Good bushes to plant for chickens

[Wifezilla]

I have grape vines planted outside of my duck run. The vines grow up the sides and over the top. And leaves that poke through to their side of the fence are fair game. Same with any fruit that falls inside. The rest are mine. Gives them snacks and shade in the summer.

I also have a Japanese spirea plant INSIDE the run. The ducks sleep under it, but don't eat it. Not sure what a chicken would do to it though.

 

[Sbhayes]

“Texas Lilac” is actually the Vitex for those who might be looking. It is beautiful and overcoming in growth.

 

[K0k0shka]

There's a lot on the internet about "nightshade" and "poison" and it can be confusing. The tomato is a member of the nightshade family, a family of plants notorious for being poisonous. That's because they contain solanine. But it's important to note that a lot of those are plants we eat today - tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, eggplants, etc. without any problems. They used to be deadly poisonous, but after centuries upon centuries of cultivation, the poison has pretty much been bred out of them to the point where we can eat them today. Even green tomatoes, which still contain more solanine than ripe red ones, are fine for humans. There's very little concern left for us nowadays - like, don't eat a green potato raw. In the process of cultivating the poison out of them for ourselves, we've done domestic animals a favor, too, by making these plants available to them as well (the ripe fruits and tubers). And they have benefitted from it, enjoying our table scraps and garden leftovers. As long as you don't feed them green, unripened fruit from the nightshade plants, I think they're going to be fine.

 

[stcroixusvi]

Mine don't touch the rhododendrons. Not sure why they don't eat them, but they do use the bushes for shade and hiding.

 

[lilchick]

I planted the evergreen shrubs, lilac and willow trees. In my call duck pen which has netting over the top I planted dwarf fruit trees.

I think planting outside of fence with shrubs and vines would work also. The pampas grasses and trumpet vines would look good also.

Chickens will tend to eat/destroy what they can reach but eventually stuff grows too high for them to reach!

 

[nightshade]

Quote:
I love your frames! That is what we are trying to do with or run. Did you have to staple you wire to the tree around the trunk?

okay back to planting in a run
I have a grass box made of landscape timbers and hardware cloth. the grass grows up through the wire and they can eat it but they can't scratch in it and kill it, works great. Just don't put it under the roosts and remember to water I already had to replant once because I forgot to water it

I planted all my flowers and shrubs outside the run looks nice and they can't dig it up. Which I have found seems to be worse then them eating it

 

[ll]

excellent! Looks like they like it

I got your message, the floor in my run is dirt at the moment with bamboo leaves on the top of the dirt.
I have a squared off area with wire over it, growing seed for them to eat.
I have a smaller squared off area with sand in it as a dustbath.

Good luck with yours!

 

[K0k0shka]

Tomatoes aren't a good idea. It's a member of The nightshade family and those are poisonous to chickens. If they eat many tomatoes they will stop laying or have reduced laying.

The fruit of the tomato plant are not toxic to chickens. Only the leaves.

 

[AstraChick]

we have quiet a few of these bushes our our property and the chooks love to scratch and dustbath under them, even the chicks love them.
Agonis flexuosa 'Nana' Dwarf Willow Myrtle. Its an Australian Beauty, not to sure where your from or if this is available where you are.

I have planted one in our chook run. Our chook run is also our fruit tree enclosure and half of the fruit trees loose their leaves through winter so this gives them something to play in when they aren't free ranging.

edit: anything you plant in there, place one of those plastic covers around it so the chooks don't dig it up and it will give the roots a chance to establish.

 

[Mossy Dell]

Here is the Texas lilac bush.
I started with this size from seeds i planted 2 years ago.

here they are now.

this is what it looks like under them.

here's the pretty smelling blooms that make tons of seed that the birds just love and they are easy to grow from seeds also.

I have had chickens roost in them ,dust bathe around them ,they have been flooded with water from the chicken water, the 100 plus degree temps here does not kill them, and they grow alone or close to other lilac bushes and they still grow with no problems at all.

I planed this one last year, i though sure the young chickens all but killed it trying to roost in it but this spring it put out new growth and is doing great.

I love that bush! Seems to be a type of vitex bred in Texas. Looks hardy and beautiful.