Like the others have said, anything new to plant will be dug up, even if it's not eaten. They will just scratch them to bits before they get a chance to grow whether they want to eat the plant or not. "Established" means that the plant has been there so long that it's root system is deep enough that it doesn't bother it if the chickens dig at the base a little. However, most chickens will destroy even established plants in an average sized run, unless it's a tree.Correct something for shade at a little bit of appeal to the run once they get all the grass removed from it.. We plan on doing the planter boxes, a few of them with different types of grasses and some that will even grow in the cold months. During gardening time we plan on having a box that has veggies planted in it that will grow up through the HW spaces.
I was told butterfly bushes are safe and they won't eat them, but not sure how true that is. I was also told the same thing about honey suckle as long as is established it is safe (whatever established means lol)... also about rose bushes and rose sharon (spell?) once they are to a certain height they would only eat the bottom foot or too of leaves. Our soil butterfly bushes and I know for a fact rose sharon do good in it.
we plan on doing a rock like (about the size of your hand) base around any bushes, or anything like that so they can't get to the root base as easily.
As I stated in my last post, it's worth a try to put plants around the run instead of in it. Vines, bushes, tall grasses and flowers would probably provide the shade and beauty you're looking for. Something like this, this (other side) or this.
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