Intellegent Distraction

[Detlor Poultry]

How do you keep a flock of Setting hens out of your nearby strawberry patch?



By swamping the area near the coop with wild Blueberries and Clover and Lilac and Grapes!


(*theoretical test pending*)

 

[lesa]

I think you are really going to need to invest in a fence, Detlor.... JMHO.

 

[Detlor Poultry]

Actually, behind the joke, that's what we are really doing. We still have lots of fencing left over from before we started free ranging (the 'Dark Ages'), and I still use some of them during the rut so to insure that the next generation is purebred. What I am planning to do, is the day I remove the fence, just move it 50ft. northeast of the coop where the strawberry patch is, and put it up there! As anyone who's ever tried to put away a roll of fence, moving location is easier than rolling it back up! The strawberries are the only nearby plants that I know the bannies will harm -- they wouldn't touch garlic if their life depended on it, the Brassica-type plants don't find there favour, either, and although they may be curious about the tomato plants, they don't like them either. The Bannies' coop is already positioned in the middle of our orchard. In the sprin, they'll eat grass, weeds, Lilac, and Clover (which is there all-time favourite food ever), in the summer they'll eat more Grass, weeds, clover, and Berries (just not our strwaberries ), and in the fall they eat Grass, weeds, clover, grain, fallen fruit, and they are finally let into the garden to do some cleanup. During the winter, they sit in the barn and mope while they eat crack corn. So, yes, we fence off our garden. We actually have four gardens -- the 'Miscellaneous Garden' (strawberries, Brassicas, Tomatoes, Peppers, Spices), the 'Vineyard' (Cucurbits, Corn, Peas), the 'Perennial Garden' (Grapes, Asparagus, Horseradish, and Bush-type Berries), and my Flower Garden. The only one the Bantams can reach is the Miscellaneous garden, which is riht beside the coop. The chickens don't possess the power to damage anything in the orchard.