Gardening With Chickens for Fantastic Pest Control

Discover new ways to use chickens in the garden.

By Barbara Pleasant
Updated on July 21, 2022
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by Pexels/Fox

Embrace gardening with chickens! Chickens will devour many insects, including grasshoppers, Colorado potato beetles, slugs and more. This article is part of our Organic Pest Control Series, which includes articles on attracting beneficial insects, controlling specific garden pests, and using organic pesticides.

How Do Chickens Control Pests?

Chickens in the garden quickly get to work eating any insect that moves. Then they scratch into the soil to eat more insects and larvae. In this way, chickens confined to an enclosure can be employed to clean permanent beds of insects between plantings. You can also set up chickens in the garden so that they patrol the garden’s perimeter, nabbing grasshoppers, Colorado potato beetles, and other insects before they make it into the garden. These and similar strategies help preserve populations of ground beetles and other beneficial garden insects and avoid unwanted deposits of fresh chicken manure in veggie beds.


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