Yep. Either chickens have to be fenced in (in a yard) or fenced out (of your garden beds). Even with our 2 acre lifestyle block I fenced them out of the vegetable garden and let them range over the rest.
I planned to get about 4 chickens and let them free range in the yard between my garden beds since they’re about two feet off the ground, but now I’m thinking that my veggies won’t be safe 😂. I definitely need to rethink the run area for them. This was so informative - thank you!
Indeed, unless you have fences around your garden beds, or a 2-ft-high roof over the paths, the chickens would have no trouble jumping up two feet to feast on the buffet you have laid on for them!
@@richardb4787 thank you! Unfortunately I live in a suburban area where the only livestock they allow is chickens. Starting to craft some frames for the garden beds so the chickens can get some exercise around the yard.
Very interesting video. I realized a couple of things: 1. You, Madame, have a lot of free time to experiment. And you love your chickens. 2. Whenever I will keep chickens, I will have to keep them away from the vegetable garden. 3. Chickens are a good, natural and pesticide-free way of removing the weeds from a piece of land. 4. Chickens can (or even should) be included in crop rotation. Or, after harvesting a crop, the terrain can be cleaned by letting the chickens do it instead of doing it manually. I don't know why they don't teach this in horticultural universities as a method of bio weed control!
You are so right. 1. Yes I'm retired. And I love chickens, and gardening. 2. Yes you will. Either fence the chickens in or fence the gardens. 3. Plus they lay eggs and provide heaps of entertainment as well as chicken poo fertiliser. 4. Me neither. Chickens have a great place in farming but somehow people think of chicken farming or horticulture as if they are mutually exclusive! 5. I also love chatting about chickens 😊😊😊 Have a great day!
Ah; to have the ability to grow greens year round. I live in the Canadian Rocky Mountains, where the snow accumulates to feet’s high, and the average winter temperatures are around-20 to-30c. We breed mealworms and red wrigglers for our chickens to feed on in the winter, and they get lots of kitchen scraps instead of fresh greens. In the summer, we move them around in chicken tractors, and they feed off the wild weeds on the property safe from wild animals. It would be so nice to be able to have a climate like yours to be able to grow year round. You have an absolutely beautiful little farm ❣️
Oh yes we are very lucky with the climate here. But everyone's situation is different and we make the most of what we have. I'm sure your chickens love their winter treats as much as scratching in the wild summer fields 😊 Best wishes to you and your chickens from New Zealand
We had somone give us about 10 bantam chickens when i was a kid. We had a big yard on the edge of a forest. We let them free range and they ate and scratched away nearly every piece of grass in our yard. Our 10 chickens increased to about 50 in no time. We let them do this for about 10 years. Finally something started taking one per night out of a Live Oak tree that they roosted in until we had none.
Your original idea of having sections on which the chickens could graze and then be moved to the next section, will work if you move the chickens from one section to the next every day, and if the sections are stretched to 5 minimum. This way, the chickens will not eat everything in a single patch, and by the time they return to the original patch, some or most of the grass would have had a change to grow new leaves. It would be wise to have a sacrificial patch, where the chickens could be kept up to a week or two, when all the other patches are almost depleted of grass, as to give them a chance to recover, meanwhile the chickens will be contained in the sacrificial patch which will go bare in a week or so. Doing so, at least in a week's time or so, the chickens would have something green to eat and be moved from patch to patch every day, until it would be time again to enclose them in the sacrificial patch to let the grass grow once more.
We're on a 10 acre native bush block in NZ. We tried free ranging our 12 chooks but they had a very negative impact on the forest floor. Ate or scratched up all the seedlings and cleared the natural mulch. They travelled about 100 metres from their coop. So now confined to a fenced area and fed fresh cut veg and food scraps. Thanks for your ideas. 😊
Nasturtium seeds are indeed Capers. In Afrikaans we call Nasturium 'Kappers' or 'kappertjies'. Thanks for a very informative video. I enjoyed every minute.
I enjoyed your garden ideas, thanks. We have 200 square meters, half of that is fenced off for the chickens, it contains some shrubs, rosebushes, a large nut tree, large cherry tree, small pear tree, raspberries, ... since we have them we enjoy a lot more pears, also composting works a lot more efficient. I'd almost say that if they wouldn't lay delicious eggs, having them as pet would still be very much worth it, they're fun, bring life and cute sounds in the garden, especially when they take a dustbath and then shake themselves off, or when they come running from the back - wings flapping. We also have a tiny vegetable plot and a small herb garden and ornamental border, with a bit of lawn and place for the drying... and once the last pumpkin was harvested I let the chickens free in the garden, they seem to be very happy in that arrangement, they do make a mess from the raised beds, the bark between, will have to be replaced again, but I'm counting on them to keep it all free of snails.
I think nasturtiums are capers. Capers berries are the flower pods before the petals burst open and the seeds are pods formed after the flowers dies back
I wouldn't move into a restrictive neighborhood, e.g., HOA. I value freedom, owner control, property rights. I have resisted authoritarians, especially govt. for 82 years. You have found a way to raise healthy birds, yielding you the best eggs. Good on 'ya! I admire your ingenuity and work ethic.
There is so much to appreciate in this video. Believe me, there is more than this that I want to sing your praises about, but ... I love that little gate flap that you installed onto your chicken wire. Genius!
@@chickensinmygarden Looking at them now. I don't blame you. I love them. There is so much to appreciate on your channel from what I see so far. Keep it up!
Thank you. I aspire to be a chicken mother. I think you have helped. I live rural, but there are coyotes that circulate and raccoons as well. I enjoyed listening to your chickens “mumble”. One of my favorite sounds ever. 💛
Coyotes and raccoons do Not sound like good neighbours for chickens! The kind of flimsy fences that keep my chickens out of my vege garden would be no match for a raccoon.
