Best Mid-Atlantic Chicken Run Plants

[Sneakyturtle]

How tall is your run? If it doesnt have anything on top of it, then fast growing fruit trees like mulberry trees would be good. If it’s got a top, you can still plant small trees like patio peach. Just make sure you put a welded wire fence around it until it’s established. My chickens free range on 10 acres, but they still demolish pretty much everything they have access to but the trees.

 

[JedJackson]

What about planting in pots, and rotating them out? Wheatgrass is a good thing to grow that way and they love it. Mint might work planted in the ground, but fence it off until it is in full growth to give it a good head start. Here at least, mint spreads like wildfire. I should be careful of large grasses like Miscanthus. They have silica at the edges of their leaves and can easily take out eyes.

 

[TammyRoesch]

I’m not from the mid Atlantic but I have tons of plants in my chicken run that flourish. My run is 25’x58’ with 12 chickens as of now (20 come early summer). The key with plants in the chicken run is to choose hardy plants that get large. I protect the roots of each plant with large rocks that the chickens can’t kick away. Any new plants I add are protected with a wire cage for a few months until it has a noticeable amount of growth and is about 2’ taller than the chickens are. You also want to pack in as many plants as you can fit. 2 lone plants won’t stand a chance against chickens but if you have 20+ then they’ll do a lot better. I stick with hardy shrubs and fruit trees. I grow berries and grapes along on the outside of my run, it’s used as a trellis.
Some plants that have done really well in my run are; Native plants, plants in the sage family (I have hummingbird sage, compact Texas sage, Mexican bush sage, and big sagebrush), bushing rosemary, English lavender, fruit trees, butterfly bush, and surprisingly marigolds (I had about 20 in the run that just died at the first frost). I have multiples of a lot of these plants. I’m planning to add a lot more plants this spring. I’m going to try some more natives, fruit trees, and climbing roses. My entire run is also a deep litter compost system so that keeps the chickens very entertained and they really don’t mess with the plants much at all.

Thank you for your post....I was just trying to find some advice on this as I, too, have a very large run for them...and want to make it productive and beautiful

 

[TammyRoesch]

I’m not from the mid Atlantic but I have tons of plants in my chicken run that flourish. My run is 25’x58’ with 12 chickens as of now (20 come early summer). The key with plants in the chicken run is to choose hardy plants that get large. I protect the roots of each plant with large rocks that the chickens can’t kick away. Any new plants I add are protected with a wire cage for a few months until it has a noticeable amount of growth and is about 2’ taller than the chickens are. You also want to pack in as many plants as you can fit. 2 lone plants won’t stand a chance against chickens but if you have 20+ then they’ll do a lot better. I stick with hardy shrubs and fruit trees. I grow berries and grapes along on the outside of my run, it’s used as a trellis.
Some plants that have done really well in my run are; Native plants, plants in the sage family (I have hummingbird sage, compact Texas sage, Mexican bush sage, and big sagebrush), bushing rosemary, English lavender, fruit trees, butterfly bush, and surprisingly marigolds (I had about 20 in the run that just died at the first frost). I have multiples of a lot of these plants. I’m planning to add a lot more plants this spring. I’m going to try some more natives, fruit trees, and climbing roses. My entire run is also a deep litter compost system so that keeps the chickens very entertained and they really don’t mess with the plants much at all.

Would you be able to post a picture or two of your run with the plants? I'd love to see it!