Q & A: How Do I Keep My Free Range Backyard Chickens From Destroying My Garden?

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  • Опубліковано 28 тра 2016
  • In this video Dan from www.PlantAbundance.com shares with you some of the ways he keeps his free range backyard chickens from destroying his garden.
    Video: Plant Protection Cages • Plant Protection Cages...
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КОМЕНТАРІ • 81

  • @ivanalalusic2029
    @ivanalalusic2029 6 років тому +11

    My chickens are free ranged all day but they go into their little coop at night (it's actually a large dog house with a door and a roosting perch inside) and all i do is i grab a few handfuls of ckicken feed and throw it onto the grass so they have to scratch and search for filling food. They are allowed to eat whichever plants they want but i do block off the very tiny plants and the easily destroyed ones, occasionally i will scatter some live mealworms onto the grass too so they get some more protein. I dont have any nesting boxes, instead i have hollow logs and a couple of large holes in the dirt that are partially covered with wood. I have tried nesting boxes but they just dont use them. They have their own little pond to drink from and they love to perch on the branches of my apple tree. As you can tell, I try to make their life as natural as possible.

  • @nannettelewis5003
    @nannettelewis5003 7 років тому +37

    You: "The chickens have never hopped out into a neighbors yard" Me: I don't blame them. If I lived in your yard I would never hop out either."
    It's pure Goodness and Abundance you are procreating and I thank you for sharing it with us!

    • @plantabundance
      @plantabundance  7 років тому

      Thank you Nanette! Cheers!

    • @kellysoo
      @kellysoo Рік тому

      Yeah. I am sure I have not given them abundance hence the story.

  • @AtwoodKnives
    @AtwoodKnives 5 років тому +15

    To me, this is the way people should keep chickens, if they can. I love this arrangement you having going and it's a good deal for all parties involved. I bet those eggs are awesome!

  • @killercuddles7051
    @killercuddles7051 Рік тому +1

    Best video to understand for a new guy. Thank you for not wasting 20 minutes explaining that. Thanks for not showing you're who life n such.

  • @FrancineRossoni
    @FrancineRossoni 7 років тому +2

    Hi Dan. Thanks for all the info on Hugelkultur! You mentioned Mugwart which is THE favorite edible of my chickens and goats. I believe that having abundance all around me truly makes me "complete" and whole with my environment. I am looking forward to having my husband help me with establishing some Hugelkultur beds. Regards, Francine

  • @tkomla
    @tkomla 6 років тому +1

    Most helpful. Thank you! Recently had to rehome my free range flock as I began losing them to stray dogs. Will try this with my next flock in fenced 70 x 90 garden space. Thank you so much.

  • @castleofcostamesa8291
    @castleofcostamesa8291 6 років тому +5

    Thank you so much for your video! It is helpful and I will try using cages to establish new plants around my 12 free-ranging urban backyard chickens.

  • @mollyvanatta7667
    @mollyvanatta7667 5 років тому +1

    Thank you for this helpful video! This will be our first year vegitable gardening and having chickens. Looking forward to learning how to make both work! Thanks again.

  • @wendyhonnor2487
    @wendyhonnor2487 2 роки тому +2

    Dan, that video about chickens was incredibly helpful. I have 5 chicken to 1100 square metres. Great ideas here. I agree.

  • @AndyX
    @AndyX 7 років тому +3

    great set up man... I also let mine dig thru and mix up the compost piles .. they add their dropping as well....they love it

  • @athatcher85
    @athatcher85 8 років тому +12

    excellent video brother!!!! your girls look super happy and healthy. you deffinetly nailed it on the head when you said the flock size depends on the amount of space. the balance of things. so inspirational my friend!!!

    • @plantabundance
      @plantabundance  7 років тому +3

      Thank you! I appreciate you tuning in. All the best for 2017 and beyond!

  • @charitygondwe8800
    @charitygondwe8800 2 роки тому +1

    Thank you for the fencing idea. I will mostly use it for my hibiscus plants in pots that are attacked relentlessly by my landlord's chickens.