@@catmomjewett oh, Marine guards would be fun! (But then - ya gotta feed THEM as well!🤣). My girls free-range on my 1/2 acre and are locked securely into a chicken run at night. Having 12” of screen or fencing buried around the outside perimeter of your vertical fencing will prevent coyote digging - and I KNOW this works! Good luck! Hawks….well, that’s another story….
Thank you so much for this video with all your experience…. It saved me a lot of work and I will use your idea that worked best for you and really makes sense for small yards. !
What a brilliant video. In my opinion, you can call your chickens free-range. Surely, if chickens have the amount of ground yours have they are certainly not caged. What an awful word that is. Even without the run the space they have out in the fresh air and sun must be good. I have seen caged chickens many years ago. They may have had a foot square of space. And the way you have experimented if their veg and space is brill.
My chickens love tomatoes and zucchini. I often toss excess to them. They also like melons (rind and seeds). I often pull dandelion leaves, comfrey leaves, plantain and thistle leaves for my chickens. It's a treat for them :)
Love your video Yeah found out too that if you let them free in a small yard 3 chickens can make all green disappear 😳 If I have time I do let them out and watch them I have some spots where I like that they scratch end eat everything specially around some trees I have I put stones in a square and put wire on top so there is a gab of 2-3 inches So they only pick the top of the Gras. In their chicken run. It works 😁 But I like the slanted fence and the Nasturtium ❤ I will do this Thank you for sharing
Great idea. Thank you for sharing. Another improvement would be, instead of a straight fence, a serpentine fence would provide more surface area, which would mean more plants that the chickens could reach in the same space available. Depending on how curvy (serpentine shape) the fence would be made, it could increase the surface area by nearly an extra 50%, that means 50% more plants for the chickens to peck at in the same space as compared to a straight fence.
I have chicken coop with netted run in the middle of my vegetable garden. On the right and left side of my coop I have two 150m2 plots. In one year I grow vegetables in first plot, and in the second I grow cover crops and let the chicken roam. Next year I switching the plots. This way I have vegetable-chicken garden. I need to find out how I can add rabbits to this system, so I can also have meat.
That sounds wonderful. 150m2 is a great size! I don't know anything about rabbits but if you have a rooster you can raise chicks and eat the cockerels.
Hi, I live and take care of the chickens at an Animal Sanctuary in Los Angeles. I think I will plant letuce, cale, red chard, cilantro and parsley in pots and put the pots into the chicken runns. This way they can pick their "salad" themselves. Thank you for your lovely videos ❤😊
Lovely and informative video. Your flock looks very happy and healthy. I have my girls in a large run and let them free range the entire garden when I am out there - which is usually 2 or 3 times a day during the week and for several hours each day at the weekend. I have to protect my beds so the girls can’t get in and ransack them but on the whole this works well. I do love working in the garden and having them around me. I’m off to find more of your videos now. All the best. Mags.
Great video - you’ve done a very thorough presentation on your experiences and your conclusions. Thank you! You’ve got some fluffy & plump girls there, a lovely flock.🐓🐓❤ My “takeaway” is the lesson of hens scratching and the subsequent destruction of new vegetative growth. I’m inspired👍🏻
That's wonderful! Everyone knows their own challenges and can best work out their own best solution but I'm glad to have sparked some lines of thinking 😊
What would happen if you put that netting on the ground? Straight on the ground, so not preventing then accessing the green, but prevents them using those strong legs to demolish the roots. If you combine that with sectioning, you might just manage to beat their pace of destruction.
Thank you. The chickens are cute but can be very destructive. We used to have chickens free ranging here in our large garden in Ireland. I'm recovering from a stroke so mostly housebound at present. Good luck with your experiments. Best wishes vera❤
Thank you Vera. Yes indeed chickens have very energetic soil turning legs 😄 I hope you continue recovering so you can get out and enjoy your garden. Meanwhile, I have lots of videos about cute chickens so do check out my channel. Be kind to yourself ❤️
Pumpkin sprouts grow well in a large pot from the pips inside the pumpkin. The hens love the young plants even though its too late in the year to plant them in the garden
Interesting! As long as I protect the roots from being scratched up, my chickens seem to ignore the pumpkin leaves. Once the young fruit forms they will peck at that though! They do love pumpkin and it's so good for them! ruclips.net/video/EjllnmeCxBo/видео.html
Great video, especially with the price of eggs. I have nasturtiums in the cooler months at my house and love their taste, never tried the seeds and I love capers.
That's great. Do also check out my video about how much space chickens need ruclips.net/video/23Ncn7JhzqE/видео.html And if you haven't yet settled on a design for your hen house you might be interested in this series about how I designed and built mine ruclips.net/video/3VeMh2b-Sos/видео.html Best wishes
Great video, I have a large run that is completely enclose because of the high predator load in the area here. I want to still provide them with fresh growing plants and have been looking at a few methods, this looks like a great method
Great. I'm always delighted to spark some ideas that you can adapt to your own situation. Depending on how high the ceiling is you might also include some low shrubs or bushes - just keep the root area covered until the bush gets established.
Outside loving the content, I love the format of your video. Great editing! Never boring, but still not too fast pasted. Talking, but also breaks with not talking. Looking forward to seeing more of your videos.
