dirtfarmer
Full Member
Posts: 16
Joined: Thu Aug 05, 2010 12:23 pm
Location: Michigan

Chickens tearing up my tomatoes

My neighbor's chickens are ripping apart all my tomatoes......not green ones mind you, just the fat juicy ripe ones! What can I do short of fencing in my garden?

I usually don't mind the free ranging chickens because they haven't bothered anything......until now! I like their presence in my yard but NOT my garden.
Last edited by dirtfarmer on Mon Aug 16, 2010 11:36 am, edited 1 time in total.

dirtfarmer
Full Member
Posts: 16
Joined: Thu Aug 05, 2010 12:23 pm
Location: Michigan

Yeah, we've talked to him and he's apologetic and sympathetic, offering payment in the form his own ripe tomatoes. I do have dogs but I just can't let them go have a chicken dinner....I'd feel terrible!

The dang chickens peck holes in my bell peppers, tear up my tomatoes and scratch at my mulch.........(sighing) it's not like I don't have enough to worry about already!

TZ -OH6
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 2097
Joined: Fri Jul 25, 2008 7:27 pm
Location: Mid Ohio

Pick the tomatoes before they get ripe. They will ripen off of the plant after they start to develop color.


I can get inexpensive deer netting (7 ft high) at Tractor Supply. It is also sold as bird netting, just cut to a different size. Its not a big deal to surround a garden pach or even cover over smaller areas.

dirtfarmer
Full Member
Posts: 16
Joined: Thu Aug 05, 2010 12:23 pm
Location: Michigan

TZ -OH6 wrote:Pick the tomatoes before they get ripe. They will ripen off of the plant after they start to develop color.


I can get inexpensive deer netting (7 ft high) at Tractor Supply. It is also sold as bird netting, just cut to a different size. Its not a big deal to surround a garden pach or even cover over smaller areas.
I'll have to look into that netting. Today, I went out and picked several tomatoes that are ripening. I put them on my window sill in the kitchen, they will ripen in a few days I'm sure.



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