Should You Let Chickens Free Roam In The Greenhouse -- Good Or Bad Idea?

Discussion in 'Animal Husbandry' started by TMT Tactical, Dec 26, 2018.

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  1. TMT Tactical

    TMT Tactical The Great Lizard ! Staff Member
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    I was considering raising chicken and just letting them free range in my greenhouses. Then I read a posting about the chickens eating all the cheery tomatoes. Now I don't know if this is a good idea or not. I figured it would be a natural way to help control bugs but if the chickens are going to eat the produce, not such a grand idea. What has been you alls experience?
     
  2. TexDanm

    TexDanm Shadow Dancer
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    Use Indian Runner ducks for this. They are egg laying ducks and a gardeners best friend. they love bugs and don't peck at the fruits in the garden. Chickens are good in a coop but they scratch and will turn an area into a bare dirt place ready to turn into a garden. We have done this a couple of times. Fence an area put in the chickens and then move them when we are ready to till and plant. Eat the chickens and keep the ducks. The duck eggs are better anyway.
     
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  3. TexDanm

    TexDanm Shadow Dancer
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    If you make a post and nobody responds you need to go and look in the "NEW" threads and make another post. For some reason until there is a response the post doesn't show up in the recent activity list and just gets lost.
     
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  4. TMT Tactical

    TMT Tactical The Great Lizard ! Staff Member
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    I like the duck idea. Now I have a few questions. First what about water for ducks, ( no ponds, streams or lakes) desert climate. Second what type of duck for a desert climate might be best. I would really like to use one critter (ducks) to eliminate other critters (insects). Since a SHTF there will not be any garden supplies available.

    Now to be honest, I figured nobody found the topic interesting, so I forgot about it. If this happen again, I will follow your suggestions. Thanks for the tips and the advice, both appreciated.
     
    1. coffee
      Make sure to use heirloom seeds, learn to save them, and use them next year, save them, and use them again.
      Also buy all new hand gardening tools, because a tiller will not be any good once you run out of gas. Get and keep it ready to plant in by keeping it covered with leaves, wood chips, grass clippings, etc. Plant some eatable flowers and some vegetables very sporadically
       
      coffee, Jan 14, 2019
  5. watcherchris

    watcherchris Legendary Survivalist
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    Yeah..I've noticed that about this site too. Until someone responds to a post..it often does not get put up at the top left recent activity column. Once you know...it is no problem making adjustments...or just make a follow up post.

    My friend who moved to Tennessee in the last year...when he lived up in the county he had chickens ..ducks too. Even raised some caged quail before releasing them. Had four ganders and one male goose....boy oh boy can they bite too. He claimed they were as good as a guard dog about making noise when trespassers were present.

    But he had no bugs in his yard...they would not survive unless they ran for the woodpile..and stayed in side the wood where the birds could not peck. Between the chickens and ducks they made quick work of any bugs running about. He had a lot of bird manure but few bugs.

    He also had three long commercial bug zappers....and would empty out the trays. He told me the chickens loved the zapped bugs...it was like popcorn to them. They would come a running when he shook out the bug trays.


    Thanks,
    Watcherchris
    Not an Ishmaelite.
     
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  6. TexDanm

    TexDanm Shadow Dancer
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    We liked the ducks a lot and are thinking about doing them again. We bought them a plastic swimming pool and they would all get in it and splash. they were soooo cute. Daffy Duck is an Indian Runner they are small ducks that stand up straight and don't fly. We got them for the garden and because the damn chickens got up on the porch and pooped on everything. The ducks don't climb stairs. thee ducks are egg laying machines and 7 females with a male gave us 5 to 6 eggs a day EVERY DAY!! we ate eggs, we sold eggs, and we fed eggs to the dogs. eventually the raccoons got to them and one at a time we lost them even though we caged them at night. The girls now have border-collies and they should protect them and herd the for us.

    Duck eggs taste like chicken eggs. the only difference is that they have a larger yoke and are richer. My wife loved baking and cooking with them. About the only down fall is that the white part is too small to make deviled eggs with them.

    We did the chicken as a one shot thing. Buy a flat of them. Put them in a fenced area and feed them while they clear the lot for you. About the time we were ready to move them and plant that area as a garden they were the right size to butcher and eat. They were a pain in the butt and would get out of their pen and come to the porch and eat dog food.

    As long as the duck hens have a drake they lay but when the coon got the drake they stopped. By that time there were only three left so they were just pets.
     
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  7. TMT Tactical

    TMT Tactical The Great Lizard ! Staff Member
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    I am liking the sound of the ducks vs. chicken a lot better. The flying up on the porch and pooping is not something I would appreciate.
     
  8. TexDanm

    TexDanm Shadow Dancer
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    The porch that they were pooping on isn't just a regular porch. It is an 14 by 60 foot living area with a Jacuzzi on one end a living room area in the middle with couches and a bump out with a box wood stove then a dinning table and chairs with an outdoor kitchen on the end with a grill, burners, refrigerator and cabinets. It has two sets of 8 foot wide steps with several different types of lighting. We entertain and live out there a lot of the time. The chickens were treading on thin ice and got eaten as soon as they were big enough. We are big time porch monkeys!
     
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  9. TMT Tactical

    TMT Tactical The Great Lizard ! Staff Member
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    TD, I like your solution to the chicken pooping problem, eating the problem.
     
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