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lhringley
Joined: 09 Jul 2003
Posts: 1
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| Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2003 7:46 am Post subject: Pet Chickens |
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| We have 6 pet chickens and I was wondering if there is any product that may be applied to our bedding to keep them from scratching in our flower beds? |
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Dchall_San_Antonio
Joined: 18 Mar 2003
Posts: 1986
Location: San Antonio,TEXAS
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| Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2003 12:03 pm Post subject: |
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From what I've read and seen, chickens are not compatible with flower beds unless you care less about the flowers than the chickens. It's easy to scratch there and they have scratching in their instinct.
You might consider switching to ducks, but I'm not sure that is a guarantee of less scratching. |
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cynthiac
Joined: 18 Jul 2003
Posts: 59
Location: DFW
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| Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2003 4:34 pm Post subject: |
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I found this online:
"We keep a few chickens and allow them to free-range. The chooks are kept in their pen at night, and we let them out about midday to free range until they go to bed at dusk.
But they are scratching the mulch from around my fruit trees to get to the insects and worms underneath. They are also destroying my flower beds, and compost heaps. What can I do to prevent this"?
Spreading recycled chicken wire around the base of each tree, over the top of the mulch will stop the chooks from scratching. Peg the wire down with logs or stones. It can be a lot of work initially, but works very well.
The wire must be lifted when fertilising and re-mulching the trees. With flower beds, spread chicken wire over the bed before planting the flower seedings. Then make small holes in the wire, and plant the seedlings in the holes.
http://homepage.powerup.com.au/~warmearth/articles/AnswerNov2002.htm
Also I've heard of putting several sticks around the plants. The chickens dig elsewhere since the sticks impede their path.
Good luck!
I bet one thing, you have no slugs eating your flowers. :wink: |
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