gutter berries! yummy!

[mylilhen777]

if you made a chicken coop for your chickens here's a finishing touch. if you put gutters on your coop, put dirt in the gutters, plant strawberries in them, and when it rains they will grow.(you can water them too) when they're ripe you treat them too your chickens! or share them! sounds fun! earlier in my postings I posted pics of the coop im building. its not qute done. we are gonna do gutter berries! yay!





-mylilhen777

 

[lightchick]

That's a cool idea.

 

[mylilhen777]

thanks

 

[madibhai]

when the gutters fill with dirt isn't the rain going to soak behind the gutter and rot the wood?

also the dirt in the gutter will cause the gutters to bend.

strawberries being perennials may freeze in the winter and not grow back.

if you plant them around the sides of the coop they will take over that area and you can let the chickens go nuts and eat the strawberries when you let them out.

 

[mylilhen777]

well you take it out in the winter. I put a water proof paint on the wood

I hope you enjoy the idea....... sorry

 

[ChickenPapaCT]

I like the idea, mylikhen777!

Just a couple of comments:

* You can sometimes get slightly damaged gutters really cheap. I bought plastic gutters at a home-store that were damaged at one end so they were 70% off, so I really don't mind what happens to them. I cut them down from 10 feet to 8 feet (removing the damage) and they are perfectly sized (for me at least)!

* Gutters with dirt in them need a few extra supports so they don't bend / break. I bought 5 supports for each side, which will be 1 every 2 feet (start, end, middle, and one in between on each side).
Like so: |==|==|==|==| where "|" is a support and = is one foot of gutter,

* The gutters I bought didn't fit well on my coop, so I am going to hang them on the sunny side of the run where they should work just fine for berries!

Next year I will plant gutter berries!

 

[mylilhen777]

im glad u like it! I know I will put supports on though.

#lovechickens

 

[Original Recipe]

I'm growing strawberries in rain gutters too. Mine aren't on the coop though, they are elevated above one of my raised garden beds. My girls will practically take your hand off for a ripe strawberry.

 

[21hens-incharge]

Could put petunias or other edible plants that root shallowly in there too. Oh the ideas you have created for me.
We put the vinyl gutters sold at Home Depot on our house and they are not working well for us. I am going to be taking them down and putting up single piece ones. Now I know what to do with the ones we take down!

I think I will plant them and then they can have treats easily at hand.