We put cattle panels over the beds to keep the chickens out and also as a support for plastic we will cover them with to protect the lettuce from frost later in the year.
We also have some in the cold frames.
However, the panels have not served as a deterrent to keep the chickens out. Notice the bunch of Swiss chard closest to the camera. It has been stripped of most of the leaves by marauding chickens.
And, here's how they were doing it. They were obviously smarter than we gave them credit for!
One of the smaller hens could even fit through the openings in the panels and was discovered down in the bed helping herself to the luscious greens. Therefore, they were confined to their pen until we could beef up the defenses.
I really like to let them out of their pen to free-range. So, here's my solution. I cut bird netting to fit over the cattle panels.
Once they were all covered with net, I let the detainees out of jail.
The first thing they did was head over to the lettuce patch, but at least, for now, they have not figured out a way to get past the netting. Not that they have not tried. You can almost see the wheels turning in Bossy's head trying to figure out a way to get around it.
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