Good plants/flowers for chicken run.

[linguini]

I would worry more about plants being torn up from the chickens scratching.

Must share my experience :

I cultivated two zones inside the fenced-in, aviary-net-covered chicken run area with wild flowers to add to a fun scenery for our chickens in spring. I closed these two zones with chicken wire after we sprinkled the wildflower seeds.

By mid summer, the flowers were blooming and quite beautiful, bees love them! So, I thought, time to give chickens access. I opened up the smaller zone, and they were just curiously checking out on the first day. So, I left it open. The next morning, they completely flattened the ENTIRE zone in two hours !! Nothing left standing.

Needless to say, I never opened up the other zone. Naughty chickens!

 

[Sammster]

I love growing nasturtium. They are beautiful, and safe for chickens. I plant mixed colors.

I know this is an older post, but thought I'd add this:

https://104homestead.com/chicken-safe-plants/

 

[Chicken love to infinity]

I love growing nasturtium. They are beautiful, and safe for chickens. I plant mixed colors.

I know this is an older post, but thought I'd add this:

https://104homestead.com/chicken-safe-plants/

Thanks! I'm still looking for more plants, so any advice is helpful!

 

[MamaMona]

Following for answers. I use tarps and old patio furniture to clutter/shade the run, but I'd love to grow something they would enjoy as well! I'm leaning towards Privet, Hawthorne, and Forsythia, mainly because I already have these on my property and it seems that chickens just adore bushes in general. At the same time, I don't want to specifically put things in the run that could be toxic so I need to do my homework first...

I planted forsythia starts in a circle and as they grew they formed a thicket that was a huge hit with my girls. It's supple enough that the hawks can't land on it, and it provides shade in the summer time.

 

[CaliforniaMountainChicks]

Plants that I have in my run that are thriving are compact Texas sage, hummingbird sage (pretty much any plant in the sage family does great), wild sagebrush, apple tree, nectarine tree, English lavender, bush rosemary, butterfly bush, California mountain lilac, marigolds before the frost came, berry bushes (protected until they’re over 2ft tall)… I’m planning to add much more plants this spring. Research some native plants that you have around you, I find that the natives do especially well in a chicken yard. Climbing roses are something else I want to add.

 

[FlockVillemaire]

So it's ok if I plant lantanas in their run? Mine have been free-ranging for months around lantanas and have not gotten sick, but now doing research they are apparently toxic

Why even plant/waste space & energy planting something you already know is toxic???? There are so very many non-toxic and often beautiful alternatives, or just give them more clover, dandelions and plantains, along with lots of prettier flower options! (Mine insanely adore the tall wild lettuce that though uglyish, I can't grow nearly enough of.) Safe medicinals include chamomile, lemon balm, mint, echinacea, mullein, lemon grass, hops and others. Pennyroyal is TOXIC!

Privets & lupine are also reported as chicken toxic. And weedy privets are extremely hard/time-consuming to remove without toxic chemicals, so I've just cut them down and am constantly removing all their green parts that keep sprouting. Weeding out the toxics (horsetail, ivy & mallow) to make space for the healthy & delicious & SHADY is a big job.

I've added some safe shrubs & trees for shade, too in my NorCal Zone 9B summer drought & mild wet? winter mini chicken pasture. Willows, palm, hardy bananas, mulberry, pomegranate and moringas (attempting/will! protect with wire and straw before frost) transplanted grapes, pampas grass, rosemary, daylilies, lemon balm, lavender, salvias, blanket flowers & just put in a pole vine tunnel structure I just finally set up for A SHADY HIDEOUT with luffas, cukes/zukes/mini squashes/watermelons, butterfly pea for beautiful blue tea blooms, & chayote squash which are perennials (and keto friendly too!) I hope to add a couple of kewi next year. Along with bunches of standard kitchen herbs & fennels slightly removed, I'm also planting corn, sunflowers, wild strawberries, goji berries, hibiscus and ashwaganda, which although it is in the Solanaceae family, is completely non-toxic for chickens. I can't easily do blueberries without regularly amending our alkaline soil, but those are an extreme favorite, also. If I get everything in before summer's over, there won't be much space to even walk!

Now, if I could only stop the thorny blackberries being seeded everywhere from the wild birds! I planted 3 thornless varieties, but the wild are certainly more prolific fruiters all summer. It seems a high risk for bumblefoot, though I have not yet had that happen with my 8 lovely mixed heritage & hybrid 1 year old gals. (Knock on wood!) Berries in small amounts are the best fruits for ketogenesis, so I am still needing a raspberry (if only they were free like the wild blackberries?) I will have to tend them much better since they also are thorny.