Thank you so much, I really appreciate your compliments. It takes me about a month to make each video but I've been making them for about 7 years so don't wait a month to see another one! 😄
@HelenEk7 Greetings to you and your chickens, from the other side of the globe. It's a new day here, the sun is shining and I know it's going to be lovely. Wishing you a great day too 😊
I like to let my chickens free range but they love to destroy the garden and leave their calling cards on the neighbors' porch. They have a pretty good sized fenced yard. I like how you have done this
I bet the neighbours are not happy about that 😃 I think it's entirely possible to have happy chickens as well as a garden. What will work for you will not be exactly the same as what has worked for me but I hope I've sparked some ideas for you 😊
Thank you. It is so helpful to see the experiment unfold. I appreciate how you have shared various approaches and results to keeping chickens in a small space. I have considered doing so for years and ... we shall see..... thanks again for this demonstration.
Thank you for being honest and showing what didn't work as well as what did. There is always something else to learn. In my previous attempts at free ranging chicken's, we learned that if a chicken to get on top of anything they're going to poop on it. When free ranging, they will often dig holes at the edges of any structure, including the house and anywhere you don't want them to do so. I gave up in frustration and ate the chickens. I'm in the process now of building a large indoor run and trying to figure out how to give them access to pasture without them roaming everywhere. I like your idea of moving fencing with the chickens, it's the same idea of moving fencing with cows to give them smaller paddocks to graze and moving them frequently for optimal grass use. You've given me some great ideas, thank you.
Excellent. Sparking ideas that other people can use in their own situation is my goal 😊 Here we use the term "break feeding" to refer to rotating cows or other stock through areas with temporary fencing, usually electric fence. If you have a big enough total area it should work. Unless you have a mobile hen-house there's a bit of a design challenge in getting the hens to each area. One solution i have seen is to have the hen house in the middle of the total area and the various pastures like slices of pizza around it. Another idea is tiny tunnels to each separate pasture. A lot depends on what you have to work with. Have fun 😊
I love your sharing your experiments and results. Your 'small' garden is huge by local standards. I now know why the households around me with larger plots and enclosed chicken runs have several raised beds inside the run, each surrounded by chicken netting. Each raised bed can be planted and grown out and when it's 'enough for a treat' the fencing is opened. I'll bet those leafy greens have no bugs whatsoever! Thank you for your video.
Lay meshing over the ground raised up a couple of inches, so the hens can’t scratch the ground but the vegetation can grow through the meshing. Where the hens can peck it.
I recommend fencing in, 2"x 4" grid, 5' high, the garden beds . Then an hour before sunset let them out to roam the remaining abailable yard. Be sure they will return to their protected roost by near dark. Chickens will not only eat the greens but their scratching will destroy the beds. I'd love to visit, you love your birds! I'd do the layout a little different, but it's about happy birds after all. You have different breeds, very colorful. Bet they all have names too.🌱
Hi there. Yes, I've always had a variety of breeds, not only for their looks but also their variety of eggs. And yes of course they have names. Everyone has names. You and I have names and all my chickens (well over 100 over the years) have names too! 😊🐥🐥🐥
We had a pecking garden with cherry tomatoes, which they loved, but only used scrap wire, which was too light. Once they got in with their feet to scratch for bugs, it was the end 🙈
Thank you for an enjoyable video - hens are so I love the plans they make to reach what they prefer! I use the same idea of your small box of plants covered with wire on a bigger scale. Enjoy your garden!
I love your programmes. Always a delight to watch. Also, always very informative. Your visuals are always colourful. And, last but by no means least, I love your colourful variety of chickens. Sincerely, Larry Clarence Lewis London, Ontario, Canada.
Thank you so much Larry. I appreciate your kind and thoughtful compliments. You must be heading into Fall-Winter now, so I hope my chickens brought some sunshine to your day. Best wishes from Sheryl and chickens
Great video. Would love to have chickens on my site, within a moving 'chicken tractor' system, and it's interesting to see the timing of the moves that may be needed to allow regrowth of vegetation. Good to see some NZ content too!
Thank you. It's lovely to hear from another kiwi chicken keeper. Have you seen my video about how chickens came to New Zealand? ruclips.net/video/kgsImS_g4sk/видео.html Have a great day 😊
@@chickensinmygarden I'm actually in the UK, but my partner is from NZ. Only visited once (so far) but will certainly be back! Will add your video link to my watch list. I've subscribed so I'll be watching more when I get a chance.
@TheWoodlandOrchard It takes me about a month to make each one but I have a lot worth looking at. So it's a wonderful morning here but I guess it's "Good night" to you.
@@chickensinmygarden Yes it's late evening now. I tend to make videos when I get a chance, and have something I think may be of value. In a bit of a lull right now as I'm studying on an online Permaculture course, which chicken content of course. Once that's completed I'd like to get back to at least one video per month. In my last attempt at a channel I was doing 1 or 2 per week, which was unsustainable. Hope you have a good day!
Interesting, thank you. If I had more space I would try this. Maybe one day when i reduce my vegetable growing space I will have just 2 chickens & use your idea 🐥
Whatever works for you. I just want to share what I've learnt and hope to stimulate some of your ideas so you can find what's best for you and your chickens 😊
Excellent. You could put a trough and fence it so they can eat through it, then replace or turn it so they can eat the other side.. Got me thinking. Thanks. My girls want to be out, but I have coyotes that like to eat them so had to pen up. But your idea for greens is great.
This is great. I've always wanted to try the thing you first set out to do, and you've done it for me -- so I can see how it works. Couldn't have found a video like this except by Providence. I'm really thankful for this one!
