By Lesa Wilke
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C hickens can be surprisingly helpful when it’s time to prepare your garden for winter. Chickens are not generally a good addition to a growing garden because they eat just about anything green, but they can be valuable assets in fall. It’s healthy for them, too. They get to clean up the spent vegetable plants and eat bad bugs and grubs, as well as exercise and get mental stimulation from spreading compost, aerating the soil and spreading mulch to protect the ground overwinter.