  • @sophieclarke6147
    @sophieclarke6147 5 років тому +2

    Your garden and chickens are gorgeous!!!!

  • @DiazGrowsFood
    @DiazGrowsFood 8 років тому +3

    always enjoy your videos!!! Thank you for sharing

  • @sarahwright4743
    @sarahwright4743 3 роки тому +2

    I love the style of your garden!

  • @ediecatto585
    @ediecatto585 2 роки тому +1

    Fairly new to you site and just found the chicken video playlist. I would enjoy more chicken videos!

  • @CindyPak
    @CindyPak 6 років тому +1

    Love your videos, thanks for sharing!!

  • @reneeodayok859
    @reneeodayok859 4 роки тому +3

    Gooooooood luck. If you have a traditional garden you can not let chickens out without a fence and clipping wings. As soon as you till those chickens will forever be in your garden and they will DESTROY it. With more people gardening and keeping chickens this year I think it's important to note that this method may work for some with a similar situation and a lot of time and experience but not how you want to start out. Good luck out there

  • @marcrejas1634
    @marcrejas1634 5 років тому +29

    I have 7 acres of land...and my chickens still eat the flowering plants in our planter boxes.

    • @jaimieeckert
      @jaimieeckert 3 роки тому +1

      Have you found a solution for this?

    • @memomorph5375
      @memomorph5375 2 роки тому

      Sounds right. They like the loose, rich dirt. Maybe a chicken tractor?

    • @kellysoo
      @kellysoo Рік тому +1

      Mine loves to visit me in my house. So they will come to my verandah and leave parcels. Also the garden. They love to scratch my mulch and then sit there to rest. Sigh.

  • @Wendyann1100
    @Wendyann1100 8 років тому +6

    Awesome. Love that beautiful white crested hen. Your garden is fabulous.

  • @tsonja7175
    @tsonja7175 9 місяців тому

    This was very encouraging. I am drawing out my garden and chicken area now and wanted to have them free range around and through the garden. I am thinking that they will take care of bugs and snakes too...

  • @stevenfeil7079
    @stevenfeil7079 8 років тому +5

    Diversity of plants should also be helpful. I also see lots of open ground for them to scratch.

  • @urbangardeningandchickenke1018

    Excellent tips

  • @TheMelanda
    @TheMelanda 3 роки тому +3

    Gorgeous chickens and garden, wonderful video! Have you considered using soaked (sprouted if whole, fermented if cracked or ground) grain instead of the commercial feed, as a supplement? It can end up cheaper and more nutritious.

    • @kellysoo
      @kellysoo Рік тому

      I do this. Soaked and fermented. With apple cider or milk kefir.

  • @AlabasterPeacock
    @AlabasterPeacock 3 роки тому +2

    Great! Thank you!
    I wonder if adding certain plants that the chicken specifically love to eat just for them would help keep them out of other plants that we plant for us? 😄
    Not sure what those would be 🤔. Anyone know?

  • @brandonburrell8517
    @brandonburrell8517 6 років тому

    Thanks for the great information.

  • @tweedyyyyy
    @tweedyyyyy 8 років тому +2

    Awesome!

  • @chefkathyteal6428
    @chefkathyteal6428 2 роки тому +1

    My husband has a lean to off one side of his storage house. He has lots of things under it. Should I be concerned about the chickens who have only been in a tractor before getting into his stuff and eating wire or nails or nuts etc?

  • @TheNewTestament27
    @TheNewTestament27 2 роки тому

    Thank you 😊

  • @cloud6862
    @cloud6862 3 роки тому

    Thankyou great videao

  • @marisollopez5015
    @marisollopez5015 4 місяці тому

    the butt attack at the end was the best part! lol jk. thanks for this video. very informative

  • @TTAG3
    @TTAG3 7 років тому +2

    Curious if you've considered ducks? Your chickens seem very well tempered and obviously you have a great thing going here. In the little research I've done, ducks seem to present less issues in a garden setting(aside from trampling young annuals). But I have 0 personal experience and am sure there are pros/cons for each. Interested to hear your thoughts!

