Stop Garden Damage: How To Keep Chickens Out Of A Garden

Bringing chickens into your life is wonderful. They give you fresh eggs, help with bugs, and are fun to watch. But if you also love gardening, you know the challenge: chickens love gardens too, but not in a way that helps your plants grow! Can you keep chickens out of a garden? Yes, absolutely. With the right steps and tools, you can enjoy both chickens and a beautiful, undamaged garden. This post will show you how.

How To Keep Chickens Out Of A Garden
Image Source: modernfarmer.com

Why Chickens Love Your Garden

Before we talk about keeping chickens out, it helps to know why they want in. Chickens aren’t trying to be mean to your plants. They are just doing what chickens do.

Deciphering Chicken Habits

Chickens see your garden as a great place for several things:

Yummy Food: Tender leaves, ripe berries, fallen fruits, and fresh greens look like a feast to a chicken.
Tasty Bugs: Gardens have lots of worms, slugs, snails, and insects – perfect chicken snacks. They will scratch to find them.
Dust Baths: Chickens clean themselves by rolling in dry, loose soil. Your garden beds, with their soft dirt, are ideal spots for this.
Scratching: Chickens scratch the ground with their feet to find food and bugs. This digging can quickly uproot seedlings and damage roots.
Exploring: Chickens are curious. A new, interesting area like a garden is fun to explore.

Knowing why they visit helps you choose the best ways to stop them.

The Main Way: Building Walls and Nets

The most sure way to keep chickens out is to build something they cannot get past. This means putting up barriers.

Building a Solid Garden Barrier

A strong fence is often the first and best line of defense. You need something tall enough and secure enough that chickens can’t get over, under, or through it. Think about making a chicken proof garden fence.

Choosing Your Fence Material

There are different materials you can use to build a fence around your garden area.

Chicken Wire: This is the most common choice because it’s not too expensive and is easy to work with. It has hexagon-shaped holes.
Hardware Cloth: This is stronger than chicken wire. It has square or rectangle holes that are much smaller. It costs more but lasts longer and is harder for chickens to push through or predators to get past.
Welded Wire: This has straight wires welded together. It is strong and comes in different hole sizes.

Table: Comparing Fence Materials

Material	Hole Shape	Hole Size (typical)	Strength	Cost	Best Use For
Chicken Wire	Hexagon	1-2 inches	Low to Medium	Low	Basic barrier, taller fences
Hardware Cloth	Square/Rect	1/4 – 1/2 inch	High	High	Lower parts of fence, extra security, burrowing
Welded Wire	Square/Rect	1×2 inch, 2×4 inch	Medium to High	Medium	General fencing, stronger than chicken wire

For a good chicken wire garden barrier, you often use chicken wire for the main height and maybe a section of hardware cloth at the bottom.

How Tall Should the Fence Be?

Most chickens cannot fly very high, especially heavier breeds. A fence needs to be high enough to stop them from flying over it.

Minimum Height: For most standard breeds, a fence at least 4 to 5 feet tall is usually enough.
Higher Fliers: If you have lighter breeds that can fly better, you might need a fence 6 feet or even 8 feet tall. Or, you can put netting over the top of the garden area.

Building fence around vegetable garden step-by-step:

Creating a chicken-free garden area with a fence takes some planning and work.

Plan Your Area: Decide exactly where your garden fence will go. Mark the corners.
Gather Materials: You will need fence posts (wood or metal), fence material (chicken wire, hardware cloth, etc.), staples or ties to attach the fence, a gate kit, and tools (shovel, post driver, hammer/staple gun, wire cutters, tape measure).
Set the Posts: Dig holes or drive your fence posts into the ground along your marked lines. Put posts about 6 to 8 feet apart. Make sure they are strong and stand straight.
Attach the Fence Material: Start at one corner post. Unroll your fence material and attach it securely to the post.
Keep it Tight: As you go to the next post, pull the fence material tight before attaching it. This makes the fence stronger and less saggy. Attach it all the way down the post.
Go Around Corners: At corner posts, wrap the fence material around or cut it and start a new section, attaching both ends to the corner post.
Bury the Bottom: This is very important to Prevent chickens from scratching in garden and digging under the fence. Bury the bottom edge of the fence material 6 to 12 inches deep. You can bend the bottom 6 inches outwards into an ‘L’ shape along the ground before covering it with soil or rocks. This makes a barrier they can’t dig past easily. Using hardware cloth for the buried section adds extra strength against digging.
Install a Gate: You need a way to get into your garden. Build a simple gate frame and cover it with the same fence material. Make sure the gate closes tightly and has a latch chickens cannot open. The bottom of the gate should also be secure, close to the ground, or have a buried piece to stop digging.
Check for Gaps: Walk around your finished fence. Look for any holes or places chickens could squeeze through. Fix any gaps right away.

Building this kind of chicken wire garden barrier or chicken proof garden fence takes effort but is a lasting solution.

