Many backyard chicken keepers also grow gardens and will enjoy the pest control that the chickens provide to those gardens. However, there are a few reasons why chickens should not be in the garden.
Chickens are constant foragers, which means any time spent in the garden will result in damaged plants. Chickens will eat leaves of developing plants and the produce on the plants as they ripen. In addition, chicken manure can spread diseases to humans, including e coli.
Keep reading to learn more about the safety implications of having your chickens in the garden.
Chickens Damage Roots of Plants
Chickens can damage the roots of plants by dust bathing around the base of the plants.
The space under the canopy of a growing vegetable garden can be a cool and shady place for chickens to dust bathe and laze around on a summer afternoon. When a chicken dust bathes, they will kick out a leg, roll around in the soil, and dig their head and neck under the top layer of dirt. All this movement will remove any soil around the base of a plant and eventually over time will expose the root ball.
In addition, chickens will lean on those plants when they dust bathe to give them more leverage while kicking out a leg. The weight of a chicken can easily damage a small, developing plant and in some cases break the stem and kill the plant.
Another way chickens can damage the roots of plants is through their scratching. Chickens will scratch and peck at the ground looking for seeds and insects just under the top layer of dirt. They will inadvertently dig up any seedlings during this process and disturb any seeds that you have planted.
The best way to prevent chickens from dust bathing and damaging the plants in your garden is to keep them out of the garden. The soil in the garden makes for excellent dust bathing material since it’s fine, cool, and readily available to your chickens.
Make sure to provide your chickens with their own dust bath area since this activity is needed to keep chickens cool and also aides in pest prevention, including mites and fleas. Dust bathing also helps to remove manure that gets on chicken feathers when they are in the coop at night and any poopy butt they might have from runny poops, which are common in hot weather.
Chickens Eat Leaves and Blooms on Plants
Chickens will eat the leaves or flowering blooms on the plants in the garden, which inhibits the growth of the plants.
Chickens are notorious for eating the leaves from tomato plants or beans. Once the chickens eat all the leaves within standing distance, they will begin jumping to reach more leaves. You can tell chickens have been eating a plant when most of the leaves within 2 feet of the ground are gone.
Another type of leaf that chickens will devour are the leaves from sweet potatoes. Many people will grow sweet potatoes as ground cover and the chickens will easily eat all the leaves within a matter of days.
I previously had a nice planting of sweet potatoes in pots. When the chickens found out the leaves were tasty, they ate every single leaf and then dust bathed in the pot for good measure, kicking out half the dirt onto the porch for me to clean up.
When the plants in your garden do not have their leaves, the growth of the plant will be inhibited. In addition, if the chickens are eating the flowering blooms on plants, you will not have any fruit develop on that plant.
This is another reason to keep your chickens out of the garden in case you want to actually eat anything from your garden.
Chickens Eat Produce as it Ripens
In case your plants grow any produce after the chickens have attacked the leaves and blooms, they will definitely eat any fruit that develops in your garden.
Chickens are attracted to colored objects, in particular anything RED. As tomatoes or sweet peppers begin to ripen and turn orangey red, the chickens will eat them immediately.
They will also eat anything leafy, including chard or lettuce. If the chickens find a squirrel eating the leafy greens, they will run the squirrel off and eat the greens themselves.
Unfortunately for gardeners, chickens enjoy many of the same foods as humans. If the food is sweet or fleshy, the chickens will eat it, usually before it fully ripens or before you are able to harvest the garden.
To avoid the chickens eating all the produce from your garden, you will have to keep out them of the garden. It won’t take long for chickens to eat ripening food from the garden, so be cautious if you give them any amount of time in the garden during their free range time when your plants start producing food.
Chicken Poop on Produce is Health Hazard
In addition to eating your garden, chickens will poop while in the garden. While this manure can be good for plants (in moderation if it’s not aged or composted), it can also be dangerous to humans if it is ingested.
Chicken manure can easily get on any food that grows on the ground, including lettuce, chard, potatoes, carrots, and other root vegetables. Low hanging tomato branches can also touch the ground where chickens have left their droppings.
Chicken manure can transmit diseases to humans, including pathogens like E. coli and salmonella. These pathogens can be harmful even if they are washed off the skin of the food since some of them can be absorbed into the cells of the plants.
In general, if your chickens have been in your garden and any of the food has touched the ground it’s better to discard the food instead of eating it to avoid any risk of getting these illnesses.
