Chickens Eating Tomato Plant Leaves

By

jollyscamaro

Ha! Chickens savor tomato plants! Also go mad over corn plants and will have those stripped in minutes! I have 16 chickens and 4 guineas and they all love plants. Yes, even the guineas! They are not supposed to like plants but they strip 'em down too! I live in Texas and it is 100 here right now and between the heat, chickens and fire ants, I cannot grow anything! They even plucked my fig tree!

I came here looking for a solution to the bird problem but looks as though I gotta put up a fence and clip their wings!
Yeah, look at her...a whole 5 ounces soaking wet and she's a little plant mowing raptor! Bad little Odamae! Bad! Chickens do respond to the word "NO", BTW.

By

Glenn'sMom

My husband says chickens will eat anything.

By

louel53

My mother-in-law had free range chickens. I think you have to either fence the chickens or fence the garden. Or accept that they will eat some of the stuff. Hers filled up on raspberries! She didn't mind as they ate the ones on the lower branches, so she just took the ones on the top, and didn't have to bend over! ha ha

By

dinkly

Very well could of been your chickens, but it could of been a tomato (horned) worms too. They'll get on your tomato plants and eat every leaf on there if you leave them. They look mean, with a 'horn' on them. They're not easy to find, but if you'll go out about dusk with a flashlight they're easier to hunt down. They tend to hide under the stalk out of the sun during the day and come out more after dusk to eat. I 'pick' mine off and put them in a coffee can with a lid and save them for the hens the next day.

By

scott E.

Domestic birds will eat anything green or any color. Given time they will eat the stems too. I grew up on a farm, we had chickens, the fence was a good deterrent to keep them out. If they would fly in they would eat the grass in an area down to the ground. If they had hay and plenty to eat in the hen house they didn't try to fly over the fence (I think they were to full to fly).

By

mom-from-missouri

My chickens and ducks would and have done it. Also, they love pumpkin, zuchinni and more. I either don't let mine out during garden season, or this year, I plan to put orange construction fencing around my garden in hopes they won't fly over it. Strawberries? The hens LOVE them.