Is a butterfly bush okay to be in a chicken run?

[Carols Clucks]

You might want to double check the invasive butterfly bush is the same one you call butterfly bush, here the one commonly called butterfly bush is in the sage family.

 

[RollinWithTheStones]

Quote:
According to google the type of butterfly bush I have is part of the Buddleias family. Seems pretty common and usually sold for under $5 in the spring time everywhere.

 

[roachman]

I have 6 butterfly bushes in my yard the chickens sometimes peck at them 1 even hunts the bumble bees must eat 20 a day don't worry they will be fine

 

[RollinWithTheStones]

Quote:
Awesome I am lazy and didn't want to move it.

 

[gryeyes]

I love butterfly bush from the buddleia family! Planted some in the back yard of the house I rented and am so sad I wont have them already that big and beautiful at my new place. The chickens don't mind 'em at all.

I will be planting some at my new place. Hope to find another "Black Knight" which is a gorgeous, dark purple.

 

[jeremy]

Linda! You were my inspiration to get Buddleia!

I took this photo the other day of a blooming plant, this particular cultivar is called Magenta. I do plan on planting it somewhere in my chicken run as I haven't read anything about them being poisonous to the birds.

 

[RollinWithTheStones]

Quote:
Awesome I am lazy and didn't want to move it.

 

[Leigh Anne]

So invasive Portland has added them to the cities illegal to have in your garden list.

Like that's going to help. Where there was ever one, there are hundreds or thousands within wind distance.

They are pretty, smell lovely, and not on my personal toxic list, but you would need to find your own sources to verify that. If you don't already have one you can't get rid of..you have been warned. Many have been tricked, thinking they would be able to keep things in check.

What happened to me was I planted mine when I was young and inexperienced. Recently I was on a ladder and could see the results as far as my eye could see..in many, many places. So it seems I was part of the problem. And that weighs on me.

It’s not a bad bush to have spread though. It provides food for many insects. Never ever heard of it being invasive. It isn’t around here.

 

[BY Bob]

My hens LOVE our 2 butterfly bushes. So do the butterflies. I would not worry about it at all. The flock spends many a lovely summer day in their shade and use them for cover in the winter from aerial predators.

From the summer

From yesterday (the winter)

 

[EggSighted4Life]

I have butterfly bushes.. yes in the PNW.. considered an invasive species as noted by others. Pretty to look at when in bloom. Yes, I also have the Ivy and the Himalayan blackberries.. AT least the later puts out fruit which ALL my animals enjoy!

My chickens LOVE to congregate under the butterfly bushes and they provide good predator cover/shade.. They don't care so much for the butterfly bush itself.. they may eat bugs that it attracts but have mostly just valued it as a hang out spot and not seen as part of the menu from what I have seen since being here, 6 ish years.

Butterfly bushes.. I think my goats like them.. I've pulled several out and a few more to go.. They're sucking up valuable garden space at this location.. they grow as hardy as Oleander but WAY less toxic. Plenty of folk have gotten dead animals next to Oleander..

Many people, including my much elder neighbor who brought it in and planted it sharing with other neighbors before I moved here.. are quite clueless about "invasive" species. Virtually everything my neighbor grows is toxic to chickens and SPREADS this way. THANKFULLY, they have taken note, and agreed to quit using round up type herbicide or whatever it takes to *kill* blackberries which are a member of the rose family.

I only plant edible stuff, NOW.. and I guess I'm no better than Johnny Apple Seed.. When I was a subtly disobedient teenager.. I spread cannabis weed seeds in the most obvious places possible, like flower beds outside government buildings. In other words I did things that I would NOT be caught at.. Luckily, we are our own worst critics and my heart convicted me before I was lost to the "system".

I wish blueberries were as fast and hardy as butterfly.. Alas, the birds do love the leaves and such.. and would need the protection being asked about..

There are other bushes growing here that some small round red fruit slightly smaller than cranberry size.. I see the birds (robins or others) eating, the pigs love it too.. the bushes themselves are hardy enough and low enough to the ground for good cover.. and the chickens only eat the fruit they can reach and even jump for.. the humans have never been seen eating it.. IF there is any way to plant something that DOES also provide an enriching snack yearly without much extra effort on the keepers part.. I highly recommend it!

Gardening is so much fun and I just love seeing all the array of different plant LIFE, it's refreshing and revitalizing!

Happy planting!