HELP! Who's been eating my veggies?

I have three garden areas that had some veggies over wintering and they have each been attacked these last few weeks. I have a deep hardware cloth lined raised bed hoop house. It is covered with small aviary wire (think chicken wire but with holes half the size) and plastic. A mole has climbed in and has been evading me for a couple of seasons now. So if moles come above ground and eat greens, that could be my culprit here. The first things to go were my lettuce and spinach, followed by my cabbage, broccoli, and chard, now even radish tops and cilantro are gone. The light plastic cloches I put over the remaining broccoli have protected them against whatever this is. (We have free ranging chickens, which explains all the protection!)

I have a hardware cloth lined cement block raised garden, protected on top by plastic bird netting. Something ate a hole in the plastic bird netting and climbed right in and ate all my spinach.

I also have an outside garden, which has cattle panel hoops also covered with plastic bird net. It keeps birds out, but something could crawl underneath the netting and get in.

I'm thinking the same thing is doing damage, but what? I know we have gophers, moles, rabbits, and mice. I have heard others speak of voles. Unless gophers spend a lot of time walking and climbing, I don't think that is what it is. Same with moles, really. So unless you have another idea, Im going with rabbits, mice, or voles. What do you think it could be?

Here are the radishes, which were last to be eaten. Whatever it is strews the leaves all over the place, but comes back to finish them later. It seems to be doing the damage at night.

All that is left of all my plantings! These are super lightweight plastic covers. Whatever it is has left them alone and evaded capture from my two Havahart traps -- one mouse size and the other squirrel size.

What about a woodchuck? We had one eat all my cantaloupes this year. He also made a point to eat off the top of my beet greens. They can get under fences.

Nope, no woodchucks anywhere near here, but thank you for your reply!

Your broccoli looks how my tomatoes look when a hornworm gets to them. They do that kind of leaf damage but I've never had one on anything but tomatoes. the radishes looks like bird damage, they tear up the leaves to get to the fruit. If you had a mole or a voile you would see raised tunnels of dirt. I have them here but other than the tunnels they have never eaten a thing. You have netting over all your bed because of the chickens but are they tacked down? I have had several very clever chickens in my life-only thing about that is that chickens roost at night. I feel for you- I only have trouble with cats digging up my seedlings.
But I thank you- I have been trying out ideas on how to keep cats out of my beds. Bird mesh is the perfect solution- easy on and off and easy to store. thankyou Susan

Thank you, Susan. You might try attaching the bird mesh to cut-in-half and bent cattle or hog panels (cut to 8' lengths) with zip ties. No, it is definitely NOT the chickens. I have a 4' fence around where the mature broccoli is and they only get in when I leave open the gate. No caterpillar poops on the plants, and define gnaw marks on the stalks. The little birds have been a big problem around here, but I don't see any way they could get in to do this kind of damage. Darn! Good thing I am not reliant on my garden for survival -- the critters would out-compete me. But I hate to see so many hours of work disappear before my eyes!

Looks like you have a rabbit, probably a young one. They chew right thru bird netting, a hole just big enough to squeeze thru. They nibble on leaves and the centers of plants. They prefer broccoli over cauliflower, so will eat that first. They like spinach followed by romaine lettuce. They nibble on sweet potatoes if the root is sticking out of the soil. They were really mowing down my garden until the burr clover started growing (which they prefer over even broccoli). They are almost impossible to catch in a havahart trap because they feel the wires under their feet and won't go inside.
In one night the rabbits ate 150 broccoli plants in my starter garden. I bought heavy plastic fencing (in the construction department at Lowe's, the temporary fence stuff to keep people from walking into open ditches, comes in 25 ft lengths, is about 3 ft tall) and put around the starter garden weighted down with bricks. The fencing was inconvenient to work around so I replaced it with a remay cover pinned to the ground with bricks.

WOW! That sounds like a full time hard job keeping the critters from stealing all your veggies! It makes me thankful that my teeny back yard is entirely fenced in ! And with few trees in the area,, birds & squirrels are no problem either. All I have to deal with are crawling and flying insects-which is plenty!

