Chickens as garden helpers
Chickens can be very helpful in a garden when managed properly. Here’s how they benefit your garden:
Natural Pest Control
Chickens love eating: Slugs, beetles, grubs, caterpillars. This reduces harmful pests without chemicals.
Weed Management
They scratch up and eat weed seeds and small weeds, helping to reduce unwanted plant growth.
Fertilizer Production
Chicken poop is rich in nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium—perfect for compost or aged manure to enrich the soil.
Soil Aeration
As they scratch the ground looking for bugs, chickens naturally turn and aerate the soil, which helps with water absorption and root growth.
Cautions
Chickens can damage plants if left unsupervised in garden beds. Their droppings are too strong when fresh, it needs composting before use, or it may burn plants.
Best practices
Let them roam after harvest or before planting. Use fences to control their run area. Add their manure to a compost pile, then apply to garden soil after it has aged.