Chickens and mango trees

[StPeteMango]

Has anyone on this board kept chickens around their fruit trees?
I'm thinking of keeping a few backyard chickens for eggs, and was wondering if it's okay for the chicken-run area to include three of my mango trees. Would all their poop/nitrogen cause issues? Are they likely to scratch up all the mulch (there's lots of it) and disturb the feeder roots?
The boss lady hasn't given the final verdict -- but she loves my weekend omelettes, so I'm hoping she says yes. Fresh, organic, and all the good stuff ...

[knlim000]

i don't know about disturbing the roots, but YEAH, they scratch like crazy.

[Frog Valley Farm]

On a schedule of rotational grazing around your yard would be excellent for everything. Possible problems if they were kept in one spot indefinitely.

[mangomongo]

Yes they will scratch all the mulch out looking for bugs and will disturb the feeder roots. Will it hurt the tree? probably not but you will have an excess of nitrogen built up over time that would most likely affect the quality of your fruit (taste and jelly seed for example). Also, a high amount of nitrogen will make your trees themselves less disease resistant. However, I collect the chicken manure under the roost and use it sparingly on the drip line of my trees. It has a good amount of potassium, calcium and other important micros in it that your mango trees will respond positively to.  If your trees are established and you are harvesting fruit skip the fertilizer until the fruit comes off. I've made that mistake and nitrogen does effect the taste of the fruit ( makes it kind of musky and off putting IMHO) It is recommended to continue with a micro nutrient regiment.  I am not an expert but there are many on this site who are and have lots of first hand experience with there orchards of well producing mature trees.   Bottom line, keep the mango trees out of the chicken run if you can.     

[Frog Valley Farm]

Timed rotational grazing is excellent for a grove.  In a properly managed healthy organic farm system most excess nitrogen is captured along with other plant beneficial nutrients, hormones, bacteria, etc., in a stable plant soluble form which is stored for future use.  The plants use the stored pool of nutrients when they need them and they are not easily leached into the environment.  You can see change in as little as 10 days, it’s in the form of soil aggregates at soil level.  This is called the cation exchange process.  The small supplements of manure (nitrogen) along with a living orchard floor (grass) and the constant wetting and drying speed this processs along.  It is soil building and can change the structure of soil even white sand can be altered into a sandy loam over time.

Placing raw manure on mulch (wood chips) at the drip line could lead to nitrogen runoff and other problems like phosphorous fixation which will show as a magnesium or zinc deficiency.  You would have less of a chance of this happening if your mulch was living (grass).

The age of someone’s trees has nothing whatsoever to do with ones own knowledge of organic farming.  People sell property and start new farms with small trees but retain their knowledge to share with others free of charge who have a real interest in healing the planet and learning how organic systems work. :-)
 

Soil aggregates from sand.

[Musa]

I have 30 chickens who free range around my fruit trees. They like to spend most of the time digging through compost/mulch that I put around the trees. I don't put any mulch around the mangos and they really don't spend time under the mango trees. If you keep the trees in the run, there is probably no way to avoid it. I've been thinking of the perfect fruit tree to plant in the run area. I'm leaning towards strawberry tree. my chickens love to spend time under the one outside the run as it provides shade, protection from predators, and lots of fruit falling on the ground.

[StPeteMango]

Thanks for the input, folks. You have given me plenty to think about.
There are parts of the yard where I could put a chicken run and coop, but it's more exposed to the sun and gets shade only late afternoon. The side that has the 3 mango trees has fencing on three sides and has a better mix of tree shade and sun. I could add chicken wire on one side and that would give the chickens more leg room.

[pineislander]

Thanks for the input, folks. You have given me plenty to think about.
There are parts of the yard where I could put a chicken run and coop, but it's more exposed to the sun and gets shade only late afternoon. The side that has the 3 mango trees has fencing on three sides and has a better mix of tree shade and sun. I could add chicken wire on one side and that would give the chickens more leg room.

You might consider one of the moveable chicken coops they call a chicken tractor. These keep the chickens confined but protected and by moving them daily they get fresh ground to work every day. Some use it on grass at a small scale of 10 or less chickens and I've seen other systems with more intense schedule that adds organic matter and generates a moveable composting operation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fq43hjcG5c
 

[Kaelix87]

I have my chickens free roam my yard they dobt take interest in my fruit trees as much as they do all my vegetables. If you have any vegetables within their range or jumping height then you cN pretty much kiss those goodbye my blueberries amd pineapples and tamarind got eaten by them and other vegetables lol

[Tropheus76]

I personally don't have them but I know for a fact they absolutely love those grey and orange weevils that will be devastating our mango trees in a couple months and I would keep them just for that purpose if I had the time.

[roblack]

Moveable chicken coop, as PI recommended, sounds like the way to go. All the benefits of chickens, and you can move them easily if they are causing a problem with any plants. Now if only my wife will buy into it...