Thanks for the new video - I look forward to every one! I have plenty of land but can't free- range because of the predators in my rural mountain area in the US - hawks, eagles, coyotes, bobcats, and even mountain lions and bears! I have mobile chicken yards set up that I can easily move around for new pasture or set up on my garden areas in the fall so the girls can work over the soil. The pens are made of plastic pipe and hardware mesh. Small mobile "tunnels" connect to these yards from the door on the covered run. It works great. I also hang bundles of kale, beet greens, dandelion greens, and other greens inside their pens, especially in the winter. Fresh corn still on the cob while in season is also greatly enjoyed by the girls, and they love dry cracked corn at any time! I like your idea of setting aside strips along the edges of their runs to grow greens and give them the mental stimulation of reaching through the fencing. I know how fast chickens can denude patches of land, and my girls love the excitement of getting access to a new patch of greens after they get bored with their old one!
My first chicken year i free ranged my chickens in my yard. Only three. They ate everything. Now they have a yard.
Yep. Either chickens have to be fenced in (in a yard) or fenced out (of your garden beds). Even with our 2 acre lifestyle block I fenced them out of the vegetable garden and let them range over the rest.
Same here….
🤣
I planned to get about 4 chickens and let them free range in the yard between my garden beds since they’re about two feet off the ground, but now I’m thinking that my veggies won’t be safe 😂. I definitely need to rethink the run area for them. This was so informative - thank you!
Indeed, unless you have fences around your garden beds, or a 2-ft-high roof over the paths, the chickens would have no trouble jumping up two feet to feast on the buffet you have laid on for them!
@@burgalicious chicken scratch using their legs, but ducks are safe around plants. Ducks have short legs so they can't jump.
@@richardb4787 thank you! Unfortunately I live in a suburban area where the only livestock they allow is chickens. Starting to craft some frames for the garden beds so the chickens can get some exercise around the yard.
Very interesting video. I realized a couple of things:
1. You, Madame, have a lot of free time to experiment. And you love your chickens.
2. Whenever I will keep chickens, I will have to keep them away from the vegetable garden.
3. Chickens are a good, natural and pesticide-free way of removing the weeds from a piece of land.
4. Chickens can (or even should) be included in crop rotation. Or, after harvesting a crop, the terrain can be cleaned by letting the chickens do it instead of doing it manually. I don't know why they don't teach this in horticultural universities as a method of bio weed control!
You are so right.
1. Yes I'm retired. And I love chickens, and gardening.
2. Yes you will. Either fence the chickens in or fence the gardens.
3. Plus they lay eggs and provide heaps of entertainment as well as chicken poo fertiliser.
4. Me neither. Chickens have a great place in farming but somehow people think of chicken farming or horticulture as if they are mutually exclusive!
5. I also love chatting about chickens 😊😊😊
Have a great day!
Ah; to have the ability to grow greens year round. I live in the Canadian Rocky Mountains, where the snow accumulates to feet’s high, and the average winter temperatures are around-20 to-30c. We breed mealworms and red wrigglers for our chickens to feed on in the winter, and they get lots of kitchen scraps instead of fresh greens. In the summer, we move them around in chicken tractors, and they feed off the wild weeds on the property safe from wild animals. It would be so nice to be able to have a climate like yours to be able to grow year round.
You have an absolutely beautiful little farm ❣️
Oh yes we are very lucky with the climate here. But everyone's situation is different and we make the most of what we have. I'm sure your chickens love their winter treats as much as scratching in the wild summer fields 😊
Best wishes to you and your chickens from New Zealand
@@chickensinmygarden Thank you 😊
@@MsK-xm7vw glass panels are your friends. Old windows, orientated to the south can bring welcome heat while leaving the cold out.
What a wonderful idea, thank you from Georgia, USA.
We had somone give us about 10 bantam chickens when i was a kid. We had a big yard on the edge of a forest. We let them free range and they ate and scratched away nearly every piece of grass in our yard. Our 10 chickens increased to about 50 in no time. We let them do this for about 10 years. Finally something started taking one per night out of a Live Oak tree that they roosted in until we had none.
This did give me a couple of great ideas! Thanks for sharing!
That's great to hear. Thank you so much. Have a great day 😊
Looks like stopping them from scratching the plants to death really makes it more sustainable. Appreciate you sharing your experience.
Thank you for watching 😊
im glad to see none of the chickens heads got stuck in the fence!
No, none of them even looked to be at risk of that. I guess they are more sensible than we give them credit for.
Your original idea of having sections on which the chickens could graze and then be moved to the next section, will work if you move the chickens from one section to the next every day, and if the sections are stretched to 5 minimum. This way, the chickens will not eat everything in a single patch, and by the time they return to the original patch, some or most of the grass would have had a change to grow new leaves. It would be wise to have a sacrificial patch, where the chickens could be kept up to a week or two, when all the other patches are almost depleted of grass, as to give them a chance to recover, meanwhile the chickens will be contained in the sacrificial patch which will go bare in a week or so. Doing so, at least in a week's time or so, the chickens would have something green to eat and be moved from patch to patch every day, until it would be time again to enclose them in the sacrificial patch to let the grass grow once more.
I really enjoyed watching this.
Excellent. Thank you for saying so 😊
We're on a 10 acre native bush block in NZ. We tried free ranging our 12 chooks but they had a very negative impact on the forest floor. Ate or scratched up all the seedlings and cleared the natural mulch. They travelled about 100 metres from their coop. So now confined to a fenced area and fed fresh cut veg and food scraps. Thanks for your ideas. 😊
You're right - chooks don't belong in NZ native forest or anywhere you want seedlings - they love to scratch.
Great ideas…thank you!
From two chicken lovers in Tennessee 😉
Hi there! Thanks for that. I do like to share what I've found to work or not work.
Best wishes to you and your chickens 😊
I really need to extend my chickens run too. They love to eat the green plants. Thank you for sharing your beautiful chickens.
