This article covers all the reasons why chickens are great for gardeners
Why Chickens are Great for Gardeners
There’s so much to like about keeping chickens. They have such happy, engaging personalities. They can entertain themselves when left alone and are always so happy to see you when you visit them. You can’t help but be cheered up when visiting your flock.
And there are the eggs. Most people would probably say that this is the reason they have chickens. It’s true that the eggs are much tastier and fresher than any you can get in a store. The yolks are so much brighter and better for baking, too.
But one lesser know benefit to backyard chickens is that they are excellent companions for gardeners. It’s true! From nourishing the planting soil to naturally reducing pests without pesticides, chickens are actually a perfect counterpoint for gardeners. Chickens are great for gardeners!
Insect Control
Chickens are excellent at keeping your garden free from those creepy crawly pests. They love to make a meal of various damaging pests, including grasshoppers, beetles, grubs, slugs, inchworms, cabbage worms and more. Allowing chickens some forage time in your garden will easily de-bug large swaths of land and garden each week.
But the real benefit is reduction of the insect larvae. Chickens just love fly, termite and beetle larva, stopping the cycle before it starts.
Eggshells
We all love the eggs our hens supply. But don’t throw away their eggshells! Eggshells have several uses in the garden. They increase the calcium in your planting soil, which is critical especially for tomatoes.
But eggshells are also great for deterring slugs, too. Slugs and snails will stay away from the sharp edges of crushed eggshells. If you have tender vegetables such as lettuce, you no doubt know that slugs can decimate your entire crop just as it starts to emerge from seed. Sprinkling eggshells around the small sprouts can protect those tender leaves until they get a bit bigger.
Chicken Manure
Your hens’ manure is wonderful for your garden! Chicken poop is full of nitrogen which is one of the most important nutrients for anything to grow in your garden. It also has a fair amount of phosphorus and potassium which balance out the nitrogen and make it such a useful fertilizer.
Composting the chicken poop gives the manure a chance to break down so that the nutrients can be absorbed effectively by your plants. The good news is that it tends to break down quickly.
You can collect the poop from your chicken coop on a regular basis. You’ll notice that the majority of the manure is under their roosts where they stay at night. You can keep the chicken manure in a bucket or put it directly on your compost pile. Or build a sliding tray to collect it without the mess!
Scratching
Any gardener who makes their own compost will tell you that the most laborious part is turning it. This is the process of oxygenating the compost to speed up the rate of breaking down. The more oxygen, the faster it will compost.
Chickens are masters at turning your compost pile for you! You just need to be careful that they keep it in the compost bin! Whenever you add fresh scraps to your pile, let your girls have at it to effectively mix the new in with the old and oxygenate everything.
I even like to allow my hens to spread hay mulch for me. I just put out the hay bale in a pile and they evenly spread it out for a great weed barrier.
Reduction of Household Waste
Chickens are omnivores. They will effectively help you reduce your household kitchen scraps down to nothing. Talk about zero-waste! Chickens are the kings of zero waste! They love vegetable scraps, fruit, meat, dairy, seeds, cooked rice, burritos, leftover Chinese food – you name it. (Just be careful when feeding any pet high fat diets, and check out this list of foods to avoid for chickens, and also be aware that balanced nutrition is important to keep egg production high!)
If you are gardening and thinking about raising chickens to decrease transportation costs of your food and associated pollution, well then this is one more way to be socially responsible. You will absolutely decrease and even eliminate the amount of food you send to the landfill.
Ensuring a Peaceable Kingdom
Allowing your chickens free-range time in your garden may not be all roses and wine. If not contained or monitored, chickens can scratch and trample tender vegetable starts, or make dust baths in inopportune places.
But it is easy to set boundaries and ‘teach’ your chickens to stay in approved areas. Even if you don’t have fences, you can use chicken wire, stones, treats and other tools. I’ve gone into much more detail on that in my article about how chickens and a garden can coexist.
Chickens are great for gardeners
I hope you are encouraged to consider having chickens as a compliment to your garden! Besides, they are such great gardening companions, following you around like your own personal cheering section. They also provide light conversation with their gentle clucking.
Still considering? Read this next: How Much Work are Backyard Chickens Really?
