Gardening with Chickens: Plans and Plants for You and Your Hens

By Lisa Steele

“Beautifully photographed and filled with eye-catching illustrations” this guide to raising chickens alongside vegetables “will become an instant classic” (Niki Jabbour, author of Groundbreaking Food Gardens and The Year Round Vegetable Gardener).

Welcome to a world where chickens and gardens coexist! Join Lisa Steele, chicken-keeper extraordinaire and founder of Fresh Eggs Daily, on a unique journey through the garden. Start by planning your garden and learning strategies and tips for keeping your plants safe while they grow. Plant with purpose, choosing from a dozen plans for theme gardens such as Orange Egg Yolks or Nesting Box Herbs. Or choose a design that’s filled with edibles—sharing the bounty with your family and your feathered friends. Then comes the fun part: enjoy the harvest, even let the chickens graze!

Lisa’s friendly writing, together with inspirational photos and illustrations, will have you rolling up your sleeves and reaching for your gardening tools. Lisa also covers a range of topics about chicken-keeping, including:

- Chickens and composting

- Using chickens to aerate and till

- Coop window boxes

- Plants to avoid when you have chickens

- Lists of the most valuable crops and herbs

- Advice on how to harvest and use many of the plants

- And much more!

Whether you’re an experienced chicken keeper, master gardener, or just getting into these two wonderful hobbies, Gardening with Chickens is an indispensable guide for a harmonious homestead.

“Can a garden—especially a tempting vegetable garden—peacefully coexist with hungry, inquisitive chickens?. . . . It’s a smart subject for a book, and the answer, says Gardening With Chickens author Lisa Steele, is that they can not only coexist, but each can benefit the other.” —GardenSmartTV

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Dec 1, 2016
• ISBN: 9780760351383

Lisa Steele

Lisa Steele is an author, popular television and radio guest, and creator of the blog Fresh Eggs Daily, the premiere online resource for chicken-keeping advice. Lisa has amassed an audience of nearly one million from all over the globe, who look to her for tips on raising backyard poultry naturally, gardening tips, and her coop-to-kitchen recipes. Her previous books on chicken keeping have sold more than 125,000 copies worldwide and are among the bestselling chicken-keeping books in print. Dubbed "queen of the coop" by the media, Lisa has been recognized by many national media outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, USA Today, Country Living, Farmers’ Almanac, and Parade. As a television and radio personality, Lisa has appeared on the Hallmark Channel’s Home & Family, Martha Knows Best on HGTV, P. Allen Smith’s Garden Home, and NPR’s Maine Calling. Her first book was recommended summer reading on The View in 2018, and her website was featured on an episode of The Dr. Oz Show that was focused on eating eggs. Lisa also hosted two seasons of the Telly Award–winning television show, Welcome to My Farm, on NBC in Maine. A fifth-generation chicken keeper and Maine Master Gardener, Lisa lives in rural Maine, with her husband, their corgi and barn cat, and her “girls”--a mixed flock of about thirty hens, ducks, and geese. Plus one fairly grumpy rooster and a drake named Gregory.