Thank you. And thanks for watching 😊
Nasturtium seeds are indeed Capers. In Afrikaans we call Nasturium 'Kappers' or 'kappertjies'. Thanks for a very informative video. I enjoyed every minute.
Thank you so much 😊
I enjoyed your garden ideas, thanks.
We have 200 square meters, half of that is fenced off for the chickens, it contains some shrubs, rosebushes, a large nut tree, large cherry tree, small pear tree, raspberries, ... since we have them we enjoy a lot more pears, also composting works a lot more efficient. I'd almost say that if they wouldn't lay delicious eggs, having them as pet would still be very much worth it, they're fun, bring life and cute sounds in the garden, especially when they take a dustbath and then shake themselves off, or when they come running from the back - wings flapping.
We also have a tiny vegetable plot and a small herb garden and ornamental border, with a bit of lawn and place for the drying... and once the last pumpkin was harvested I let the chickens free in the garden, they seem to be very happy in that arrangement, they do make a mess from the raised beds, the bark between, will have to be replaced again, but I'm counting on them to keep it all free of snails.
That sounds just perfect for you and your chickens. Thanks for sharing. Have a great day 😊
Your chickens look so beautiful, happy and healthy!🐔
Thank you, yes I believe they are 😊
What a wonderful video about raising happy chickens, gorgeous birds and garden, beautiful presentation, thankyou so much for sharing your wisdom.😍
Thank you so much. You are very kind 😊
6:29 I love the idea of a “picking garden”. ❤️🐓
This was my first small one
ruclips.net/video/5JrR2_x0-DI/видео.html
I think nasturtiums are capers. Capers berries are the flower pods before the petals burst open and the seeds are pods formed after the flowers dies back
Oh I thought they were a different plant. They certainly taste similar 😊
@@chickensinmygarden Actually capers are a different plant, sorry, I didn’t read to the end😃
No worries. Anyway we now know we can use nasturtium pods as capers if we want.
Have a great day 😊
I wouldn't move into a restrictive neighborhood, e.g., HOA. I value freedom, owner control, property rights. I have resisted authoritarians, especially govt. for 82 years. You have found a way to raise healthy birds, yielding you the best eggs. Good on 'ya! I admire your ingenuity and work ethic.
Thank you. Long may your joy and freedom continue 😊
Absolutley great information. Love what you've done. Those hens are beautiful. You also look lovely. ❤ Have a great week.
Thank you so much for all your compliments 😊
There is so much to appreciate in this video. Believe me, there is more than this that I want to sing your praises about, but ... I love that little gate flap that you installed onto your chicken wire. Genius!
Thank you! I'm actually more proud of my double cathedral-sryle doors on my hen house. Have you seen those?
ruclips.net/video/N1hSMrNF2y8/видео.html
@@chickensinmygarden Looking at them now. I don't blame you. I love them. There is so much to appreciate on your channel from what I see so far. Keep it up!
Thank you. It's really helps to know you're interested 😊
Nasturtium leaves and flowers are also edible.
Yes indeed, although their taste is quite powerful
I love animals, live in front of a farm, I could watch the cows all day
Watching chickens is even more fun 😊
Lovely garden and beautiful, healthy hens❤
I'm so lucky to have a garden and chickens 😊
Thank you. I aspire to be a chicken mother. I think you have helped. I live rural, but there are coyotes that circulate and raccoons as well. I enjoyed listening to your chickens “mumble”. One of my favorite sounds ever. 💛
Coyotes and raccoons do Not sound like good neighbours for chickens! The kind of flimsy fences that keep my chickens out of my vege garden would be no match for a raccoon.
@ Gonna take serious wire fence and Marine guards! 😉 But, I can work out a hybrid from your ideas. 💛
@@catmomjewett oh, Marine guards would be fun! (But then - ya gotta feed THEM as well!🤣). My girls free-range on my 1/2 acre and are locked securely into a chicken run at night. Having 12” of screen or fencing buried around the outside perimeter of your vertical fencing will prevent coyote digging - and I KNOW this works! Good luck! Hawks….well, that’s another story….
Thank you so much for this video with all your experience…. It saved me a lot of work and I will use your idea that worked best for you and really makes sense for small yards. !
Excellent! I know everyone will have their own needs and resources but I'm glad I've given you a head start 😊
What a brilliant video. In my opinion, you can call your chickens free-range. Surely, if chickens have the amount of ground yours have they are certainly not caged. What an awful word that is. Even without the run the space they have out in the fresh air and sun must be good.
I have seen caged chickens many years ago. They may have had a foot square of space.
And the way you have experimented if their veg and space is brill.
Thank you, you're very kind. Do you have chickens? You sound like someone who loves chickens.
Have a great day 😊
My chickens love tomatoes and zucchini. I often toss excess to them. They also like melons (rind and seeds). I often pull dandelion leaves, comfrey leaves, plantain and thistle leaves for my chickens. It's a treat for them :)
Oh yes! They love all kinds of fresh vegetables and leaves.
Thank you so much. Those are happy chickens. When am able, i am going to redesign my chicken yard an incorporate some of your great ideas.God bless.
Excellent. I'm glad I could stimulate some ideas.
Best wishes to you and your chickens 😊
Love your video
Yeah found out too that if you let them free in a small yard 3 chickens can make all green disappear 😳
If I have time I do let them out and watch them I have some spots where I like that they scratch end eat everything specially around some trees I have
I put stones in a square and put wire on top so there is a gab of 2-3 inches
So they only pick the top of the Gras. In their chicken run. It works 😁
But I like the slanted fence and the
Nasturtium ❤ I will do this
Thank you for sharing
Thank you! Have a great day 😊
Hello from my homestead in northwest Florida USA. This video is so fun and interesting. Thanks for sharing your experience.
