I have just built a simple living plant feeder for my 5 chooks (posted at my blog https://www.randomplantings.com/ ) Has anyone else tried this type of system before and if so, was it successful? Even though the chooks can't scratch at the plant roots, I still suspect they will peck the plants (mainly comfrey) to within an inch of their lives. James
Re: Chicken living plant feeder James, I've got something that looks like that - although it's completely unintentional !
Re: Chicken living plant feeder Nice one - you are very brave letting them in to the veggie patch or were they there illegally? James
Re: Chicken living plant feeder We cover the plants they can't resist like salad, cabbage, newly sown seeds but otherwise they have a free run of the garden. If your garden's big enough, and you give them some space for dust baths, they don't do a lot of damage and really help to keep the bugs down, manuring as they go.
Re: Chicken living plant feeder I'm filled with complete lust for your garden! I can't wait for mine to start to look like that rather than the bare patch it still is. Is that borage in the garden with the interlacing twigs? If it is then I've planted my seedlings WAY too close together expecting a wee little plant. Live and learn...
Re: Chicken living plant feeder Yes it's Borage, they grow quite big then sprawl as the flower heads get heavier. I tend to put them in corners at the end of lines where the earth is rich enough to give them good flowers. You can transplant them easily when they're small.
Re: Chicken living plant feeder hardworkinghippy - your garden does look amazing - I would love to let the chooks free-range like that, but we have occasional wild dogs through here as well as wedgies with an eagle eye out for chooks on the loose. James
Re: Chicken living plant feeder Ah, I had to look up "wedgies" ! :mrgreen: Wild dogs and wedgies aren't a good combination - what a shame - but I guess is you want eggs and the odd chicken for the pot you have to fence them in. :wink:
Re: Chicken living plant feeder Yes, I have lust for that garden too Sam, I wouldn't worry about the comfrey, you really can't kill the stuff. But maybe you need to let it rest a bit sometimes? Otherwise do the chickens get to a kind of homeostasis with the leaves, the leaves growing only a little bit and the chickens only getting to eat a little bit? Nice design though, thanks for sharing that.
Re: Chicken living plant feeder I'm only trying this out for the first time so I can't say how the plants will fare - in the meantime I've also planted comfrey on the other side of the chicken wire fence round the run. They will be better protected although chooks probably won't get quite as much to nibble. I actually put the same original post on at Aussies Living Simply and Scarecrow's Garden provided a link to her site showing how they had used upside down bakery crates to do the same thing. Much simpler than my version although I guess you have to work with what you've got. https://scarecrowsgarden.blogspot.com/2007/06/chicken-greens.html James https://www.randomplantings.com/
