Another coop needed w/plants

[florida lee]

Ok, I need another coop like I need more chickens. I've already got two tractors and an isolation/brooder coop. I plan on using my garden as the run. its 12' x 45'. The last two years it hasn't been a very good producer. So I think that a few chickens will help it along. Its already fenced to keep out rabbits, it will not keep out predators...but I do not plan on the chickens staying out of the coop at night (same as now in the tractor). I need to have a cover over it, as we have plenty of hawks here in North Central Florida. However I want the cover to be high enough to walk under. The coop will be a Florida style, mostly open as the temps here have already been in the mid 90's. But secure with hardware cloth and will be movable like a tractor with skids instead of wheels...I have no plans to move it but don't want to have to get a permit for it ,as I would for a permanate building. The garden is on the border with the neighbors yard ,along the fence line (my fence a foot and a half on my property). I have no problems with these neighbors, however they have their place up for sale and who knows what the new owners will be like. Oh yea, we and neighbors have 5 acre lots.
I want to plant something along the fence to isolate the run and coop from neighbors view.
So my QUESTION is, what kind of plants should I use,,,vines? bushes?
What plants are okay to use with chickens, knowing they will eat most anything. Plants with a nice odor would be good.

 

[aggie9296]

Vines would grown on the fence or on an arbor. Something like Jasmine would smell great and make a nice screen.

I keep trying to grow Hibiscus along my fence for a little privacy in the back yard, but they froze over winter. Oleander is supposed to grow well here and makes a nice tall bush as a screen.

 

[RedfogsFlock]

cats claw? ours here made it through the frost and still come back in about a week! very hardy

 

[AngelzFyre]

Quote:
Oleander, though beautiful is VERY toxic and even a small amount, such as ONE leaf, can kill people or animals!

http://library.thinkquest.org/C007974/1_1ole.htm

 

[RedfogsFlock]

Quote:
Oleander, though beautiful is VERY toxic and even a small amount, such as ONE leaf, can kill people or animals!

http://library.thinkquest.org/C007974/1_1ole.htm

WoW! I didn't know that! We have them lining the front of our property, but none of our animals EVER touch the stuff.

 

[aggie9296]

Holy crapola! I see oleander all over. Apartments, playgrounds, pool areas. It never crossed my mind that they were poisonous. Dang. I'll stick with the Hibiscus. They are edible.

 

[GardenGal]

There are some beautiful varieties of bamboo as well, and you can practically watch it grow. If you decide you don't want it after a while you could harvest the bamboo for its canes.

 

[AngelzFyre]

Oleander is just gorgeous, I know! The reason I know it's poisonous is that I've known horses that have gotten into it and died and I remembered that and looked it up to double check.

It can be grown almost anywhere but you just have to be careful, as with all poisonous plants.

I've also heard sadly that people have gotten critically ill and died because the sticks from the plant are so straight and people cut them and used them as skewers for kabobs on the bbq...
They just look like such a beautiful flowering plant that you wouldn't think they are so deadly.

Hibiscus are great, the non tropical ones..also called mallow plants come back every year here. I've got them around my smaller pond and they even help shade part of it in the summertime when they are fully leafed out and in bloom.

 

[Barrdwing]

Morning-glory grows really fast and makes a very pretty cover for fences and coops. But you have to be careful: DON'T use any of the varieties with blue flowers, because the seeds are hazardous. You're probably fine with the red varieties; we used "Scarlett O'Hara" and "Crimson Rambler" on our first coop, and they worked very well. We did have some trouble with the chickens wanting to eat the vines, though! So if you use morning-glory, plant it where the birds can't get at the stems and roots. Sadly, it does die off in the winter around here; I don't know if it would last year-round in FL or not.