Using Netting as a Barrier

Sometimes a full fence is not possible or you need a quick fix. Netting to protect garden from chickens is a good option, especially for shorter periods or specific plants.

Types of Netting

Bird Netting: This is lightweight and easy to put over plants or small areas. It has different mesh sizes. Make sure the holes are small enough that chickens can’t get their heads stuck.
Poultry Netting: This is like lightweight chicken wire but is often used temporarily or for smaller enclosures.
Specific Garden Netting: Some companies make netting designed specifically for protecting vegetable beds.

Ways to Use Netting

Draping Over Plants: You can simply lay netting over bush plants or row crops. Use stakes or hoops to keep it off the plants if needed. Make sure the edges are secured to the ground with stakes, rocks, or soil to stop chickens from getting under.
Building Net Tunnels: Use hoops (like from old garden hoses or metal wire) to create tunnels over rows. Drape netting over the hoops and secure the sides.
Covering Specific Beds: If you only need to protect a few garden beds, you can build a simple frame (wood or PVC pipe) over the bed and cover it with netting. This works well for keeping chickens out of flower beds too.
As a Temporary Fence Top: If your fence is almost tall enough, you can add a section of netting leaning outwards from the top. This makes it harder for chickens to fly over.

Netting is usually less permanent and strong than a fence. Chickens might get tangled in it or damage it, but it’s a useful tool for quick or temporary protection.

Other Ways to Keep Chickens Away

Besides building physical walls, there are other methods you can use to make your garden less attractive to chickens. These often work best when used together with barriers.

Making Your Garden Less Appealing

You can try deterring chickens from garden beds by using smells or things they don’t like. These are often called natural chicken repellent for gardens.

Natural Repellents

Chickens have a good sense of smell and dislike certain strong odors.

Strong Herbs: Planting herbs with strong smells around the edge of your garden might help. Examples include:
- Mint
- Lavender
- Rosemary
- Marigolds (some people say these work)
Spices: Sprinkling strong spices like cayenne pepper or paprika around the edges of beds is sometimes suggested. Be careful with this if you have pets or children, and rain will wash it away quickly.
Citrus Peels: Chickens often dislike citrus smells. Scattering orange, lemon, or grapefruit peels can help.
Garlic or Onion Spray: Making a spray from crushed garlic or onions mixed with water and spraying it around the garden edge might deter them.

Keep in mind that these natural methods are usually not as effective as a fence. Their success can vary greatly depending on the chicken and how tempting your garden is. You need to reapply them often, especially after rain.

Scaring Chickens Away

Chickens are easily startled by sudden movements or noises. You can use things to scare them off.

Shiny Objects: Hanging old CDs, aluminum pie pans, or reflective tape around the garden can scare chickens with sudden flashes of light.
Motion-Activated Sprinklers: These devices hook up to your hose and spray water when they detect movement. Chickens don’t like being sprayed with water and will usually run away. These can be very effective for deterring chickens from garden beds.
Statues or Decoys: Putting out statues of predators like owls or foxes might scare them at first. However, chickens are smart and often figure out quickly that the statues are not real threats. Moving the statues often can help keep the trick working for a while.
Noise Makers: Wind chimes or other noise makers can sometimes startle them, but chickens can also get used to constant noise.

Scare tactics are often best for temporary deterrence or as a backup for other methods.

Other Tactics to Discourage Digging

To Prevent chickens from scratching in garden beds specifically, you can make the soil surface less inviting.

Mulch Heavily: A thick layer of mulch (straw, wood chips, pine needles) can make it harder and less fun for chickens to scratch down to the dirt.
Cover the Soil: Use chicken wire or netting laid directly on top of the soil in garden beds, especially around new seedlings. Cut holes in it to allow plants to grow through. This stops them from scratching the dirt while still letting water and sun reach the plants.
Place Rocks or Twigs: Covering bare soil patches with small rocks, pebbles, or thorny branches can make the area uncomfortable for dusting or scratching.

These methods target the scratching behavior directly within the garden beds.

Living with Free-Range Chickens

If your chickens free-range, keeping them completely out of the garden at all times can be hard. Garden solutions for free-range chickens often involve managing their behavior and offering better places to be.

Giving Chickens Better Options

Make areas outside the garden more appealing than the garden itself.

Create a Dust Bath Area: Choose a spot away from the garden. Dig a shallow pit (about 1-2 feet wide and 6-8 inches deep). Fill it with fine dirt, sand, or even some fireplace ash. Keep it dry. Chickens will use this spot for dust bathing instead of your garden beds.
Designated Foraging Zones: Let your chickens have access to other areas of your yard or property where they can scratch and look for bugs freely. This takes pressure off the garden.
Offer Plenty of Food and Water: Make sure their main food and water sources are always full and easily accessible. If they are hungry, they will search harder for food, including in your garden.
Provide Entertainment: Bored chickens are more likely to look for trouble. Give them things to do in their coop or run: hanging cabbages, logs to peck at, or piles of leaves to scratch through (away from the garden).

Managed Garden Access

Some people allow their chickens into the garden under strict control.