Happy New Year! And thank you 😊
I love this video! I see and appreciate that you put so much effort into it.
Thank you, you're very kind 😊
Yes others would give up.
@@debrapaulino918 I've always been a bit stubborn 😄
Great idea. Thank you for sharing. Another improvement would be, instead of a straight fence, a serpentine fence would provide more surface area, which would mean more plants that the chickens could reach in the same space available. Depending on how curvy (serpentine shape) the fence would be made, it could increase the surface area by nearly an extra 50%, that means 50% more plants for the chickens to peck at in the same space as compared to a straight fence.
Great idea 😊
Always enjoy your friendly and informative videos.
Thank you so much, that's lovely to hear 😊
They look amazingly healthy chickens.
I think they are very happy and healthy. They certainly have everything they need and want 😊
Best chicken video ever. Thank you.
Thank you. It's turned out to be more popular than I expected - as always I was just sharing what I've learnt about chickens 😊
I enjoyed this video very much! Great stuff!
Thank you
Greetings from Ireland ☘
☘
Thank you so much. I don't think I've had a viewer in Ireland before. Welcome 😊
We had blackberries invading our yard. I fenced in the area & let the chickens at it‼️ they kept it at bay. 🤗
They sure do a thorough job of clearing the land!
@@shirleyandrews1152 that's the one plant our chickens won't destroy
I don't blame them 😊
CONGRATULATIONS 🎉 That is absolutely 💯% Precious!! Just love how you conquered your "space" problem!! Such beautiful happy babies! Love 💖 it!!
Thank you. I hope it gives other people ideas about keeping chickens happy in a small space 😊
I have chicken coop with netted run in the middle of my vegetable garden. On the right and left side of my coop I have two 150m2 plots. In one year I grow vegetables in first plot, and in the second I grow cover crops and let the chicken roam. Next year I switching the plots. This way I have vegetable-chicken garden. I need to find out how I can add rabbits to this system, so I can also have meat.
That sounds wonderful. 150m2 is a great size!
I don't know anything about rabbits but if you have a rooster you can raise chicks and eat the cockerels.
Hi,
I live and take care of the chickens at an Animal Sanctuary in Los Angeles. I think I will plant letuce, cale, red chard, cilantro and parsley in pots and put the pots into the chicken runns. This way they can pick their "salad" themselves.
Thank you for your lovely videos ❤😊
That sounds like fun. Don't be surprised if the chickens jump right on top of the pots to eat and scratch. I'm sure they'll have lots of fun 😊
Thank you‼️ I just moved back into my rebuilt home after a forest fire. I want chickens & u gave me some great ideas👵🏻😻
Great!
Lovely and informative video. Your flock looks very happy and healthy. I have my girls in a large run and let them free range the entire garden when I am out there - which is usually 2 or 3 times a day during the week and for several hours each day at the weekend. I have to protect my beds so the girls can’t get in and ransack them but on the whole this works well. I do love working in the garden and having them around me. I’m off to find more of your videos now. All the best. Mags.
Thank you Mags, it sounds like you have a great set-up. As well as a very intriguing channel name - love it! I will find you on line😊 Best wishes
Great video - you’ve done a very thorough presentation on your experiences and your conclusions. Thank you! You’ve got some fluffy & plump girls there, a lovely flock.🐓🐓❤ My “takeaway” is the lesson of hens scratching and the subsequent destruction of new vegetative growth. I’m inspired👍🏻
That's wonderful! Everyone knows their own challenges and can best work out their own best solution but I'm glad to have sparked some lines of thinking 😊
What would happen if you put that netting on the ground? Straight on the ground, so not preventing then accessing the green, but prevents them using those strong legs to demolish the roots. If you combine that with sectioning, you might just manage to beat their pace of destruction.
Hmm, combined with sectioning it might work 🤔
Thank you. The chickens are cute but can be very destructive. We used to have chickens free ranging here in our large garden in Ireland. I'm recovering from a stroke so mostly housebound at present. Good luck with your experiments. Best wishes vera❤
Thank you Vera. Yes indeed chickens have very energetic soil turning legs 😄
I hope you continue recovering so you can get out and enjoy your garden.
Meanwhile, I have lots of videos about cute chickens so do check out my channel.
Be kind to yourself ❤️
Pumpkin sprouts grow well in a large pot from the pips inside the pumpkin. The hens love the young plants even though its too late in the year to plant them in the garden
Interesting! As long as I protect the roots from being scratched up, my chickens seem to ignore the pumpkin leaves. Once the young fruit forms they will peck at that though! They do love pumpkin and it's so good for them!
ruclips.net/video/EjllnmeCxBo/видео.html
Great video, especially with the price of eggs. I have nasturtiums in the cooler months at my house and love their taste, never tried the seeds and I love capers.
Oh do try them - even straight off the vine they are tasty but even better pickled!
A wonderful example of thinking outside the box!
Thank you so much. It's taken me a while to figure out what doesn't work, so I wanted to share that 😄
@@chickensinmygarden 🐔🐓 Excellent Idea! Well Thought Out 💕 Thank you for sharing 😊
I love your colorful hens and their singing.
Thank you. I do love having a variety of different hens 😊
Thanks for this. FUN!
Thank you!
Great information. I plan to get some chickens in the future, and I was worried about the smaller space I have. This gave me some great ideas!
That's great. Do also check out my video about how much space chickens need
ruclips.net/video/23Ncn7JhzqE/видео.html
And if you haven't yet settled on a design for your hen house you might be interested in this series about how I designed and built mine
ruclips.net/video/3VeMh2b-Sos/видео.html
Best wishes
This has given me a lot to think about as I cannot free range my chickens here. Thank you sooo much!
