Best plants/trees/bushes for runs...

[Badchickenpun]

Okay, I am putting together a list for next spring of bushes for my chicken run.
What are you favorite bushes to have in runs? Or even plants in general that are robust enough to add shade and come back each spring...
I'm in Central Indiana, so obvious tropical plants are really gonna work...

 

[cherrynberry]

Okay, I am putting together a list for next spring of bushes for my chicken run.
What are you favorite bushes to have in runs? Or even plants in general that are robust enough to add shade and come back each spring...
I'm in Central Indiana, so obvious tropical plants are really gonna work...

@Granny Hatchet is in Indiana too. She doesn't own any birds now, but used to. Perhaps she could recommend a few things.

 

[Granny Hatchet]

Thanks for the tag Cherry but anything I put in the run was always eaten by the chickens. I started trimming trees and bushes and would give them a limb to keep them entertained for a short while.

 

[RubelliteRose]

How big is your run, including height?
To keep your plants from being eaten and dug up, you will need to protect them with fencing for a while.

 

[Badchickenpun]

How big is your run, including height?
To keep your plants from being eaten and dug up, you will need to protect them with fencing for a while.

So I am planning to make two secondary day time runs, each about 12 x 18 x 6 tall... I will only allow the chicken access after the plants have grown to a stage that can handle the birds...

 

[RubelliteRose]

most of the shrubs that my flock like and that can survive their digging are over 8' tall or don't survive that far north.
Have you considered vines too? Some you would have to re-plant every year, but they grow quickly and wouldn't shade the run during the winter. We don't have them growing on the run, but have a pole bean/cucumber tunnel that my flock absolutely loves. The base is protected with wire to keep them from destroying the vines.
This website has a good list of chicken safe and not safe plants that may work for you. https://www.fresheggsdaily.blog/2016/10/chicken-safe-backyard-landscaping-safe.html

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

I planted honeysuckle outside my run this year and its doing great. I have it blocked so the chickens can't get at it and one plant is already to the top of the 6' run. I have a list of chicken safe plants I will post later. If I forget just remind me but it is from a chicken-keeping book and I cross-referenced it for safety with a local nursery.

 

[Tonyroo]

Wisteria might be an option, though it's a weed here in northern California. It's very fast growing and can handle sun or shade also seems to thrive in poor soil. My chickens don't like the plant.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

Chicken-resistant shrubs: Andromeda, azalea, barberry, California lilac, cotton lavender, euonymous, evergreen ferns, fatsia, forsythia, heavenly bamboo, hebes, honeysuckle, lavendar, lilac, mahonia, Mexican orange, osmanthus, pine, pittosporum, rosemary, sage, salal, spirea, spurge, viburnum, weigela

Perennials: bee balm, bergamot, black-eyed Susan, Bluebeard, calla lily, cape fuschia, catmint, cat nip, chives, columbine, coneflower, crocosmia, daylily, goldenrod, grape hyacinth, hardy fuschias, hardy geranium, iris, Japanese anemone, lady's mantle, lemon balm, lily of the Nile, mission bells, peony, peppermint, Russian sage, aedum, Shasta daisy, spearmint, yarrow

Durable fragrant shrubs: honeysuckle, lavender, lilac, roses, sweet box, viburnum, witch hazel

 

[Tonyroo]

Lily of the Nile aka Agapanthus is not full proof for chicken. My chickens destroyed all that I had in the yard. They even dug up the tubers which killed the plant.