7 Garden Layout Mistakes That Turn Chickens Into Garden Destroyers

There are numerous ways in which having backyard chickens is wonderful and helpful. They are good company, keep the insect populations to a minimum, and of course, the most important reason, they lay delicious eggs! Chicken manure is excellent, free, organic fertilizer for your garden, and they will happily gobble up most of your kitchen food waste.

All that said, they can be absolutely destructive in the garden. For those of us who invest a lot of time and money into ours, it’s heartbreaking when it happens. You may love watching your quirky hens scratch around the yard pecking at weeds and insects. However, they aren’t smart enough to know which places are off-limits. 

Perhaps they are smart enough to know, and they simply feign ignorance. But my chickens have a habit of repeatedly making a mess of the same areas of my garden. Naturally, the places they get to are the ones I most prefer they stay away from. I’ve learned over the years that some design and layout mistakes can really turn your sweet chickens into little destroyers. 

Mistake #1: Giving Them Access to Everything

When we first built our coop and brought our first birds home, I had very little idea what I was in for. The idea of fresh eggs in my omelet on Saturday mornings was enough to convince me that it was a good idea. Then we let them loose, and I realized that I had not, in fact, prepared for these tiny dinosaur ancestors to be free to access all areas of my garden.

Fast-forward a couple of years, and my husband was back out there building a run to keep our girls confined to a specific part of the yard. I know better than to use their space to grow anything I am especially fond of, and most of them can’t get to the main garden. I say most, because try as we might, when you let your birds free-range, some chickens just figure out how to get loose and go exploring.

If you love your garden, and you don’t want your hens digging things up like it’s their job, decide early on what parts you want them to access, and which ones you want to keep them out of. If you designate a space for their free-ranging, you’ll have a better chance of avoiding the havoc they would wreak on your dahlias and nasturtiums.

Mistake #2: Leaving Your Vegetable Garden Wide Open

Many of the plants in your vegetable garden won’t appeal to your chickens, but some may, and some are quite toxic for them. You don’t want your birds sampling green tomatoes or potato leaves, for example. Onions and eggplants are also poisonous to chickens, even though we love to eat them. 

Even if everything you grow in your vegetable patch is chicken-safe, there is other destruction they will carry out. As I mentioned, and you’ve probably observed, chickens love to scratch around in loose soil and other materials that could harbor insects. The soil around your vegetable plants is not immune to this. 

I’ve found that if my girls have access to my garden, they destroy it. They will eat things like squash and greens, dig up anything that isn’t nailed down, and knock over anything that’s in their way, trying to get to tasty insects. Do yourself a favor and fence off your vegetable garden. You won’t regret it. 

Mistake #3: Mulching With Loose Material 

This goes hand in hand with leaving your vegetable garden vulnerable. If, like many gardeners, you use mulch or straw in your veggie beds, it’s all the more reason to keep your chickens out. In fact, try to keep them out of any space where you plan to mulch with lightweight materials. 

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve spent all day mulching my garden. Pulling out weeds, cleaning things up, and laying down a neat, tidy layer of straw or pine bark makes me so happy. I love to survey everything in this state, knowing that the roots are protected, and I’m doing what I can to insulate them and retain some moisture. 

Without fail, if my chickens are around, they will make quick work of that mulch. There is nothing they like more than digging around in fresh mulch. They will scatter it as much as possible, making it difficult to gather it back up and restore it to its original appearance. 

There aren’t many things you can do to prevent this issue, but there are a couple of ways to deter it. You need to create a barrier that makes it impossible for them to scatter it. A low fence is often enough to keep them away, or you can lay wire mesh on top of the mulch to deter them. Just know that as soon as you make it accessible again, they will be right there waiting to dig it all up. 

If you commonly use mulch on your pathways, consider switching to something heavier that doesn’t harbor insects. Gravel or river rocks are lovely, and your birds won’t mess with them. 

Mistake #4: Raised Beds Without Protection

Chickens positively love messing up raised beds, and it is a big mistake to let them access your precious elevated grow spaces. Something about loose, well-draining soil and a cozy little spot to hang out in really appeals to them. I recently had a bird that dug up the same nasturtium so many times that I gave up and covered the soil with aluminum foil. 

If you don’t mind how this looks, it certainly gets the job done. The entire time the foil was on the bed, no one bothered it at all. But you’d better believe that the morning after I removed it, that hen was right back to her old hijinks. It took about three weeks of leaving it in place to deter her from returning to that area again. 

If your hens have access to your raised beds, consider protecting them with netting or chicken wire. Use something you can remove easily, but that your chickens don’t like the feel of. Netting works great if your plants are strong enough to hold it up. It keeps out birds, squirrels, and any other small animals that would mess with your hard work. 

Mistake #5: Leaving Irrigation Exposed

Whether your chickens will destroy your irrigation system or not hinges on the type of system. Consider whether these behaviors may affect your system. There is the scratching and digging, of course, which can dislodge drip lines and contribute to plants missing out on important hydration. Hens are also curious animals that may peck at small objects, such as sprayers, and can pick them apart if they have small, movable parts. 

Chickens also love to perch on anything that looks like a good sitting spot. Even as babies, I find my chicks would prefer to perch on a shoulder, pirate style, than let us hold them in our hands. Sprinkler heads make great perches, and your birds may decide to take up residence on one and bend or break it, or poop all over it. 

If you use drip irrigation in an area where they have access to it, bury it slightly to keep it just out of reach. If they don’t know it’s there, they’re unlikely to look for it. You can use rigid PVC instead of flexible hoses to keep them from puncturing your lines, too. 

Anchor your irrigation system securely to the ground. Using landscaping pins works well if you cross two of them to form an X shape and pin them over the top of junctures and drip lines. If you can’t keep them out of the area, these ideas will at least help preserve your system from their destruction. 

Mistake #6: Confined Spaces With No Paths

Chickens love to explore, and it can be a mistake to let them do so without guidance. If you have spaces around the garden that look like a good spot for finding bugs, they will trample anything to get to it. So if you keep your girls in a smaller garden space, it’s important to create paths for them to move from one place to another. 

If your chicken sees an easy and obvious path, they will often take that path of least resistance. If they don’t see a clear path from one place to another, you can be sure that they will carve their own path. Nine times out of ten, that path will be right through the middle of your favorite spot.

Mistake #7: Planting Low Borders

If you decide to give your chickens access to the entire garden, borders will always be an issue. Chickens are nothing if not persistent, and if they find a spot they like, they will trample anything in their way. If you create high enough borders using something they don’t care for, they are more likely to stick to friendlier terrain. 

If you create low borders in front of plants or areas in the garden that are appealing to your hens, they will destroy them. They will trample all over your borders and break into your beds, where they will do anything from digging up your favorite plants to making themselves a lovely little nest.