Yep, you read that right… I planted a garden for my chickens.
We have fourteen chickens that are almost four months of age. Due to predators in our pasture, we are unable to continue letting our chickens free-range. So, now they live in a coop and have a large run to play in. No matter where they are, they have access to shelter, food, and water.
With the chickens no longer having access to fresh greens, I decided to plant them a garden. I did my research and found that many herbs and veggies are beneficial for them to consume. I decided on oregano, fennel, beans, peas, greens, clover, mullet, and flax.
The tricky part of planting a garden for chickens is to find a way to protect the plants’ roots so that it continues to grow but, still gives access to the nutritional greens. I gave the design of this project a lot of thought. End the end, I decided that a raised garden bed cover would probably work the best.
I had a table top that I was going to try to repurpose for the garden bed cover. I flipped the table top over so the underside was facing up. I had a scrap piece of chicken wire that just happened to be the exact size I needed. I centered the wire on the table and then used a staple gun to secure the wire to the wood. Once that was done, I planted my seeds. The ground of the chicken run has dirt and a light layer of hay. I sprinkled the seeds over the desired area and then topped them with about 1/4 inch of soil. Then, I placed the raised garden bed cover over the seeds and watered it. I let the chickens out of the coop so I could watch and see how they reacted to the new garden area. They were quite curious. They ran over and played on top of the cover for a few minutes before moving on to the next thing. While I was watching, the chickens didn’t pay much attention to the ground below. My hope is that that will continue and allow the plants to grow.
I will continue to update this and let you all know how it goes.
Do you have chickens? Have you ever thought about planting a garden for them?
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Hello, my name is Laurie. My family and I live near the Oregon coast. When we aren’t at work, in school, or on the volleyball court, we enjoy traveling, cheering for our favorite sports teams, playing outdoors, and checking off items on our bucket list. We are lucky in that both sets of our parents, as well as our siblings and their families, live within an hour of us. We get together often to help one another out, celebrate milestones, and go on adventures together.
This post currently has 19 responses.
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Peggy Nunn
What a great idea. You are so smart. I have thought about getting chickens but I am not sure I would really take good care of them because I can’t stay outside too much. It would not be fair to them.
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Dorothy Comeau
Unless your chickens are pets, they really don’t require (or even want) you to spend much time with them. They just require a safe place to run around, good food, plenty of fresh water, and lots of things to explore and play with (they are super curious beasts!).
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Unless your chickens are pets, they really don’t require (or even want) you to spend much time with them. They just require a safe place to run around, good food, plenty of fresh water, and lots of things to explore and play with (they are super curious beasts!).
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Lauryn R
What a great idea to plant your chickens their very own garden! That way they always have food. 🙂 I would love to be able to raise my own chickens, someday! Thank you so much for sharing!
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ellen beck
Goodness I typed out a ton and the page crashed. I wish we could have chickens here our town has some odd rules. I like he idea of the garden for hem very clever!
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Darcy Koch
No. I have never had chickens. I do like your idea and how well built it is. You have made your chickens safe and happy.
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Laurie Nykaza
You have such lucky chickens to live in such a nice home they have a nice fresh salad everyday and stay safe too.
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Sarah L
I like your clever way of protecting the plant roots from being pulled up by the chickens.
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Kathy Eyre
We don’t have any chickens, we are within the city limits and they don’t allow chickens. I keep trying to talk my son, who lives on an acre outside the city , to get some, but he will have nothing to do with chickens!!!
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Julie Waldron
This is a great idea! We used to have chickens up until a few years ago. I hope to get some again when we move to our family’s farm. I’m saving this post for future reference. 🙂
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Your chickens are beautiful! My husband and I have considered raising chickens however it really isn’t practical for us to do so. My brother lives in the country and has 43 chickens! However, he has fresh eggs every single day. Thank you for this wonderful information.
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Alice F
Your chickens are beautiful! My husband and I have considered raising chickens however it really isn’t practical for us to do so. My brother lives in the country and has 43 chickens! However, he has fresh eggs every single day. Thank you for this wonderful information.
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Joyce
Great idea! When we’re in a position to have chickens again, I’ll definitely do this! Thanks!
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Vicki Z
Just reading your article and wondering how it turned out? I’ve been thinking about doing something like this.
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Karen Propes
I miss having chickens, what a fabulous idea – planting them a garden. I think you have done a beautiful job on the chicken run. It’s so easy for something to come in a grab them and you have taken all the precautions to keep that from happening. We had chickens we raised when I was younger on the farm. There is nothing like the taste of a good fresh egg. I look forward to seeing how your garden comes out.
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Gaby
Can You Tell me how Is te project going?
I want this for my chickens.
It sounds wonderfull -
katie
I don’t have chickens. My aunt has chickens and I love watching her videos that she posts of them, too sweet.
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Carissa
Great idea.Did you plant these all mixed together? Did it work? Did you need to reseed? Do you have updated photos? Thanks!
Now I want to try this for my chickens! That’s a clever idea for protecting the plants.