Planting A Chicken Garden

I'm about to build my new chicken run. It's going to be 30'x30' and I was thinking of planting some "chicken safe" plants or maybe some veggies around the outside of the fence.

1. To help cover up the fact that it's a big, handmade wooden fence structure
2. So the Chickens have something to eat that's not watermelon and crumble.

Any suggestions of things that are pretty as well as safe for chickens?

WRVgirl said:

I'm about to build my new chicken run. It's going to be 30'x30' and I was thinking of planting some "chicken safe" plants or maybe some veggies around the outside of the fence.

1. To help cover up the fact that it's a big, handmade wooden fence structure
2. So the Chickens have something to eat that's not watermelon and crumble.

Any suggestions of things that are pretty as well as safe for chickens?

Click to expand...

I'm so glad you asked this, I was actually about to do the same! I've been doing a little research on my own and so far my list contains: Sunflowers, Marigolds, Alfalfa, Clover and a plant called Lucerne. The sunflower seeds are great for protein, the marigolds are apparently incredibly tasty by chicken standards and help give the produced egg yolks a deep gold color, Lucerne has a lot of vitamins and the others I'm sure you know about already =)

To add my own question, if you don't mind my doing so, are the following berries safe for chickens to eat?
American Elder, Beautyberry, Winterberry, Wahoo, Staghorn Sumac, Chokeberry and American Cranberry Viburnum
(These are all trees/shrubbery that grow in my area and produce fruit through the winter and early spring)

I planted giant sunflowers this year for my chickies. I wanted to save the seedheads and hang them in the coop in the winter- it gives them a fun snack to jump for. It is pretty successful so far, im glad I did it! I would definetly reccomend russian mammoth sunflowers for chicken treats. It gives them great nutrition in the winter too- sunflower seeds have lots of protien.

BunnyBee said:

To add my own question, if you don't mind my doing so, are the following berries safe for chickens to eat?
American Elder, Beautyberry, Winterberry, Wahoo, Staghorn Sumac, Chokeberry and American Cranberry Viburnum
(These are all trees/shrubbery that grow in my area and produce fruit through the winter and early spring)

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Common elderberry - yes, mine love them

American cranberry viburnum (I assume you mean Viburnum trilobum) - My chickens ignore them, and wild birds eat them only after all the other berries are gone

Chokeberry, winterberry and staghorn sumac - I don't have these in my yard, so my chx have no access to them, but I know that wild birds eat them, so chickens might like them, too.

Wahoo - this doesn't grow wild in my area, but its berry is said to be preferred by wild birds, so chickens probably like them, too.

Chickens also love blueberries.

janinepeters said:

Common elderberry - yes, mine love them

American cranberry viburnum (I assume you mean Viburnum trilobum) - My chickens ignore them, and wild birds eat them only after all the other berries are gone

Chokeberry, winterberry and staghorn sumac - I don't have these in my yard, so my chx have no access to them, but I know that wild birds eat them, so chickens might like them, too.

Wahoo - this doesn't grow wild in my area, but its berry is said to be preferred by wild birds, so chickens probably like them, too.

Chickens also love blueberries.

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Thanks so much for your answer!

I found this pdf file about planting for wild turkeys based on your region (it even tells you which of the recommended plants are native to the area) and I thought it might be helpful. http://www.nwtf.org/conservation/bulletins/bulletin_12.pdf

To the OP--
Are you planting this outside the run (you said outside the fence)? Do you mean that the chickens would not have constant access to the plants and you would harvest and feed them?

devora said:

To the OP--
Are you planting this outside the run (you said outside the fence)? Do you mean that the chickens would not have constant access to the plants and you would harvest and feed them?

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Yes, I'll be planting outside the run in an attempt to remove some of the ugly of a plain [most likely very unprofessionally built] fence

I'm just looking for some pretty plants that won't hurt the chickens if they reach through the fencing and chew them up...if I can plant something that they would like to eat, that's even better....

i planted grape vines.and ordered some hops,they also provide shade.

Oh, grape vines, that's a lovely idea! Chickens love grapes. If they can get to the vines they'll eat the leaves and the fruit.

Almost anything you plant should be fine. Birds suicide by plant is pretty rare.

devora said:

Oh, grape vines, that's a lovely idea! Chickens love grapes. If they can get to the vines they'll eat the leaves and the fruit.

Almost anything you plant should be fine. Birds suicide by plant is pretty rare.

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That's what I figured but it would be my luck to have a kamikaze chicken! lol