Chicken-safe shrubs or flowering bushes inside run?

[HotChicken623]

Hey! Wondering if anybody has had any success planting hardy shrubs or flowering bushes INSIDE of their runs? I wanted to provide some more shade for them and make the run look a little nicer. I was thinking about planting lavender inside of the run and leaving a wire cage around it while it grows larger. I've heard of people having some success with chickens leaving it alone. Thoughts or ideas?

 

[Punkybrewster]

Doomed to fail. Nothing will grow or keep growing inside a chicken run.

 

[Folly's place]

If your run is HUGE, some plants will do okay. The herbs and lavenders may not be eaten, but they thrive in sand, not hot chicken manure!
Your approximate location will help here too.
A friend has American cranberry bushes, and a star magnolia in her run, and they are doing fine. They are next to her hydrant, so they get plenty of water, which may make a difference.
I have shrubs and trees right outside of my run for shade and cover; a river birch, viburnums, and a nine bark. A bit further, spruces.
Catmint does well next to my run, and of course noxious weeds that nobody wants to eat...
have rocks and stones around the bases of those shrubs, because the chickens will dig and scratch and destroy roots otherwise.
Mary

 

[HotChicken623]

Doomed to fail. Nothing will grow or keep growing inside a chicken run.

If your run is HUGE, some plants will do okay. The herbs and lavenders may not be eaten, but they thrive in sand, not hot chicken manure!
Your approximate location will help here too.
A friend has American cranberry bushes, and a star magnolia in her run, and they are doing fine. They are next to her hydrant, so they get plenty of water, which may make a difference.
I have shrubs and trees right outside of my run for shade and cover; a river birch, viburnums, and a nine bark. A bit further, spruces.
Catmint does well next to my run, and of course noxious weeds that nobody wants to eat...
have rocks and stones around the bases of those shrubs, because the chickens will dig and scratch and destroy roots otherwise.
Mary

I'm going to build a grazing box for herbs and see how that holds up against them. I'm thinking some 2x6's and some hardware cloth. Gonna try out a rosebush and a lavender and put some fencing around them and cross my fingers. Lol.

 

[ShadyGlade]

For the grazing boxes I would use something with larger holes than hardware cloth, maybe 1" x 2" ? Hardware cloth or possibly rabbit fencing around the plantings until they are very well established, probably at least two years unless you are transplanting in older mature specimens. I used to have an American Holly Bush in my winter run and no one messed with it. There was gravel all around it and some old wire to discourage scratching. If you use a trunk guard and make certain to keep the root zone from being scratched up a dwarf fruit tree can do nicely in your run and the fruit when it falls gives them some fun and nutritious toys.

 

[chickens really]

Outside of my Coop and Run I have lilac bushes. They grow fast. You could always put wire cages around the bushes till they mature and then once bigger and established you remove the wire cages. My Birds love the shade and cover from the lilacs.