Book preview

GARDENING

with

CHICKENS

Plans and Plants for You and Your Hens

LISA STEELE

Voyageur Press

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1: GETTING STARTED

Planning Your Garden’s Location

Creating a Chicken-Safe Yard

Starting Plants from Seeds or Seedlings

Garden with Your Chickens in All Seasons

CHAPTER 2: THE RAISED BED & BEYOND

Constructing a Raised-Bed Garden

Planning a Raised-Bed Garden

Other Garden Ideas

CHAPTER 3: HERBAL FEED SUPPLEMENT GARDENS

Getting to Know Herbs

Feed Supplement Garden

Garden for Optimal Egg Production

Garden for Orange Egg Yolks

Garden for Healthy Baby Chicks

Garden for Respiratory & Immune System Health

CHAPTER 4: EDIBLE GARDENING & YOUR CHICKENS

Soil for Edibles

Good Bugs & Bad Bugs

Gardening in the Spring

Edibles for the Fall

Edibles to Avoid for Chickens

CHAPTER 5: CREATIVE GARDENS FOR CHICKEN KEEPERS

Nesting Box Plants

Nesting Box Herb Garden

Edible Flowers

Edible Flower Garden

Natural Wormers

Natural Wormer Garden

First-Aid Kit

First-Aid Kit Garden

A Word on Limited Space

Five-Herb Container Garden

CHAPTER 6: COMPOSTING

All about Compost

Composting with Chickens

Chicken Poop Tea

CHAPTER 7: LANDSCAPING YOUR RUN

Landscaping & Chickens

Perennials

Annuals

Other Landscape Ideas

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

FURTHER READING & RESOURCES

INDEX

Introduction

Chickens and gardening go hand in hand. Both play an important part in being more self-sufficient and helping feed your family with what you can produce on your own land with your own two hands—and each complements the other beautifully. A garden can provide your chickens with lots of nutritious, inexpensive treats to supplement their regular feed and save you money, while their activities in the garden can help it thrive. They instinctively love scratching for bugs, loosening the dirt, and eating weeds, not to mention providing free fertilizer.

The recent movement toward a simpler way of life has caused both gardening and chicken keeping to gain favor throughout many segments of society. Of course, homesteaders, survivalists, and those wanting to become more self-reliant have been doing both for years. Driving growth in these hobbies are young people looking for a new way of life, as well as empty nesters and retirees finding themselves with extra time on their hands.

Whether you’re motivated by the need to continue to nurture something or concern about what’s in the food you eat, raising your own animals and growing your own food is good for you on so many levels. In fact, studies have been done to show that time spent outside getting dirty not only is good for your health, both physical and mental, but also contributes to a stronger immune system!

It doesn’t matter whether your backyard is postage stamp–size in a close-knit neighborhood or you have acres of open fields. You can still make a difference in your family’s health, lifestyle, and well-being by embracing a homesteading lifestyle. It’s entirely possible to raise enough chickens to provide your family with eggs throughout the year and to plant a garden that will supply enough vegetables to fill your pantry on ¹/4 acre or less. Cows, goats, or sheep can be difficult to raise without ample space for grazing, but chickens are small and don’t need much space. They are completely manageable for most who want to raise them. It’s fairly inexpensive to get started, and chickens provide a simple way to supply your family with fresh, healthy food in a relatively small area.

OK, so raising chickens and planting gardens both contribute to a more healthy, sustainable way of life on their own. But the real beauty is when the two are combined. The circle is complete! Nothing goes to waste: not garden trimmings, not vegetable peels, not a single eggshell, not even any chicken poop (AKA bountiful, free, nutrient-rich fertilizer). It all has a purpose.

In this book, I’ll cover a wide variety of topics regarding how to integrate your chickens and your gardening. We’ll explore not only general strategies, but also specific garden plans, each of which has a purpose when it comes to chicken keeping. I’ll cover some fencing ideas and other strategies for keeping your chickens out of your garden until you’re ready to share it with them. I’ll also share some ways to beautify your run or chicken yard with various types of edible landscaping, which can serve to beautify what might otherwise become an eyesore for neighbors.

Protecting your plants from your chickens is the cornerstone to successfully gardening with chickens.

I grow herbs to add to my cooking and to my chicken feed.

Much of what you’ll learn in this book is completely scalable. My own flock has ranged from just three chickens to more than three dozen over the years. I’ve also raised ducks alongside my chickens. And through it all, I have continued to integrate my gardening and chicken keeping. You can apply the same principles whether you have a trio of chickens and a few planters of tomatoes on your back patio or you have a barn full of chickens and your gardens span acres. (Although if you have only three chickens, it will take them far longer to eat an acre of vegetables!)

You’ll find gardens and backyard chickens can coexist in harmony; it’s just a matter of planning. Maybe you have wanted to get started with chickens for a while but were afraid of the destruction they would rain down on your carefully planted gardens. Or maybe you already have chickens and have been hesitant to try planting anything for fear the plants wouldn’t survive your flock. Either way, this is the book for you. By thoughtfully planning out your garden and coop, you can make it work. What’s more, everyone can win! You’ll find your gardens and your chickens will actually benefit each other. And your family will benefit as well, with delicious eggs, a bountiful harvest, and savings in time, energy, and money.

