Farming and Homesteading Heritage Poultry

[Lacy Blues]

I was able to pick up some free trees here locally. I got three young mulberries with roots and a bunch of cuttings, a couple globe willow cuttings and some Virginia Creeper vines.

Does anybody know... if I put the Virginia Creeper to climb the fence on my chicken yard, will the birds eat the leaves or let it be? I want it to provide shade in the late afternoon, not snacks. Anybody know?

 

[gjensen]

I was able to pick up some free trees here locally. I got three young mulberries with roots and a bunch of cuttings, a couple globe willow cuttings and some Virginia Creeper vines.

Does anybody know... if I put the Virginia Creeper to climb the fence on my chicken yard, will the birds eat the leaves or let it be? I want it to provide shade in the late afternoon, not snacks. Anybody know?

My birds do not touch it (it grows wild here), but there are other options.

Mulberries grown as shrubs could be useful for giving the birds leaves. My growers keep them mowed down. They are easy to propagate from cuttings.

And congratulations. Free is good. Especially plants.

 

[chiques chicks]

I was able to pick up some free trees here locally.  I got three young mulberries with roots and a bunch of cuttings, a couple globe willow cuttings and some Virginia Creeper vines.

Does anybody know... if I put the Virginia Creeper to climb the fence on my chicken yard, will the birds eat the leaves or let it be?  I want it to provide shade in the late afternoon, not snacks.  Anybody know?

Here in Pennsylvania, mulberry grows wild, can get rather tall, great shade, chickens will eat the berries that fall, I will eat as many as I can get. I have seen the trees as large as 18+ inches in diameter. Beautiful wood and good burning, as well.

Virginia creeper can be very invasive here, not sure how it will be there. I will give away any anyone wants to pull! It is overrunning everything. Same with Mike a minute weed, although the chickens do love the berries on that one.

 

[Talithahorse]

If you have a big enough pen and strong enough fence, you might consider tame blackberries. I grow mine along the fence (of course blackberries have to be ruthlessly pruned or it will take over) but it provides great shade and hiding spots from the hawks. They pick the berries on the inside and I get the ones on the outside and on top. Most years there are enough for all of us. I have heard others have put grapes in the pen with a good arbor. I hadn't thought about mulberries.

Does anyone know about whether a butterfly bush and/or a "chocolate" bush would be safe in the pen. both of those grow well around here. I also thought about fig which are supposed to be easy to grow but my two fig trees have been hit hard the first two years and so they are barely getting by and a chicken stampede will kill them for sure.

Any other ides for zone 7 would be helpful. My pen is big and open with no overhead roofing so occasional losses due to predators happens. (I do have a dog patrolling the area around but not in the pen)

 

[colburg]

I was able to pick up some free trees here locally. I got three young mulberries with roots and a bunch of cuttings, a couple globe willow cuttings and some Virginia Creeper vines.

Does anybody know... if I put the Virginia Creeper to climb the fence on my chicken yard, will the birds eat the leaves or let it be? I want it to provide shade in the late afternoon, not snacks. Anybody know?

The mulberries will provide great shade. We have 5 in our yard and they provide 100% shade under their canopy. I probably cut 4-5 tons of limbs off of them this winter because they were too thick and they're still 100% shade under them.

Ours are about 35 years old with 30-40" diameter trunks.

 

[Fentress]

I just planted a couple of elderberries on the edge of the compost pile, which is a regularly scheduled location for the flock. I hope they do well. One person said they like edge habitat, but its a berry, so I would think that too much shade could be a problem. This location is wide open in full sun. I am planting woody shrubs throughout the pasture to provide cover and interest for the chickens. They like to get out of the mid day sun. But I am cheap and prefer small plants, that I can pick up from the master gardeners or others. I want to check into portable, folding barriers that I can put around young plants to protect from the flock, until they get big enough to withstand the scratching onslaught. Does any one have any ideas?

 

[gjensen]

I just planted a couple of elderberries on the edge of the compost pile, which is a regularly scheduled location for the flock. I hope they do well. One person said they like edge habitat, but its a berry, so I would think that too much shade could be a problem. This location is wide open in full sun. I am planting woody shrubs throughout the pasture to provide cover and interest for the chickens. They like to get out of the mid day sun. But I am cheap and prefer small plants, that I can pick up from the master gardeners or others. I want to check into portable, folding barriers that I can put around young plants to protect from the flock, until they get big enough to withstand the scratching onslaught. Does any one have any ideas?

I protect the roots of young plantings, and others with sticks etc. as part of the mulch. They can quickly destroy plants with shallow roots.

I protect tender new growth with a ring of welded wire fence.

 

[chiques chicks]

I just planted a couple of elderberries on the edge of the compost pile, which is a regularly scheduled location for the flock. I hope they do well. One person said they like edge habitat, but its a berry, so I would think that too much shade could be a problem. This location is wide open in full sun. I am planting woody shrubs throughout the pasture to provide cover and interest for the chickens. They like to get out of the mid day sun. But I am cheap and prefer small plants, that I can pick up from the master gardeners or others. I want to check into portable, folding barriers that I can put around young plants to protect from the flock, until they get big enough to withstand the scratching onslaught. Does any one have any ideas?

Maybe we need a plant sharing thread. Many things like mulberry, silver maple, various berries, etc grow wild here and multiply easily. I regularly more some down just to keep some open space.

Many things can be grown from cutting, as well.

 

[Fentress]

great ideas, thanks

 

[chiques chicks]

I have elderberries in both full sun and on an edge in partial shade. Full sun grow better if they have enough moisture without being too wet. They are part of a riparian buffer, but haven't been hit with a full force flood yet.