Chickens to deweed and debug garden

[sunlit2]

I just purchased my first batch of chicks. 30 of them. I figure I have the room so go big or go home :lol:. My question is that I know it's good for the garden to have the chickens loose at the end of the season, but what about before I plant. I figure when the chicks are about 4-5 weeks old I'll till up the garden. Once it's tilled can I put the chicks out for a bit during the day to eat up some bugs and weeds or will that be bad for the garden? It's only my 2nd year planting a garden and last year the weeds were out of control.

[Junie]

You can do it, but it won't have much effect, at least longterm. It might help with the grubs, though. The chickens will probably enjoy it.

[MooseToo]

hard to train those birds to understand the difference between weed seedlings and your seedlings -

i think it's actually a union thing -

[tomato204]

Like was said, the chickens will enjoy it and it might help. Another thing that helps with weeds is to scrape them off the surface when they're 1/2 inch high. Much easier than later when they get tough roots and stems. Weeds are so tough, I find the best time to hoe them out is high noon on a sunny day. Scrape them off and they will die in the sun.

[Moody Vaden]

My experience with chickens and gardens have always been bad. Ducks, on the other hand, are a different story.

[Deberosa]

I heard that about ducks too. So I turned my ducks look in my garden of peas. THey marched right down the row and ate all of the pea plants. Weeds, not so much!

Couldn't hurt to turn the chickens loose in the garden for a bit. THey are a bit small to do alot of good but anything would help.

[TEX]

Geese have been used as weeders since forever but they are usually (from my understanding) let into the fields after the crops are going fairly well. Our chickens on the other hand ate everything down to the ground. And chickens scratch up everything - they will make a hole and have a dust bath in your garden. Ducks' webb feet don't scratch but they will "diddle" in a puddle with their beaks for goodies in the ground. Of course they will eat all the goodies and walk all over everything that's not bigger than they are but at least they don't scratch every plant out of the ground.

[TEX]

Just remembered - we had our chickens and ducks in about 1/4 acre area for about 2 years. We have moved them to another area - guess where the garden is going to be this year - there is nary a weed or a sprig of grass in their former area - you might consider doing something like that if you have the space and the time to wait for them to totally clean out the garden area - rotate them every year - I know some people do that.

I need more coffee:wacko:

[sunlit2]

I forgot to say that I would put them in the garden before I planted anything. I have it fenced off so they can't get in there once it's planted. Thanks for the advice. As long as their droppings won't make it hard for my plants to grow I think I'll give it a try.

[TEX]

I forgot to say that I would put them in the garden before I planted anything. I have it fenced off so they can't get in there once it's planted. Thanks for the advice. As long as their droppings won't make it hard for my plants to grow I think I'll give it a try.

you should be good to go - unless you have a bluegillion of them in there between now and when you plant

[nhlivefreeordie]

I read on this forum a while back about managing your gardens by putting the coop between two fenced off areas and rotate the chickens from one side to the next every other year, I thought that was a good idea.