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Protecting Seedlings From Birds And Chickens

26 December 2010 5 Comments

On my recent tour of the Permaculture Visions property at Mount Kembla, I saw lots of great ideas for gardening and property design. I’ll outline them in a series of posts over the next week or two.

The first idea I really liked was to use discarded bird cages to protect seedlings from pillaging wild birds and roaming chickens.

Protecting Seedlings From Birds And Chickens

Our local council does a kerbside junk pickup every 6 months or so, where they collect unwanted stuff that doesn’t fit into the normal garbage bins. People put out broken chairs, exercise machines, BBQs, pieces of timber, and all sorts of junk. I have been known to stop and grab something useful when it catches my eye Protecting Seedlings From Birds And Chickens . Everyone is fine with people taking stuff – it diverts the junk from landfill and gives it a new life.

One thing I’ve noticed a lot is broken birdcages. They’re often a little rusty, or the bottom has fallen off, or the door hinge no longer works. What a great idea to rip the bottom off and place them over plants that need a little extra protection!

They look kind of cool dotted around the garden, too.

Protecting Seedlings From Birds And Chickens

What tips do you have to protect plants from chickens and wildlife? Please share in the comments!


This post is part of the Permaculture Visions Tour 2010 post series:

  1. Protecting Seedlings From Birds And Chickens
  2. Water In The Garden
  3. Permaculture Chicken Mansion
  4. Geese In The Garden

Related posts:

  1. Bird Nets For Garden Beds
  2. Backyard Chickens Soar In Popularity
  3. Backyard Veggie Patch Workshop in Jamberoo
  4. Costa’s Garden Odyssey – Tonight 8:00 on SBS
  5. Plants For The Chicken Run
Build your own chicken coop in 3 days.

5 Comments »

  • Meryl said:

    Similar, we use upended wire hanging baskets. Old or new.

    # 26 December 2010 at 4:10 pm
  • Anna said:

    I love stealing things from the curb — the only reason I would ever live in a city. :-) And your bird cage idea is great. I can see it working with cats too — they tend to scratch in our newly planted beds and disrupt the tender seedlings.

    # 27 December 2010 at 1:17 am
  • Donna said:

    Hi Darren,

    I have been to Permaculture visions farm at Mt kembla. April has done a fantastic job there. I just went there at the end of November again. She had done so much work there from the last time i visited. Her place is a real inspiration…

    # 27 December 2010 at 11:18 am
  • Greenfumb said:

    What a great idea, I am addicted to roadside clean ups and recently picked up a birdcage, just in case I might need one one day ;-) Now I know what to do with it.

    # 4 January 2011 at 4:34 pm
  • Permaculture Design Certificate Scholarship! said:

    [...] course by correspondence, through local trainers Permaculture Visions. I met the owner, April, and toured their property a little while ago so I have full confidence that they offer a great course and have excellent [...]

    # 1 July 2011 at 11:16 pm

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