Happy gardening!

Lisa Steele

CHAPTER 1

Getting Started

While these days I am better known for raising chickens, some of my fondest memories of growing up on a farm are actually rooted in the garden.

My mother always had a vegetable garden out back where she grew peas, squash, broccoli, and any number of other vegetables that ended up on our dinner table. (Of course she saved all the trimmings for the chickens.) I loved to watch her pick out seeds each spring, then help her weed and turn over the soil with my tiny shovel to get the garden ready for planting. Once the soil was ready, we’d carefully place the seeds in the little holes we dug in the dirt. If I grew bored, I’d still stay in the garden; I’d just gather all the earthworms I could find and collect them in a bucket to feed to our chickens! Later on, in the summer, my mother would reward me for my hard work the past spring. She’d let me take a colander outside and pick the vegetables we would be having for dinner. I was so excited, I’d often help her cook as well, standing on a stool next to her so I could see into the pot on the stove.

The first money I ever made was thanks to the garden as well. I was about six years old and wanted a new bathing suit. We didn’t get an allowance in those days; we were just expected to keep our rooms clean, beds made, and laundry folded and to help with the dinner dishes to boot. So if I needed money, I had to come up with a way to earn some. At six years old, my options were limited, so I decided to pick raspberries from our patch out back and arrange them in boxes on a folding table in the front yard. My first business venture was a success, and I earned enough to buy the bathing suit I wanted, in all its neon orange and yellow glory. (This was the 1970s!)

Good fences make good neighbors—and good chicken blockades.

Eventually I convinced my mom to let me plant my own garden. She helped me create a small plot—not much more than 2 square feet, if I remember correctly—in which I planted carrot seeds. I had a pet rabbit at the time and wanted to grow carrots for him to eat, of course. I remember being too impatient to wait for the carrots to grow to maturity and sneaking into my garden early in the summer to harvest a miniature carrot or two for my bunny to nibble on.

These days, you could say my garden has grown considerably, although I’m not sure I am any more patient than I was back then! But with a larger garden to tend, and various crops maturing at different times, I generally manage to be patient enough to at least allow the vegetables to grow fully before yanking them out of the ground. Now that I’ve added chickens to the equation, convincing them to leave the growing vegetables alone is the real challenge.

You see, chickens are not very discriminatory when it comes to what they are going to eat, where they scratch, or where they decide to take a dust bath. And they’re certainly not going to take orders! One of the questions I get most frequently is How can I get my chickens to stop destroying my garden? The simple answer is to pen up the chickens or fence in the garden, but there’s a far better solution than that. With some proper planning and a thoughtful setup, it’s possible for chickens and gardens to live in peace ... and to benefit each other as well.

Your flower garden makes a perfect spot for dust bathing.

Planning Your Garden’s Location

The first step in creating a garden is siting, or planning the location. When you’re deciding on a location for your garden, you’ll want to consider several factors. The first consideration is the hours of sunlight your garden will need. Most vegetables require at least 6 to 8 hours of sunlight each day, preferably with lots of morning sun, so an east-facing location should give your garden a strong chance of success. If you are in the southern climates, where hot summers and scorching sun can be a challenge for many plants, you’ll want to choose a spot that is partially shaded and protected from the afternoon sun. Further north, a south-facing garden will maximize the sunlight.

Before you break ground on your new garden, you also will want to consider the soil. Most plants grow best in nutrient-rich, well-drained soil with some composted material mixed in. Rocky, sandy soil, or clay isn’t optimal, but if that’s all you’ve got to work with, and you’re planning on building some raised beds, then you’ll be bringing in new soil and dumping it on top of the ground anyway, so the quality of existing soil underneath isn’t quite as important.

