Herbs in chicken run

[Chestnut Buttercup]

i want to plant some herbs for my hens around the chicken run and I never planted anything before so does anyone have any herb suggestions that are good for chickens and how do I plant them? Should I start with the seeds and plant them indoors or just plant it directly outside?

 

[nuthatched]

They'll eat and scratch anything planted down to nothing, it will be an uphill battle with no benefit.

 

[dearmeghann]

I'm not sure if I just have diva girls, but they absolutely love pineapple sage and lemon balm, but won't eat it off the plant. They need me to hold it so they can rip off small bits. Or I have to rip it up and throw it on the ground. They love thyme and can easily eat it off the plant, so we have to put hardware cloth down or put them in pots until they're established. Same with the oregano. But the larger plants seem to be safe. They also don't seem to bother the rosemary and lavender.

The main thing is to help protect the roots to make sure they don't scratch them up. We've created some grazing boards in the run for the delicate plants (lettuce, other fodder stuff).

 

[CatInTheHenHouse]

You could put a wire cloche over the plants? Then your chooks could nip at whatever grows outside the cage but couldn’t destroy the whole plant.