Supervised Pest Control: Once plants are big and strong, or after harvest, you can let the chickens into the garden for a short time to eat bugs and weed seeds. Watch them closely and remove them before they start damaging plants or taking dust baths.
Rotation: If you have multiple garden beds, maybe you can fence off one bed for a season and let chickens work on a different, empty bed to clear it before planting.

This kind of managed access is a part of garden solutions for free-range chickens that tries to use their natural behaviors in a helpful way, while still protecting plants.

Keeping Chickens Out of Specific Areas

While protecting the main vegetable patch is key, you might also care about other planted areas.

Keeping Chickens out of Flower Beds

Flower beds often have soft soil, mulch, and tender new plants, making them prime targets for scratching and dust baths. Keeping chickens out of flower beds uses many of the same ideas as vegetable gardens.

Low Fencing: A short, decorative fence (2-3 feet high) might be enough for flower beds, as chickens might not feel the need to jump into them if other areas are available. However, determined chickens might still try.
Ground Barriers: Laying chicken wire or netting flat on the soil around plants works well here too. Cover with mulch so it’s not obvious but still stops scratching.
Dense Planting: Tightly planted flower beds with ground cover plants might leave less bare soil for chickens to scratch in.
Repellents: Using strong-smelling plants they dislike within the flower bed might offer some protection, though it’s not guaranteed.

Deterring Chickens from Garden Beds

Whether it’s vegetables or flowers, making the garden beds themselves less appealing is important. Deterring chickens from garden beds is the goal of methods like heavy mulching, using ground covers (like chicken wire on the soil surface), or making the edges uncomfortable.

Combining Different Tactics

Rarely does one single method work perfectly on its own. The most successful approach is often using several methods together.

Creating Layers of Protection

Think of it like having layers of defense.

Outer Layer (Strongest): A physical barrier like a chicken proof garden fence around the entire garden area or creating a main chicken-free garden area. This is your primary method.
Middle Layer (Inside the Fence): Within the fenced area, use ground barriers like chicken wire on the soil or thick mulch to Prevent chickens from scratching in garden beds.
Inner Layer (Close to Plants): Use netting directly over sensitive plants or rows.
Discouragement Layer: Use natural chicken repellent for gardens or scare tactics around the edges or within the garden as extra deterrents.
Management Layer: Make sure the chickens have better options outside the garden (dust bath, foraging area) as part of your garden solutions for free-range chickens.

Using these methods together makes it much harder and less appealing for chickens to cause damage.

Making Peace with Your Flock

While keeping chickens out of the garden is important for plant health, remember that chickens can be good for your yard overall. Their droppings are great fertilizer (when composted and applied outside the garden), and they can help with pest control in other areas.

By setting clear boundaries using fences and other methods, you teach your chickens where they are allowed and where they are not. This lets you enjoy the benefits of having chickens without sacrificing your hard work in the garden. It’s about creating a balance and finding ways for your flock and your plants to live happily side-by-side, in their own dedicated spaces. Creating that chicken-free garden area is key to this peaceful coexistence.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will a short fence stop chickens?

Maybe, but probably not completely. Most chickens can fly or jump a few feet. A fence needs to be at least 4 feet tall for standard breeds, and taller for breeds that fly better. Burying the bottom is key to stop them from going under.

Do coffee grounds keep chickens out of the garden?

Some people try using coffee grounds as a natural chicken repellent for gardens because of the smell. It might help a little, but it’s not a strong barrier and washes away easily. It’s not a reliable method on its own.

Can I just spray something on my plants?

Spraying plants directly to repel chickens isn’t usually recommended. It could harm the plants or make vegetables unsafe to eat. It’s better to use repellents or barriers around the garden beds or the edge of the chicken-free garden area.

How do I stop chickens from taking dust baths in my raised beds?

Raised beds have nice, soft soil, perfect for dust baths. The best way is to cover the soil surface with chicken wire or netting. You can also cover the beds with row covers or netting on hoops. Make sure you provide an even better dust bath spot for them elsewhere!

Is chicken wire enough for a garden fence?

Chicken wire garden barrier is a good start because it’s inexpensive and easy to use. However, the holes are large enough that small chickens or chicks might squeeze through, and predators can often break through it. For better protection, use a combination of chicken wire (higher up) and hardware cloth (lower down and buried), or choose welded wire which is stronger. For a true chicken proof garden fence, bury the bottom edge very well.

My free-range chickens ignore my deterrents. What else can I do?

For garden solutions for free-range chickens, you often need stronger methods. If lighter deterrents don’t work, a solid fence is your best bet. Also, make sure they have a very appealing place to forage and take dust baths outside the garden area. Sometimes, limiting free-range time or supervising them closely is needed.

How can I protect young seedlings from chickens?

Young plants are very vulnerable. The best way to protect them is with physical barriers. Use row covers, netting on hoops, or fine mesh laid directly over the soil secured at the edges. This is part of preventing chickens from scratching in garden areas where plants are small.