Fortunately, herbs aren’t too picky about the type of soil in which they are grown. Sandy, well-drained soil is just fine for many of them, so if you have a choice, locate your vegetable garden where there is richer soil and leave the areas of poor soil for your herbs. I have to say the best garden I’ve ever grown was situated in a corner of our horse pasture. I fenced in part of the pasture and planted squash and melons. They grew wonderfully in the soil, which was comprised entirely of horse manure that had been composting for more than a decade. Many people like to grow compost-pile gardens for the same reason; it’s nearly impossible for a garden that’s planted in composted manure to not do well.

Note: Many types of plants will do well in acidic soil. These include asparagus, basil, beans, beets, broccoli, cabbage, cucumbers, dill, kale, parsley, peppers, pumpkins, radishes, sweet potatoes, squash, and turnips, among others. Most berry bushes also prefer acidic soil. Mulching these crops with pine needles or bark can help boost the acidity in the soil, as can planting them near pine trees. For more on soil quality and acidic soil, see here.

Convenience to the house is another factor to consider. Since you’ll need to water your garden, be sure your garden is close enough to a hose hookup. Convenience to the house also makes sense so you won’t have to walk too far to pick herbs and vegetables for you or your chickens. Positioning your garden close to the house can also deter deer, rabbits, and other wild animals from helping themselves to your produce at night.

When chickens are involved, you’ll need to consider the proximity to the chicken coop as well. Do you want the chickens to discover your garden or not? On my farm in Virginia, for years I had a small herb garden right off the front porch; the chickens never found it, since they rarely ventured that close to the house. At my new farm in Maine, the chickens discovered the garden within hours of my first kale planting, since it was a straight shot from the stand of pine trees where the chickens liked to nap.

While you might think it’s best if your chickens never find your garden, there are some compelling reasons to position your gardens near your coop. If you plan on composting the chicken manure from the coop and using it to fertilize your garden (see here for more on this), you’ll want your garden fairly close to the coop. And if you expect your chickens to help you in the garden, then a short walk from the coop to the garden will make everyone’s life easier. How do you keep a garden close to your coop and keep it from getting destroyed, though? That brings us to the next section. Let’s talk fencing and other barriers.

FENCING

Installing fencing around your garden is the easiest solution if you plan on allowing your chickens to roam freely on your property. Easy fencing? Actually, yes: since you’re mostly just worried about keeping your chickens out of your garden, as opposed to containing livestock (or keeping coyotes, bears, or bobcats out of your chicken run), garden fence posts don’t need to be set in concrete. In fact, you really don’t even need to use 4×4s or other traditional fencing materials. Metal or wooden stakes pounded into the ground will do, as will bamboo poles or sturdy branches. You just need something to wrap fencing around. As for fencing materials: plastic poultry netting, bird netting, or chicken wire are all lightweight, inexpensive materials that will do a fine job.

Generally speaking, you are going to want to erect fencing that is at least 5 feet high. Although chickens technically can’t fly, even with their wings clipped (more on that later) they can still manage to flutter and flap over a 3- or 4-foot fence pretty easily. A 5-foot fence will also help keep rabbits and neighborhood cats out of the garden. When you are choosing fencing, keep in mind that an uneven top edge is best. It’s easier for a chicken to hop up to the top of an even fence, perch for a minute, and then hop down to the ground on the other side than it is to try and balance atop a fence on which it can’t get good footing. Deer netting or poultry netting can help as well, since it’s flimsy and unstable at the top. You will also want the spacing of the holes in the fencing to be small enough so chickens can’t squeeze through.

Fencing keeps out not only chickens, but also deer and rabbits.

Note: One thing to keep in mind as we continue in this section is that you will have to experiment with various types and heights of fencing, edging, pavers, and cages to protect the things you really don’t want the chickens to have access to. Every situation requires its own problem solving. In addition to garden fencing options, you may also consider making your lawn more attractive to your flock. Bottom line: your chickens are just looking for an easy meal, and if there’s enough to eat in your lawn, they might not even be tempted to trespass into your landscaped areas.

Although chicken wire or plastic poultry netting makes an inexpensive, easy fencing option for your garden, it’s not the most attractive solution for frontyard gardens or around landscaping. A more aesthetically