Thyme
- Tansy
Chickens do not like the strong smell and taste of these plants and most of the time they will avoid them. This method is not as foolproof as putting up a fence, but it is much more aesthetically pleasing! Just put these plants around the perimeter of your garden to keep chickens out.