    • @kellysoo
      @kellysoo Рік тому

      Ducks love greens. They will eat everything. They love grass. They love berries. The love spinach and leafy greens. I don’t know what ducks would not eat. They love slugs and flies. I plan to have abundance of food for them and then abundance of food for my family ; away from their reach. A friend told me once, if my garden can be destroyed by them then I am not planting enough. 😅😅😅😅

  • @barnbersonol
    @barnbersonol 4 роки тому +1

    Nasturtion is a good plant because even though the chickens eat them they're very, very fast growing.

  • @anthonybrown9373
    @anthonybrown9373 6 років тому +1

    I free ranged with full veggie gardens and have never had a problems they can leave the yard through an escape and never lose any

  • @keepthefaith1912
    @keepthefaith1912 7 років тому +1

    Our chickens (10 on 3 acres) are dinos! They love all my vegetables!
    I think they like to be where I/we are..Eating everything! This isn't good in the zen area- we cannot have peace with chickens digging and eating everything- to solve the matter - better, I am installing short fences--- the fence doesn't prevent too much chicken activity- it just distracts them--dentures their over active behavior-- the short fence also helps distract wild rabbits too--
    THANKS for your videos-- everything is lovely...

    • @plantabundance
      @plantabundance  7 років тому +6

      It took me a couple years to find the balance that allows my chickens to roam freely through the garden. Most importantly is the chicken to land ratio. Second is having a perennial based garden. Tender low growing annuals will not fare very well. So I went from standard collards to tree collards, annual spinach to longevity spinach etc. The chickens leave all of my berry bushes, fruit trees and vining plants alone. The woodchip mulch has brought in an abundance of worms that they enjoy. And to make sure they are satiated and healthy there is always some supplemental organic feed available. Young plant additions are given special protection cages until they are established. I find that my chickens prefer to graze and never focus on just one plant, a little here a little there which is just fine for me. I have no snail or slugs in my garden thanks to the chickens. Occasionally they will dust bathe in areas I don't want so I just throw a plant protection cage or a burlap bag in that spot which ends it. My garden is very Zen and full of Life & Abundance. Thanks for tuning in!

    • @millicentyoung2724
      @millicentyoung2724 6 років тому

      Plant Abundance pompom p

    • @kellysoo
      @kellysoo Рік тому

      @@plantabundance Thank you for this summary

  • @deliroous
    @deliroous Рік тому

    Just got chicks kind of on a whim. (No worries I’m prepared to take the best care of them) anyway I’m trying to figure out a way to have them freely in the yard during the day. Just not sure if they’d destroy all the gardens we have

  • @truthandjustice7219
    @truthandjustice7219 2 роки тому

    Back in Jamaica our chickens go to work and come home in the evening just like my Father.
    And I did not even know of free range.
    Chicken live out in the yard and go the other people yard too.
    They get cut coconuts in the morning and they get in the evening same time..

    • @sarsvfx
      @sarsvfx 11 місяців тому

      Do they destroy neighbors gardens and do they complain about it

  • @gosialife
    @gosialife 5 років тому

    Awesome

  • @mauxanhngocbich5848
    @mauxanhngocbich5848 2 роки тому

    Racoon will chasing and eat free ranged chickens alive, how to avoid it. and how about cold weather please advise

  • @Grateful4lfe
    @Grateful4lfe 2 місяці тому

    What about your vegetable garden ?

  • @Blackwindzero
    @Blackwindzero 4 роки тому +1

    Why are they almost extinct? What caused it?

  • @elliemae4525
    @elliemae4525 8 років тому +3

    Love your chicks! So if they're free-range 90% of the time, do you ever have a predator problem? Dogs, cats, wild animals, snakes? Is your property completely fenced-in? I absolutely love watching your vids. They make me salivate and wish I'd known about this type of living a long time ago. We might not have had such a gradation problem with our land. We live in Zone 8b, and I'm wondering if this might be possible here. We do have cold weather and a few frosts and we live within 75 miles of the Northern border of Florida.Your insight would be nice. God bless and have an awesome Memorial Day 2016!

