Chicken Safety and Garden Herbs

[Duchess of Quah]

We have thirteen sweet chicks who are a week old, and they are doing very well -- our children love them, and we really enjoy taking care of them. We have *finally* settled on some coop plans, so we will be building it next week. We love to garden, and grow many different herbs in different places around our yard. I would like to grow beneficial plants around the coop run to give our flock a sense of security, as well as other benefits.

I have seen articles detailing safe plants for chickens, but I would prefer to run these plants by you all first, rather than trusting random articles. We live in an area that is blessed with both drought seasons and monsoon-type seasons. Strong winds are common, too, so we are somewhat limited in what will work well. HOWEVER, these plants have performed well in other parts of the yard. Will these be safe for our chickens?

Lemongrass
Marigolds
Sage
Rosemary
Basil
Oregano
Fennel
Spiderwort
Redbud trees

Here is one of our chicks. She is not a Plymouth Barred Rock, though her mama's one. Mama got loose and went on a date, and the father is unknown. The breeders are our friends, and we all got a good chuckle out of her. We'll see what she looks like as she grows!

 

[SurferchickinSB]

We have thirteen sweet chicks who are a week old, and they are doing very well -- our children love them, and we really enjoy taking care of them. We have *finally* settled on some coop plans, so we will be building it next week. We love to garden, and grow many different herbs in different places around our yard. I would like to grow beneficial plants around the coop run to give our flock a sense of security, as well as other benefits.

I have seen articles detailing safe plants for chickens, but I would prefer to run these plants by you all first, rather than trusting random articles. We live in an area that is blessed with both drought seasons and monsoon-type seasons. Strong winds are common, too, so we are somewhat limited in what will work well. HOWEVER, these plants have performed well in other parts of the yard. Will these be safe for our chickens?

Lemongrass
Marigolds
Sage
Rosemary
Basil
Oregano
Fennel
Spiderwort
Redbud trees

Here is one of our chicks. She is not a Plymouth Barred Rock, though her mama's one. Mama got loose and went on a date, and the father is unknown. The breeders are our friends, and we all got a good chuckle out of her. We'll see what she looks like as she grows!

What a cutie!

 

[Willowspirit]

Those plants are all probably fine except I’m not sure about spiderwort as I don’t actually know what it is for sure.

 

[HopeSprings]

Those plants are all probably fine except I’m not sure about spiderwort as I don’t actually know what it is for sure.

spiderwort is Tradescantia, a native plant related to the the popular hanging basket plant, Wandering Jew.

 

[Duchess of Quah]

Those plants are all probably fine except I’m not sure about spiderwort as I don’t actually know what it is for sure.

Thanks for the reply on the other herbs! As for spiderwort, it's safe for human consumption, and is also very easy to divide and transplant. Here are two images of it:

 

[Folly's place]

All those plants are fine, although if your birds 'love' particular ones, the plants could be wiped out.
Enjoy!
Mary

 

[Steven Bussell]

You also add dill to your herb list..This one of our planters boxes I made and put under a window .
Right now wife is using it for herself.
We will feed it to them as a treat.

 

[Thyme4Chickens]

Not sure if these grow in your area, but my chickens go ga-ga for nasturtium and borage flowers!

(Plant them in a chicken-proof area so that they can grow up enough to produce flowers!!! )

 

[Duchess of Quah]

Not sure if these grow in your area, but my chickens go ga-ga for nasturtium and borage flowers!

(Plant them in a chicken-proof area so that they can grow up enough to produce flowers!!! )

Yes, nasturtiums and borage also grow well here. I'll have to include those as well. Do you happen to know if hops are a good idea? That's another with conflicting advice. My husband thought it would help provide shade, since our summers get really hot.

 

[Thyme4Chickens]

I don't know about hops. I'm trying to grow some golden hops this year to dry for "dream pillows", but the chickens don't have access to it.

I'll wait for others to chime in, but I have read that if your chickens have access to a wide variety of things, they typically avoid anything harmful to them...

I personally have picky chickens. They dislike the vast majority of culinary herbs, making my user name a bit ironic!!!! (Though by town ordinance we can't free-range, so all herbs have been offered to them by hand. If they were allowed to free-range they would likely eat my whole garden, right? )