Excellent! Thank you 😊
I never saw a chicken eating nasturtium before. You have a lovely garden and setup!
Thank you 😊 Chickens will peck at anything to see if it's edible, even a spot on my boots!
@@chickensinmygarden Gotta try everything once to figure out if it's tasty.
Thanks for this! We just bought a small lot in a small town that allows chickens! We've got a lot to learn. Liked and subscribed!😀
Oh, yes! Chickens! You have a wonderful time ahead of you 🐥😊🐥😊🐥😊🐥
Thank you for the wonderful ideas.
I hope you will find some of them useful and stimulate some ideas of your own 😊
Great video, I have a large run that is completely enclose because of the high predator load in the area here. I want to still provide them with fresh growing plants and have been looking at a few methods, this looks like a great method
Great. I'm always delighted to spark some ideas that you can adapt to your own situation. Depending on how high the ceiling is you might also include some low shrubs or bushes - just keep the root area covered until the bush gets established.
Outside loving the content, I love the format of your video. Great editing! Never boring, but still not too fast pasted. Talking, but also breaks with not talking. Looking forward to seeing more of your videos.
Thank you so much, I really appreciate your compliments. It takes me about a month to make each video but I've been making them for about 7 years so don't wait a month to see another one! 😄
@@chickensinmygarden One can tell that you put a lot of work into them. Well done. :) Greetings from Norway.
@HelenEk7 Greetings to you and your chickens, from the other side of the globe. It's a new day here, the sun is shining and I know it's going to be lovely. Wishing you a great day too 😊
Thank you !
Very enjoyable to watch!
God bless!
Thank you 😊
Beautiful ladies!❤
Thank you 😊
Thank you for this enjoyable and informative video. Enjoyed the calm manner in which you explain it all. Lots of great ideas!
Great! I hope you find some ideas that work for you and your chickens 😊
Thank you miss you have blessed me
Thank you for your kind comment. Best wishes for a lovely day
Lovely, thank you. I always like to make the chickens happy
Indeed, they give us so much, they deserve to be happy 😊
I like to let my chickens free range but they love to destroy the garden and leave their calling cards on the neighbors' porch. They have a pretty good sized fenced yard. I like how you have done this
I bet the neighbours are not happy about that 😃
I think it's entirely possible to have happy chickens as well as a garden. What will work for you will not be exactly the same as what has worked for me but I hope I've sparked some ideas for you 😊
Thank you. It is so helpful to see the experiment unfold. I appreciate how you have shared various approaches and results to keeping chickens in a small space. I have considered doing so for years and ... we shall see..... thanks again for this demonstration.
I hope you do. I'm sure you can find an approach that will work for you. Best wishes 😊
Thank you for being honest and showing what didn't work as well as what did. There is always something else to learn. In my previous attempts at free ranging chicken's, we learned that if a chicken to get on top of anything they're going to poop on it. When free ranging, they will often dig holes at the edges of any structure, including the house and anywhere you don't want them to do so. I gave up in frustration and ate the chickens. I'm in the process now of building a large indoor run and trying to figure out how to give them access to pasture without them roaming everywhere. I like your idea of moving fencing with the chickens, it's the same idea of moving fencing with cows to give them smaller paddocks to graze and moving them frequently for optimal grass use. You've given me some great ideas, thank you.
Excellent. Sparking ideas that other people can use in their own situation is my goal 😊
Here we use the term "break feeding" to refer to rotating cows or other stock through areas with temporary fencing, usually electric fence. If you have a big enough total area it should work.
Unless you have a mobile hen-house there's a bit of a design challenge in getting the hens to each area. One solution i have seen is to have the hen house in the middle of the total area and the various pastures like slices of pizza around it. Another idea is tiny tunnels to each separate pasture. A lot depends on what you have to work with. Have fun 😊
I love your sharing your experiments and results. Your 'small' garden is huge by local standards. I now know why the households around me with larger plots and enclosed chicken runs have several raised beds inside the run, each surrounded by chicken netting. Each raised bed can be planted and grown out and when it's 'enough for a treat' the fencing is opened. I'll bet those leafy greens have no bugs whatsoever! Thank you for your video.
Everyone finds a solution for their own situation to keep their own chickens happy 😊
It's really beautiful
The chickens think so too 😊
Have a great day
Lay meshing over the ground raised up a couple of inches, so the hens can’t scratch the ground but the vegetation can grow through the meshing. Where the hens can peck it.
I recommend fencing in, 2"x 4" grid, 5' high, the garden beds . Then an hour before sunset let them out to roam the remaining abailable yard. Be sure they will return to their protected roost by near dark. Chickens will not only eat the greens but their scratching will destroy the beds. I'd love to visit, you love your birds! I'd do the layout a little different, but it's about happy birds after all. You have different breeds, very colorful. Bet they all have names too.🌱
Hi there. Yes, I've always had a variety of breeds, not only for their looks but also their variety of eggs. And yes of course they have names. Everyone has names. You and I have names and all my chickens (well over 100 over the years) have names too! 😊🐥🐥🐥
Excellent video. Thoroughly enjoyed watching and listening. Thank you from Rotorua
Kia ora. Thanks for that 😊
We had a pecking garden with cherry tomatoes, which they loved, but only used scrap wire, which was too light. Once they got in with their feet to scratch for bugs, it was the end 🙈
They sure do love to scratch!
Thank you for an enjoyable video - hens are so I love the plans they make to reach what they prefer! I use the same idea of your small box of plants covered with wire on a bigger scale. Enjoy your garden!
