Fruit tree question

[Edwards24]

I am debating on planting a couple fruit trees of some sort so that my chickens will have some fresh treats at their disposal. Just wondering if any one has ever done this and what trees produce the most fruit that the chickens will actually eat. Also doing it to give them a little bit of shade in the hot summer days.

 

[HouseCat]

I would think peaches would be the easiest fruit for them to get into. But unless you are ready to spend $$$, it would be quite a few years before a sapling yielded any fruit. In the mean time, raspberry/blackberry bushes produce in there 2nd year and my birds go crazy for them. They also love the leaves and since most berry bushes grow like weeds anyways, chickens are a great way to keep them in check. Plus the bushes give them some overhead cover and a shady place to dust bath. You can usually find my flock in the berry patch on any hot day. Hope this helps.
hc

 

[chfite]

You might consider Elderberry, if it grows in your area.

Chris

 

[SunnyAlberta]

My girls love dogwood berries. This is a hardy bush; I'm zone 3b.

 

[janinepeters]

My girls love dogwood berries. This is a hardy bush; I'm zone 3b.

Just curious, what species of dogwood?

We have blueberry bushes, apple trees and a pear tree in our chicken yard. Our chx go nuts for the berries, and they peck open the fallen apples and pears and eat the flesh. We once had nectarine trees in there, but I was not able to get the trees to produce decent fruit without spraying, so we dug those out and replaced them with hazelnut bushes. This is the first year they have produced a lot of nuts, and theyare not quite ripe yet, so I don't yet know if these will be useful to chickens for anything but shade.

I second the elderberry idea. I don't have those in my yard, but I sometimes bring home bundles of berry laden branches and throw them in the chicken yard to watch the feeding frenzy.

 

[SunnyAlberta]

Just curious, what species of dogwood?

We have a red-stemmed variety. The colour in the winter is spectacular.