Gardening with chickens
- Thread starter JamesY
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I've posted about this before... I'd avoid chickens in the garden because they eat anything green... red, yellow, everything. You should use Geese. My dad has told me many times about a great aunt of his who lived in east Texas prior to WW2. She owned huge flocks of geese with trimmed wings, She would lease these to farmers. See, geese only eat grass. Prior to WW2 (going back decades) large cotton farms in east texas, LA and Mississippi would rent geese to weed their crops every year.
She would raise a new flock of geese and sell them off every fall for the holidays. She got paid twice, farmers paid her to fatten her geese and then for the meat when slaughtered.
All she had to do was maintain 2000 or so breeding stock and she could sell off 20K birds every fall.
She would raise a new flock of geese and sell them off every fall for the holidays. She got paid twice, farmers paid her to fatten her geese and then for the meat when slaughtered.
All she had to do was maintain 2000 or so breeding stock and she could sell off 20K birds every fall.
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I just watched 3 geese decimate my cousin's tomatoes. They absolutely eat tomatoes.
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You have to get grass eating geese, not just any geese.
But they cost up front, you can eat the eggs & the off spring.
But they cost up front, you can eat the eggs & the off spring.
LOL, I have sprinkled sunflower seeds where I wanted some ground tilled, and the chickens did all the work
I've always said that pound for pound, chickens are more destructive than hogs.
I don't see how they can be useful in a garden with the exception of clearing a plot and eating all the weed seeds.
BUT, I'm open minded!
I don't see how they can be useful in a garden with the exception of clearing a plot and eating all the weed seeds.
BUT, I'm open minded!
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And left fertilizer in exchange!LOL, I have sprinkled sunflower seeds where I wanted some ground tilled, and the chickens did all the work
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I can't imagine having them in the garden. I had to fence off a portion of the yard just for them after they decimated my flower beds.
Had to hold off planting to make sure they were secure. They still have a ton of room...and I'll be enjoying a poop free deck and a mulch free sidewalk.
Had to hold off planting to make sure they were secure. They still have a ton of room...and I'll be enjoying a poop free deck and a mulch free sidewalk.
Im noting that they were digging stuff up not eatinh the flowrrs. But they leatned quick that the best place for bugs was at the base of the plants. I lost several perrenials. and a 4 year old thyme bush I planted from a seed and servived 2 moves.
and a 4 year old thyme bush I planted from a seed and servived 2 moves.
