chicken resistant plants

[Lisa in Ballard]

Help!

I love my girls and I want them to be happy, so I let them run around my yard. Consequently, my yard looks like the moon, all barren with craters!

What plants have your chickens ignored? How do you mange to keep your yard attractive while letting the girls roam around?

I appreciate any input.

Lisa in Ballard

 

[debilorrah]

Plants that chickens ignore?

There is no such thing. they eat everything, Worse than a puppy.

 

[newchickenfamily]

Here are the plants I have that the girls have not harmed:

Armeria (they "trim" them, but don't wreck them)
Hydrangea
Rose bush
Honeysuckle vine
Grape vine
Citrus trees
Strawberry plants (they fully harvested the berries, but not the leaves!!)

There are probably some others that I'm not remembering! FYI, I'm in the SF Bay Area, not sure what zone I'm in.

 

[digitS']

Mints. I have quite a few varieties, some right outside the coop. They ignore all of them and these plants are so well-rooted that the chickens aren't likely to scratch them up and they can take some of that kind of abuse. Okay, that means mints can be invasive.

There are ornamental mint species - agastache, monarda, catmint.

Steve

 

[patandchickens]

Have you considered a run, and only letting the chickens out for as much time as your yard can take gracefully? Even with plants chickens don't eat, there's still the scratching and digging going on.

Good luck,

Pat

 

[scooter147]

Good luck with that.

My yard had plenty of mature trees and bushes when I bought the place.
They do basically igore the peppermint but I had to fence it off to keep them from scratching in it, they don't seem to like the leaves.
I have hedge row of honeysuckle that they can't seem to destroy by scratching under it and they spend a lot of time under this hedgerow scratching and dust bathing too. However, I have been told by neighbors the hedgerow is a least 20 years old, so it is well established.
I have monkey grass (not sure what its real name it) along the back of the house and they do not bother it, I think it is too thick and I think they might be afraid there are predators in it. They also leave all the pompass and zebra grass alone as well.
As you plant new trees, shrubs or grasses you will definately have to fence it off until the plants become well established, chickens love nothing more than freshly turned soil. As a matter of fact when I till the garden it is a parade of chickens behind me eating all the bugs I just tilled up.