Another benefit to having chickens in your yard is they eat ticks.
By Robert Burgess
Senior Communications Manager
If you’re a gardener, you’re probably interested in finding ways to save time in your yard. About five years ago I was looking for an assistant to help with garden chores and I settled on raising a small flock of chickens. Here are five ways they help in the garden…
I use this mini pen to keep the chickens on the garden beds and from digging in my woodchip paths!
1) For a long time I wrestled with what to do with my garden beds at the end of the growing season. I pull out the spent plants. But there are plenty of random tomatoes rolling around, lettuce leaves hiding among the mulch, squash bugs wondering where the vines I hauled away went. This is when I call in my hen crew. They expertly clean the garden beds for me and begin to prepare the soil for the following year’s garden.
Here are my chickens weeding the blueberry patch.
2) I planted a highbush blueberry plant row in my yard to serve as a privacy screen to the neighbors’ property. But weeding this area was such a drag. So I expanded the chicken run area to include the blueberry patch and they are happy to keep it weed free. All they ask in return is I allow them to eat the fruit that grows within their reach, which I think is a fair price to pay for their services.
3) Composting is essential for any home garden. And it requires patience while waiting for the materials to break down. Chickens are perfect compost accelerators. I put my composting bins in the chicken run and allow them to turn the greens and browns for me, constantly aerating the pile with their endless search for veggie scraps and tasty bugs.
4) Even the chickens’ waste is valuable. Chicken manure, when aged and composted, provides many nutrients that help plants in the garden grow. I just collect it all from the bottom of their coop into a wheel barrow, set it aside in a pile to work its magic, and then use it as a dressing around bushes in the yard I know would be happy for the extra boost.
Our hens won an award a few summers ago for their eggs at the Bolton Fair.
5) Gardening is good exercise and I build up an appetite while working in the yard. Thankfully, my chicken friends provide eggs that are healthy and delicious. Our flock ranges from four to eight birds, and I especially enjoy collecting different color eggs. Often times they lay more than my family can eat and we give the extras to friends and neighbors.
We recently made Easter deliveries to our neighbors.
