i vote yes.

froggy

I think they will co-exist nicely. We have about a dozen free range chickens and find that they keep our ticks, chiggers, etc. down to the extent that our gain is larger than our loss. They can't eat all those plants, and the truly hardy ones will survive nicely.

You may want to do an online search - just in case - for weeds that are toxic to chickens. Maureen

My chickens are holy terror to my flower beds. They make me so mad I feel like starting my grill!

Gary

My vote goes along with Gary's, the Feathered Land Shark will destroy any established flower beds. That's where the best bugs and worms will be. The soil is cool and moist, their favorite kind. And they will devour any young plants that you set out or that come up from seeds. If you have established plantings that are in rich soil, chickens will dig them completely out of the ground in order to get at earthworms and grubs.

I used to let my chickens out to 'graze' the yard because I thought they'd eat the bugs off my roses, but they dug the roses out of the ground and some of them died...the roses, not the chickens. I lost hydrangeas, roses, elephant ears(big ones), mums, daisies, dianthus, four o'clocks and rock rose.

Now the chickens have a large yard, 50x100' that they can roam around in and eat anything they find. They are semi-free-range. And my roses and other flowers are safe from my Feathered Land Sharks. Cheryl

LOL. I laughed so hard at your Feathered Land Sharks. I'm not laughing at your problems cause I have deer to deal with. I think I would prefer the sharks....

I just had to reply. Chickens will wreak havoc on nice tilled soil that you plant ornamentals in. But a prairie planting is completely different. the plants send roots down deep (no way a chicken could scratch it out), and don;t forget, prairie chickens existed on the prairies for 1000s of years, did they scratch out the plants? nooooo. they willl eat the bugs and seeds and many weeds that you dont want. sure they might enjoy some prairie plants too, but if the plants are established u will be fine....now if u are just starting the prairie and the soil is bare, its a different story, u dont want the chickens...yet. wait till its established.

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