Chickens in the garden: organic eggs and natural pest control

Created: 07/26/2022, 12:30 p.m

By: Nina Marie Jarosch

If you keep chickens in your own garden, you can not only look forward to fresh organic eggs.

The animals also help with pest control.

Munich – Many people once again have the desire to be self-sufficient and to use natural, self-produced food.

Keeping chickens in your own garden has become increasingly popular with Germans in recent years.

But the poultry not only provides fresh eggs, but can also prove to be the perfect garden helper.

Find out what advantages private chicken keeping can have for your garden and what needs to be considered.

Keeping chickens in the garden: organic eggs and natural pest control

Chickens not only provide eggs, they are also perfect garden helpers.

(Iconic image) © blickwinkel/Imago

Anyone who keeps chickens in their garden not only enjoys tasty, fresh, organic eggs, but also takes a stand against factory farming.

Because in contrast to the chickens from industrial agriculture, the animals in the garden can be kept in a species-appropriate manner.

Although the normal breeds lay fewer eggs than laying hybrids, hobby keepers can still count on around 200 eggs per year and hen - and with a clear conscience.

But that's not all chicken keepers can be happy about, because the animals are also grateful garden helpers.

Keeping chickens in the garden: pest control and weed control

Chickens are perfect garden helpers.

Because they are a completely natural form of pest control.

They love to scratch the ground and look for small animals.

The garden is dug up a few centimeters deep and the soil is freed from insects and larvae, such as grubs.

With single-minded certainty, they also track down and devour snail eggs.

The poultry not only help with pest control, but are also world champions in weeding.

Because while scratching for insects, the chickens also tear young weeds out of the ground, even under bushes or in hard-to-reach corners.

But be careful: the garden must not be treated with any kind of toxic pesticides, otherwise the chickens will get sick.

Keeping chickens in the garden: They provide the best fertilizer

Chickens are omnivores and, in addition to their normal food, also love to use leftovers from the kitchen.

It doesn't matter whether it's fruit, vegetable peelings or leftovers.

The resulting chicken manure is in turn an excellent fertilizer for the garden - rich in nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus.

Since the chicken manure can contain pathogens, it should be composted like all fertilizers to be on the safe side, or at least overwinter before you fertilize the garden with it.