    • @plantabundance
      @plantabundance  7 років тому +4

      My dogs are the defenders of the flock. Their initial instinct was otherwise, but after just a little training they now protect the hens and keep predators away. The entire property is fenced in. You can create a paradise wherever you are. Just learn about what grows well in your region and experiment a bit. All the best!

  • @ShowYouOnceAgain
    @ShowYouOnceAgain 6 років тому +5

    so its been over a year and i suspect they have now ripped up that yard hahahaha i know mine have.

  • @mauroraimondi5015
    @mauroraimondi5015 4 роки тому

    Don't they eat the cabbage leaves?

  • @N12Gautam
    @N12Gautam 6 років тому

    What about the chicken smell?

  • @Dab4lifee
    @Dab4lifee 6 років тому +1

    Am I able to let my chickens free range while I’m at school for seven hours then come home and put them up

    • @SilkieSalt
      @SilkieSalt 4 роки тому

      I have 4 pet chickens and if you wanna know the answer to your question... it's yes (just close the gate otherwise they'll escape...)

  • @Watchoutforsnakez
    @Watchoutforsnakez 6 місяців тому

    They wouldn’t eat newly sprouted peas or beans? How would to protect rows of tomatoes or corn or any rows? You just showed a single cilantro. My chicken love pecking and ruining almost red juicy ones getting ripe. Arugula? They are crazy about it. I have a huge, massive yard 😂and have a set up almost identical to you

  • @francinemarcelin3429
    @francinemarcelin3429 Рік тому

    How do I get rid of someone else's chickens who like to roam into my yard and destroy my grass? Please help!

    • @sarsvfx
      @sarsvfx 11 місяців тому

      You can’t get rid of them just build the wire thing around your plants or build a tall chicken wore fence about 6 feet tall should keep them out of your garden my friend chickens who is my neighbor goes into my garden and every time I tell him about it he just says yes and never does anything we are really cool friends I never had a problem with him in life besides this he did help me in critical situations in life so I just let it be so just do what I said and it should work

  • @NtandoMbele
    @NtandoMbele 2 роки тому

    20 x 20m for 10 chickens?

  • @phxtonash
    @phxtonash 8 років тому +2

    What about preditors

    • @plantabundance
      @plantabundance  7 років тому +1

      We have some around but it has not been a big issue thus far. My dogs are the defenders of the flock and at night the chickens roost up high. If it were an issue I would probably do something similar to the "chicken tunnel man".

    • @veronicac5041
      @veronicac5041 7 років тому

      Plant Abundance what's the chicken tunel man?

  • @quailjailss
    @quailjailss 8 років тому

    when are those game hens gonna go broody?! come on gals!

  • @xaverbishop6506
    @xaverbishop6506 4 роки тому

    Are we talking about a garden with beans, squash, tomatoes,lettuce etc?

  • @LindsayC33
    @LindsayC33 4 роки тому +1

    my chickens completely destroyed my flower bed. so much time & money just wasted!

  • @dftf100mbeforedololetsdoit8
    @dftf100mbeforedololetsdoit8 3 роки тому

    My chickens get into my seedlings and scratch the soil and eat my seeds... I'm a newbie gerdener 😢😌✌

  • @geoffhorvath3261
    @geoffhorvath3261 5 років тому

    These fresh Empire commercials are really getting on my nerves

  • @usernameGoat
    @usernameGoat 5 років тому +4

    My father's chickens destroyed my newly grown lemon and i'm having my revenge soon

    • @RR-vg5hg
      @RR-vg5hg 4 роки тому

      marie Sagrado lol

  • @barakau
    @barakau 3 роки тому

    Watched this video to see how I can stop my neighbours chickens from coming into my yard and causing a mess. No answers.