backyard chickens

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  • Big Rigger

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    Mar 30, 2017
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    Indianapolis
    I was wondering if anyone had any tricks to keeping chickens out of the hosta plants around the house? We have had chickens for a little over a year and just this spring they have started to peck away at only the hostas in our landscaping.
     

    Big Rigger

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    Mar 30, 2017
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    They seem to have no fear of anything really. I've only had one killed though in the last year.

    I thought about maybe putting seven dust around the plants, but not sure how effective it will be.

    Keep them in a run :):

    what about a coyote head on a pole in there? Are they afraid of preditors?
     

    CindyE

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    Jul 19, 2011
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    I wonder if it's the hostas they are after, or something ON the hostas? Some hostas are slug food, maybe the chickens are eating the slugs and tearing up the plants in the process?

    I was curious, and did a search. Looks like chickens loooove hostas. :( Someone said they don't like the blue hostas.
     
    Last edited:

    jbombelli

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    Brownsburg, IN
    Sure that will work for a bit. But theory suggests eventfully a chicken will randomly be on the other side of the fence

    I grew up with chickens. We always had them. What they're doing is flying over the fences, and then running back and forth on the other side of the fence because they want to come back, but forgot they can fly over. We had a rooster that would attack our horses.

    Chickens are about the dumbest things on the planet.
     

    Gabriel

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    Jun 3, 2010
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    The shore of wonderful Lake Michigan
    What they're doing is flying over the fences, and then running back and forth on the other side of the fence because they want to come back, but forgot they can fly over.

    My chickens are notorious for that. They fly into the dog run, but I have to open the gate to let them back out.

    As for the original question, if you really like the chickens you'll likely have to replace the Hostas with something else. Seems like a pain, but it sounds like they'll be gone soon anyway. You're probably better off landscaping with something the chickens aren't ruining instead of engaging in a constant battle of keeping them off the Hostas.
     

    2A_Tom

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    Sep 27, 2010
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    Try spraying the plants with soapy water, it is a great insecticide, won't hurt the plants and may make then less desirable to the chickens.
     

    mom45

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    I don't think chickens can even taste soaps and such. Our chickens flew in and out of the pen as they pleased and as others have said, were often found pacing the outside of the fence with the dumb guinea fowl trying to figure out how to get back in. They pecked my garden produce more than my flowers but I really didn't focus on landscaping at that point in time as my schedule really didn't allow for much flower gardening.

    Now I have no chickens, but have beautiful flowers. I'm not sure you can have both. :):
     

    spencer rifle

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    Apr 15, 2011
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    Scrounging brass
    THREAD REZ!
    Some weeks ago we got 4 Bovan Browns from RK. They are supposed to be similar to ISA Browns in production and temperment. Growing well, and can produce as early as 20 weeks. When the weather is warm enough (which it hasn't been for a while) they go out in the chicken tractor. Not sure if the hostas are safe yet. Some of our broods left them alone, and some ate them down to the ground. In the process of securing the chicken yard from predators (we live next to a predator-soaked park). COVID makes it hard to get eggs sometimes, and these should give us a surplus if they make it.

    95705434_10222424068849331_8893494234712113152_n.jpg
     

    DoggyDaddy

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    Aug 18, 2011
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    Southside Indy
    THREAD REZ!
    Some weeks ago we got 4 Bovan Browns from RK. They are supposed to be similar to ISA Browns in production and temperment. Growing well, and can produce as early as 20 weeks. When the weather is warm enough (which it hasn't been for a while) they go out in the chicken tractor. Not sure if the hostas are safe yet. Some of our broods left them alone, and some ate them down to the ground. In the process of securing the chicken yard from predators (we live next to a predator-soaked park). COVID makes it hard to get eggs sometimes, and these should give us a surplus if they make it.

    95705434_10222424068849331_8893494234712113152_n.jpg

    Chickens driving tractors would be cool. :yesway:
     
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