Thank you for that. Chickens are such fun, aren't they.
Have a lovely day!
Oh wow! You have a huge suburban piece of land! Very fortunate
We are lucky. It's nearly 300 square metres (3000 square feet) in total, and I converted all the grass to garden 😊
Thank you💛🩷❤️🧡
Aww! So many hearts! Thank you!
fascinating experiment! thank you for sharing it with us.
Thanks for watching 😊
I love your programmes. Always a delight to watch. Also, always very informative. Your visuals are always colourful. And, last but by no means least, I love your colourful variety of chickens.
Sincerely,
Larry Clarence Lewis
London, Ontario, Canada.
Thank you so much Larry. I appreciate your kind and thoughtful compliments.
You must be heading into Fall-Winter now, so I hope my chickens brought some sunshine to your day.
Best wishes
from Sheryl and chickens
You made me think I might grow them a few large tubs with parsley lettuce etc & rotate them in & out of chook house if I can ever keep them in...
Great idea 😊
Great video. Would love to have chickens on my site, within a moving 'chicken tractor' system, and it's interesting to see the timing of the moves that may be needed to allow regrowth of vegetation. Good to see some NZ content too!
Thank you. It's lovely to hear from another kiwi chicken keeper. Have you seen my video about how chickens came to New Zealand?
ruclips.net/video/kgsImS_g4sk/видео.html
Have a great day 😊
@@chickensinmygarden I'm actually in the UK, but my partner is from NZ. Only visited once (so far) but will certainly be back! Will add your video link to my watch list. I've subscribed so I'll be watching more when I get a chance.
@TheWoodlandOrchard It takes me about a month to make each one but I have a lot worth looking at.
So it's a wonderful morning here but I guess it's "Good night" to you.
@@chickensinmygarden Yes it's late evening now. I tend to make videos when I get a chance, and have something I think may be of value. In a bit of a lull right now as I'm studying on an online Permaculture course, which chicken content of course. Once that's completed I'd like to get back to at least one video per month. In my last attempt at a channel I was doing 1 or 2 per week, which was unsustainable. Hope you have a good day!
Oh I've never found your channel. I must search for it
Interesting, thank you. If I had more space I would try this. Maybe one day when i reduce my vegetable growing space I will have just 2 chickens & use your idea 🐥
Whatever works for you. I just want to share what I've learnt and hope to stimulate some of your ideas so you can find what's best for you and your chickens 😊
Excellent. You could put a trough and fence it so they can eat through it, then replace or turn it so they can eat the other side.. Got me thinking. Thanks. My girls want to be out, but I have coyotes that like to eat them so had to pen up. But your idea for greens is great.
Wonderful! "Got me thinking" is the best comment you could make 😄
A charming and interesting video. Thank you.
Thank you so much!
Wishing you a wonderful day 😊
This is great. I've always wanted to try the thing you first set out to do, and you've done it for me -- so I can see how it works. Couldn't have found a video like this except by Providence. I'm really thankful for this one!
Excellent! I'm so glad this was useful to you. Do check out some of my other videos - you never know what you might find interesting 😊
Love your informative, inspiring channel 😊
Thank you so much ❤️
You and your chickies are lovely, thanks for sharing!
Thank you so much 😊
Great use of space 👌 love ❤️ it
Thank you. I hope it gives you some ideas that will work for you 😊
Great video and useful discoveries! Makes me miss having chickens of my own! 😊
Maybe now you can have chickens again 😉
very nicely explored and explained. Thanks!
Thank you 😊
I love working in the village area. 💕 Farming, birds, hen , Amazing
I agree 😊
These are great ideas. Thank you. We are in a very high predation area. Northeast corner of San Diego county.
Then I suppose your fences will need to be predator-proof. We are so lucky not to have anything worse than roaming dogs to contend with.
Best wishes
Very interesting video, thank you for sharing. God bless you!
Thank you. And best wishes to you (and your chickens) 😊
Your chicken got good weight and I love the colors of the their feathers, thanks for shearing. From Kenya
Thank you. I think they are beautiful too.
Thank you for watching and for your kind comment 😊
Very interesting 😁😁😁and the chickens are so beautiful ❤️❤️❤️
Thank you so much 😊
Thank you madam for this idea, healthy chickens n healthy soil it becomes.😊
Thanks for watching. Have a great day 😊
What helpful ideas!!!! Thanks so much! 👍😍
You're welcome! I hope some of the ideas are useful to you and your chickens 😊
Love to visit across the 🌏 to watching love Chicken 🐔.Thanks
Thanks for watching. Have a great day 😊
This is so lovely! Thank you for sharing!
Thank you. Have a great day 😊
Thanks for the new video - I look forward to every one! I have plenty of land but can't free- range because of the predators in my rural mountain area in the US - hawks, eagles, coyotes, bobcats, and even mountain lions and bears! I have mobile chicken yards set up that I can easily move around for new pasture or set up on my garden areas in the fall so the girls can work over the soil. The pens are made of plastic pipe and hardware mesh. Small mobile "tunnels" connect to these yards from the door on the covered run. It works great. I also hang bundles of kale, beet greens, dandelion greens, and other greens inside their pens, especially in the winter. Fresh corn still on the cob while in season is also greatly enjoyed by the girls, and they love dry cracked corn at any time! I like your idea of setting aside strips along the edges of their runs to grow greens and give them the mental stimulation of reaching through the fencing. I know how fast chickens can denude patches of land, and my girls love the excitement of getting access to a new patch of greens after they get bored with their old one!
That sounds like an excellent use of your resources. I'm sure your chickens are very happy 😊
Thanks for your compliments. Have a great day
You can use fence to save from predators