Chickens under fruit trees

So I decided to run the chickens under my fruit trees this year to get an bug larvae. Problem, they are digging so far down that its exposing some roots. My trees have only been in our ground for a few years and are probably 4-5 years old. Any advice? I thought well maybe its just time to move them, but I want to make sure they get all the bad bugs like the codling moth. Thanks for any help!

It's not advised to let chickens enter a system until it's established, and you have a lot of options. You can tractor them and move them around so they don't scratch too much, paddock them for the same strategy, or you might be able to lay down cardboard and stones on top of that as a protective layer immediately around the trees. 4-5 yr old trees could have extensive roots though, how big are they?

The roots aren’t too extensive, the caliper is probably less than 2.5 inches. Im already rotating them through a paddock ala Paul Wheaton and they have only been in there for a few days. I have 4 hens. I laid some rocks over top which helps, but I thought the point of having them under the trees is to keep bugs down, and if they can’t get to the bugs then it kinda defeats the purpose or am I missing something? Thanks for your response.

Might just wanna wait a year then to let the trees get more established

I know it's not 'by the book' but I've been planning a way to get my birds in the orchard sooner than later as well- and I just know those hens are going to scratch up all my my beautiful mulch and asparagus/rhubarb/comfrey etc etc.
My most likely action will be to make chicken wire "collars" to lightly cover the mulched area. Nothing fancy, and somehow allow the herbs/plantings to poke through without being squashed. Poultry definitely find route of least resistance.

Ive done a bit of that too, its just impossible to tell if that is defeating the purpose or not. I guess we could do a control area and do protected vs not protected and see if those trees have issues or not.

I rotate my chicken pasture through my yard and part of it has fruit trees. I have found that they chickens run straight to the trees to start kicking out the mulch around it and digging into the root zone for delicious treats.



Small trees require me to put in two stakes into the ground and wrap chicken wire to prevent them from digging right up against the tree. Larger trees don't fare much better but seem to weather the onslaught just fine. I can't accredited it solely to the chickens, but my peach trees have grown significantly after some chicken time in the area.

Loose branches/brush scattered around the base of the trees can protect them from scratching and help out the soil as they break down.

There must be some good stuff in there! I run chickens through my orchard. Most trees in the orchard are between 4 - 6 years old. It's usually the mulch they are after because that is where the treats are found.  They will usually stop digging once the mulch is gone. We have a nectarine in our layer chicken system that is one of our fastest growing trees, doesn't seem to be affected by chicken tilling. Once they dig up the dirt around the soil, just get ready to add wood chips back under the tree once you've moved them on. I don't get too worried about surface level roots the chickens expose from my fruit trees from time to time. I'll just rake soil back over and re-mulch after the chickens move on. My trees seem to be growing just fine.

when I've done this I just throw all kinds of stuff up under and around the trees...scraps of fencing, old shingles, scrap metal, branches and sticks, anything that they can't get through easily to dig down.  Once the trees are 2 or 3 inches across at the base, a cluster of rocks, concrete chunks, bricks, etc. right around the base of the trunk is usually sufficient.   The benefit of running chickens continuously under fruit trees can be dramatic.  In southern Georgia years ago I was able to get 75% worm free fruit on early peaches this way.  Even the people from the extension office came out to see it!

I placed some stones around the tree trunk. Anything heavy works actually.

Kaarina Kreus wrote:I placed some stones around the tree trunk. Anything heavy works actually.

This is exactly what I do-- I actually confine the chicken run to my orchard but each tree has a small ring of bricks encircling it, protecting the developing roots. It works great to protect them and the chickens do a great job fertilizing the developing trees.

The circle of bricks is probably 2 feet in diameter but they don't go to the trouble of digging between the trunk and the circle of bricks, it's not enough space for the scratch and look what you dug up maneuver they like. I place them so the bricks radiate outward, the length of them pointing to the tree, sort of like flower petals. This allows the best coverage with the material.

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Have experience with chickens. What works is placing a "mat" of "concrete reinforcement wire" around an area. If the "holes" are squares up to 6x6 inch, chickens will leave it alone when they encounter the metal wire. Garden areas you can place your new food plants within the 6 inch squares and the chickens wont dig around them. It saves the garden plantings and inhibits chickens from scratching. They don't seem to like the texture of metal and the wire does not allow them to get down far or fast enough for their liking.... You can reuse these concrete reinforcement wires over and over.

My orchard is where I use humanure--if not that, I add some kind of manure or compost every spring, and then a layer of mulch, usually leaves, and then stone on top. All this in a ring under the drip line. I have to use stones or they'll scatter the fertilizer and mulch. They can't get at all the bugs, no, but I figure they get some.

A big advantage in having chickens roam under your fruit trees is not only they eat all the bugs, but they will also eat any fallen fruit, so that you will not have fruit decaying and attracting wintering bugs. Their manure also fertilizes all the trees.

So yes, they do scratch a bit too close to the trees sometimes, but they do a job that I don't want to do and can't do.

If that bothers you too much, , they have some wide collars that are made of shredded rubber tires. They are quite pricey, but they will last and last. Chickens can't displace them, but I will still leave them off once in a while so they can get at whatever vegetation/ bugs has gathered under there.
Someone mentioned a collar made of chicken wire. That is quite effective as well, but I did have a chicken who ingested a piece of broken chicken wire and died. So you would have to commit to inspect and replace them if they break. It was my beg beautiful rooster who died, so it was a heartbreaker, especially that I didn't have another roo that year.