These look exactly like my Brussels sprouts and kale after the neighbor's chickens have been in my garden. He has ignored the fact that his birds keep getting into my yard and have so far done several hundred dollars worth of damage to peppers and tomatoes in containers and some landscape plants. I've kept my patience because the season is almost over for the peppers and tomatoes and the landscape will recover, but now his birds are starting in on my winter and spring fresh vegetable supply, transplants I raised from seed I've purchased from all over the world for growing in this very difficult climate, and I've just had enough.

I've started keeping a pellet gun by the back door. Next time the chickens are in my yard they are going to start disappearing. In our county, your livestock must remain on your own property, and the owner of the animals is responsible for any damages. I've got nothing against neighbors with livestock - even thought about getting some chickens myself, as soon as I can afford the materials for a pen. For now I'll settle for having HIS chickens gone and maybe some of my plants recovering enough for a spring crop. The alternative is a call to the county, resulting in him losing ALL his livestock and paying a fine. I think I'm being pretty fair.

-Rich

rrich been there done that. save yourself some trouble and borrow a dog for the weekend. small and/or slow one if you don,t want to hurt the chickens. they won,t be back. if you stick with the bb gun don,t get caught.

The neighbors cats are my problem. I have 2 shepherds that would chase them out but the beds are in the front so unless I am out with them,plus it is nighttime when they seem to get in them. DH is threatening to shoot them but I can't stand to hurt them and besides- if he shoots them whats to say someone won't hurt my dogs.
I bought bird netting,am building frames and will cover all my seed beds. I am hoping if it is not readily accessable they won't get in them. Will keep you all appraised. Happy New Year
P.S. glad to see I am not the only one on DG early- my dogs say 5am- lets get up!

Rich, can't you talk to the neighbor and tell him what the alternatives are? I'm sure he wouldn't want to lose all his livestock. Or is it the kind of situation where it's better to keep a low profile so you can take whatever steps are necessary quietly? I would not be nearly as tolerant for as long as you've been!

I'd borrow a dog, but I don't have any way to keep it in my own yard (I refuse to put a dog on a chain), and I don't want to be the cause of more problems if it gets loose.

-Rich

I've been here two years and he's never even said hello. I am planning to leave him a note by his mailbox explaining the situation and my alternatives (call the County - which would mean fines and dragging the government into it - or eliminate the birds) and suggest he deal with it before I'm forced to. One problem is that the damage is occurring so rapidly and is so extensive that if nothing is done in a few days there will be no garden to protect - 5 or 6 chickens (including a rooster and a Guinea hen) can do a LOT of damage very fast. And much as I'd like to, I can't spend all day playing in the garden (and I'm a lousy shot with a slingshot anyway).

-Rich

He can fence in the chickens, but guinea hens fly and it would be quite a challenge to keep them home. How awful to see your garden being destroyed like that. Our chickens are in a fenced-in area and our garden is fenced as well, but once or twice a chicken or two has gotten into the garden anyway and they can really lay waste to one quickly.

Now would be the time I would put up my own fence with a few strands of hot wire. Fences make good neighbors

Wouldn't help with the guineas, though.

I thought Guineas would go after bugs and leave plants alone. My neighbor had some who would visit as we were moving in here (before we had a garden) and they seemed to leave plants alone, but WOULD make dust bath pits in the most interesting places.

We have fenced all our garden areas to keep chickens out and the chickens don't ever seem to go over the 4' high fences, but they are buff orpingtons, a fairly big breed. We used deer and rabbit fence -- but I think the rabbits are getting through anyway. I'll search for gaps along the bottom and fill any in to see if that helps. Goodness knows the 6' perimeter fencing does not keep out raccoons and possums. Thank you everyone!

We got guineas to deal with bugs and ticks, but we often found them in the garden snacking on the bean blossoms and other plants. They probably got other things too but I don't remember anymore. We decided that they just didn't work for us.

Possums will dig under a fence and raccoons will climb over it, so yes, they're hard to deter.

We have managed to stop raccoons from getting into the garden. They were digging up the beds looking for grub worms and doing major damage. Bud put two strands of electric fence around the entire garden, then put bird netting on the outside so they had to climb to get over the fencing which caused them to get shocked. The electric fence alone didn't work.
Now we are putting up chicken fence with two strands of electric fencing above it to keep out rabbits and the neighbor's dog. (not his fault, his dog chews thru chain link fencing, escapes from all kinds of tie outs and will destroy his garage when kept in there. She comes over just to say "hi' and walks on things in the garden.)

