What do chickens NOT each in the garden?

You can easily Google what chickens do or don’t eat online when planning your garden or chicken enclosure, in the hopes of sparing yourself the hassle of fencing off certain areas or constantly replacing decimated plants. Unfortunately, we have found in our experience that those lists aren’t quite accurate and chickens really love to nibble.

For example, they aren’t supposed to like eating rhubarb leaves or tomato leaves- but if these are within reach, we’ve seen them strip both down to the stem.

It does seem to be true that they aren’t at all interested in garlic or onions, so we grow those in our raised beds in our chicken run.

Last year we also grew tomatoes in those raised beds- but accepted that the bottom 2 feet was without any foliage or fruit as the chickens kept pecking away. The silver lining was that we grew the tomatoes straight up to a large gazebo frame (about 10 feet tall) so the tomato plants provided excellent shade for the chickens in the summer heat.

They love foxgloves, hollyhocks and roses- our efforts of creating a cottage garden has been set back more than once or twice after leaving them out to free range unsupervised and found they have dug up or eaten our new plants.

The size of the hens also seems to come into play here- full size hens really have quite powerful feet and claws. Just one hen can really do damage to new seedlings (not eating, just scratching around) with those talons! I have yet to see one of our bantam hens as aggressively scratching or nibbling- they overall seem more mellow and have a smaller appetite.

Chickens do love grass, dandelions and clover. So we try to pick bunches of these on our country walks each morning to throw into their run. However- regardless of how many treats they get fed, they are natural scavengers and foragers, so don’t ever rely on their full tummies as a deterrent from running straight to where you’ve been gardening to dig for juicy worms or dig up your new flowers…

Distraction can be a great tactic - and I will often go and turn all the soil in their run if I want to plan something new. The worms and new soil keeps them busy for a while!

We have also fenced off certain areas in the garden at a time- long enough to let plants establish. Once they are growing well, it’s harder for a chicken to destroy them.

Generally, they leave all the shrubs alone and all of the herbs- they also haven’t touched the lavender, irises, peonies or raspberries (quite unusual but perhaps they haven’t realised yet that the raspberries bear fruit).

Just keep an eye on what they’re loving to eat and if you can, move that out of their way. You can also choose to free range then only under supervision, or within a limited area. We try to keep our chickens out of the front garden entirely- and have wire around all our fruiting plants to protect them.

Patience again is key here, as it takes a while watching your chickens to see what they like best- as well as a bit of preparation if you’re planting something new and you don’t know whether your chickens will find it delicious. Prevention (fencing or wiring off that area or plant) definitely is a better strategy than weeping over destroyed seedlings (or chasing your chickens around with a broom to teach them a lesson).

We wish you the best of luck if you’re starting to garden with chickens or are introducing chickens to your garden! Start off by managing they access to your spaces and take action to protect your plants or move them if you need too. You can have a productive and beautiful garden with backyard chickens, it just takes a bit of careful planning (and bribery in the form of more tempting treats).

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Got more questions about gardening with chickens or have some tips to share? Drop us a comment or send us a message below!