We Weed the Other Half. We did this little experiment to see if the chickens take care of weeds better than we can. All last winter we left the chickens in half the garden. We did this for two reasons, one to keep them fenced in a safe spot when we left for a couple days, and two in order to see if they would fertilize and weed the garden well. From what my wife has said, the weeds on the chickens half of the garden are harder to pull out. I’d have to agree. The root is just really set on the grass and other unwanted greens.

As for the fertilizer, I think spreading the chicken manure out as we clean the coop is just as effective. On a positive note, I haven’t seen many bugs at all in the garden. No cutworms or the like. They do the work in that aspect. Next fall we’ll let them fatten back up in the annual section again as everything begins to die back and go farrow.

Tags: Chickens, Garden, weed