Aside from the fact that chickens are capable of short flights (Guineas are even known to enjoy roosting in the lower branches of trees) it's just not a practical solution. There is no real "edge" to the garden - it is a work in constant progress. The border is expanding all the time. I'm using some of the methods from Lee Reich's book "Weedless Gardening" to smother lawn and weeds in preparation for planting, I am constantly bringing in wheelbarrows of compost, rolling out landscape paper, etc., and I'm using a drip system that requires access from every part of the garden. I would have to tear down and rebuild the fence every week just to keep up.

Again, the County expressly forbids allowing pets and livestock to roam on other people's private property. If I was battling racoons or deer, I would be obligated to provide a solution, which would involve spending money I really don't have on some method of exclusion. As it stands, the neighbors need to take responsibility for their animals and the destruction they are causing. If they don't, there is always the County Sheriff.

-Rich

We use electric wire on the sides of the garden that border a couple of fields, to keep deer out. DH set it up about two feet out from the livestock fence, where they would have to begin their leap over that, and it has kept them at bay for many years. Our chickens don't fly over our fences, but they will sometimes hop up on the small fruit trees in the little orchard adjacent to our garden, and from there they can find their way into the garden itself. When they start doing that we exclude them from the orchard for a while.

We have fencing around our whole garden, but three gates and brick paths provide access; we also have 18" woodchip paths between our 30" rows for wheelbarrows and such. And drip irrigation - the main conduits are permanent and we set up new T-tape for each row each summer, with the configuration dependent on what we're planting there that season.

Rich, did you leave a note for your neighbor? Any reaction?

When I said fence I ment your property line

Oh, it is on my "long list". The neighborhood continues to be developed (though of course things are pretty slow right now), and I want my own fence up before someone else starts crowding the property lines.

Right after I moved in a couple of year ago, I got estimates from a couple of local businesses who specialize in fencing rural property. My piece is only a couple of acres, but the property lines on the north and west sides run through dense stands of Live Oaks. Hiring qualified people to survey and clear the lines and dig the post holes without destroying the trees, and who would put in proper corner and middle supports so it wouldn't start sagging on the long runs, and paying for decent quality materials (large treated lumber posts, "Red Top" or similar wire fencing, two gates, corner and gate supports) started at $8,000 - $10,000. Adding an electric wire would add to the cost and would require frequent maintenance - it doesn't respond well to fallen branches and Spanish moss (been there, done that). That all adds up to some very expensive vegetables.

And it still wouldn't keep out chickens. :o(

-Rich

Why wouldn't it keep out chickens? Our four-foot fencing keeps ours out.

We had close to 8 acres in our last house-we fenced as we could afford it- but we did the work ourselves. I think it took us close to a year to finish putting up 1 or 2 330' rolls at a time. It was digging all those holes for posts that killed us.

well, not that i'm suggesting anything, but several years ago my new wannabe country girl neighbor who was terrified of bugs got some chickens for bug control. after a few weeks she was still seeing bugs so she put down dursban. needless to say the only thing she got rid of was the chickens.

LOL!

They must grow some puny chickens up there ;o). Either that or you're feeding them enough so they can't fly. I've seen the neighbors' chickens clear 4 feet - sort of a funny flap/hop motion. Their Guinea hen, as I've said before, is of a breed that roosts in trees. I used to live a few miles away from my current home, and had a neighbor a couple of blocks away who kept a small flock. They're the ugliest birds I've ever seen, and the sounds they make will hurt your ears - like screen doors with bad hinges. Walking in the evening you'd see them quite a few feet off the ground (higher than I could jump). Guess they were bred where they needed to avoid wild animals.

-Rich

we used to clip some of the flight feathers on one side to keep them from flying.

Different breeds have different flight abilities, but if we get individual birds that fly out, we do clip their wings. Often they fly more when they're young; once they put some weight on they're not as likely to be airborne - or to be as curious about what's on the other side.