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If I had 3 ducks, 4 chickens,and 5 guineas....
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Posted by frugal_gary alvin tx (My Page) on Fri, Mar 25, 05 at 21:17
| If I had 3 ducks,4 chickens and 5 guineas what would happen to my vegetable garden if I let them free range? |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: If I had 3 ducks, 4 chickens,and 5 guineas....
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| Well....they will eat anything RED especially fast (strawberries tomatoes), peck holes in everything else, and trample at least a good portion of it for good measure. The chickens will do a pretty fair job of scratching up all your seedlings too. The guineas will do the least damage, probably, and adapt to free-range at home the best -- but be prepared for them to go wild if you turn them loose. Only way to catch them will probably be with a 22 (no, I'm not condoning this -- I don't hunt and am vegetarian). |
RE: If I had 3 ducks, 4 chickens,and 5 guineas....
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Had free range ducks,chickens and guineas before i moved.Chickens ate bugs and fertilized and scratched the soil,guineas eat lots of bugs and hornets and kill snakes.both keep moving and won't stay in one area long enough to eat,destroy and mess up.ducks are messy,they will sit on your plants if that is their favorite spot to rest.If they free range there will be plenty other areas for them and your garden will be just a spot on their daily route.
I say,go for it and enjoy. |
RE: If I had 3 ducks, 4 chickens,and 5 guineas....
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We have 5 hens, 5 guineas, 7 ducks. The hens are in a moveable cage, which allows them to do some of our hoeing for us, but they can destroy a garden in half an hour if turned loose. The guineas do the least damage, a little scratching, but mostly they peck my lower rosebuds. I hear they will eat all tomatoes, though some say they won't. Just got them last fall, we'll be finding out in a few months. The ducks are still under consideration. We decided to give up on the Muscovies, who had free run of the area and sleep on perches over the big old chicken cage, except for full mooon nights, when they won't fly. They sit on the ground and the coyotes make off with them. The drakes are large and heavy and a bit hard on seedlings they walk over. It was very interesting last spring to see them eat all the dandelion seeds, we realised they could change the entire ecology of our garden. So we got some Khaki Campbell ducks, true ducks, not like the cheap imitation Brazilian sort (ie. Muscovies) they only run 4.5 lbs, but as it turns out they adore water and spend more time in the pond than in the garden. This may be a blessing, as they waddle over plants, take their nap on the leeks, and poke around everything that I have mulched. Their cage is the same as the hens cage, but they pack down the grass and clover instead of eating it, and they leave a crust of manure on the ground. We have been adding sawdust to improve conditions in their cage. I am considering a permanent small house for them in the garden, as climbing plants could grow over it and get their roots under it to take advantage of moisture and fertility. Think of it as a sort of enclosed compost pile, I'd frequently add feed, sawdust and water, remove eggs, and about twice a year remove the finished compost. We'd let them out for awhile at advantageous times.
The downside of this experimentation has been having to protect certain plants within the garden. My tomato rings have worked very well to protect my young beets, and I have fiddled with them a bit as I put in my tomatoes, putting some plants inside the rings or expanding them a bit to enclose the 7 plants till they get some size to them. but as I put my rings into service, I am wondering if some flimsy chicken wire would enable me to fence off small areas with temporary fences. Would it be worth it? So far we have found the ducks amusing, but whether they will prove as useful and practical as chickens remains to be seen. Donna |
RE: If I had 3 ducks, 4 chickens,and 5 guineas....
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| Ducks, chickens, guineas, wives, how many were going to St Ives? |
RE: If I had 3 ducks, 4 chickens,and 5 guineas....
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| The ducks would eat your slugs. |
RE: If I had 3 ducks, 4 chickens,and 5 guineas....
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| "both keep moving and won't stay in one area long enough to eat,destroy and mess up." Hahahaaaaaaaaaa! A single hen that got into my vegetable garden destroyed the whole thing in a couple hours, mowed down my early vegetables, scratched down my carefully mounded beds, the works. Everything not covered in black plastic was trashed. 3 standard hens, turned loose in my approximately 100x50' yard, killed ALL the lawn over a winter, scratched out a good many perennial plants I was looking forward to seeing in the spring and shredded most of my beloved spring bulbs. They are confined now. The infuriating thing is that before I got these hens with the plan of free-ranging them, I did what you're doing. I asked around to see if it was a bad idea and I would regret it. And people cheerfully told me "Oh no, they're not bad at all -- maybe they'll scratch up newly planted annuals or seedlings if you don't protect them, but that's about it." Don't believe a word of it. They can be VERY destructive. I wouldn't do it if I were you. Kristin |
RE: If I had 3 ducks, 4 chickens,and 5 guineas....
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| in the moveable cage category, look up the book "Chicken Tractor". It's got a bunch of ideas and why/nots to do it. And it's a fun read , just for kicks. Greg |
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