Livestock In The Garden

by Mark Spencer
Garden Hen

Some gardeners will tell you that you cant have a nice garden and keep hens. That is a matter of opinion. Dont be fooled, hens can be hard work, they can be very messy and they do scratch around the beds and borders, but provided you have a fairly large garden and are sensible about where they can forage, you really can garden and keep hens.

For gardeners there are plenty of benefits in keeping hens. Their droppings are very rich in nutrients; much too rich to use neat, but you can add them to the compost heap to enrich your home compost beautifully. If you use a dust free sawdust for bedding, then the soiled bedding can be composted down to create a wonderful, nutrient rich soil conditioner.

If your garden is pristine then you can still allow the hens out in the autumn, winter and early spring when they will rummage around the garden feeding on bugs, slug eggs and other garden nasties. A couple of hens or a trio can be controlled and directed to particular areas where they wont do too much damage. Its essential to keep an eye on them and not to leave them in one place too long. Hens are useful for cleaning up the compost heap, where they devour bugs, weed seeds and pest eggs. Hens also eat a wide variety of edible weeds such as chickweed, fat hen, bitter cress and dandelions. They also create great entertainment too. The secret of combining hens and the garden is that you need to be able to contain them when the garden is burgeoning and restrict them to areas where they can do minimal damage for the rest of the time. If you can do that successfully your hens can live happily in harmony with your garden and you will reap their rich rewards.

There are lots of ill rumours that surround keeping hens in the garden, and of course there are always ups and downs, but most of it is down to common sense. You are dealing with real live creatures that need care and attention and a high standard of cleanliness and hygiene. Hen houses do provide shelter but hens are still susceptible to weather changes; extreme wet, heat and cold can all take their toll. Keep your hen house as clean as possible. A build up of droppings can cause respiratory problems and are a health hazard. Remove droppings daily to keep the house clean. Always use suitable and dedicated cleaners for poultry houses and do not resort to household chemicals that may affect your hens.

You are never far from a rat and of course, poultry food attracts vermin so you need to take precautions. Always store grain and seed in metal bins that are secure and dry and cannot be gnawed through. Take care where you feed the hens and dont leave food out overnight where rats can take advantage.

Sensible husbandry, good hygiene and the ability to cover your hen accommodation to protect it from wild birds are all powerful, but simple weapons to prevent problems with your flock.

Clean feeders, drinkers, housing and your own clothing, especially foot ware. Wash hands after handling your birds or collecting eggs.

Choose proper food and drink containers kept hanging off the ground, not in open bowls. Choose quality food. If you feed your hens just scraps you cant expect them to be reliable egg producers, they need a properly balanced diet to lay good quality eggs. Kitchen scraps can encourage rodents and is not good practice. Housing birds in fully wired movable arks are ideal, as wild birds cannot gain access to feed and water and so avoids contamination.