landscaped run

[95yj]

i havent seen many landscaped runs on here (plants rocks etc...) and thats kind of been a hobby of mine forever. this weekend i finaly pulled a huge stump out of the run so i was able to do a little work. the pics don't entirely do it justice and when everything perks back up and fills in it should look great, plus the plants will prevent mud.

front view, this is what we see directly outside our sliding glass doors, so it needs to look ok

just some close ups of plants

and a slightly better front shot.
what do you think?

 

[teach1rusl]

It looks lovely. It does make a run look so much more natural, doesn't it??

 

[elmo]

Um....how long have you had your chickens in there? I'm just wondering if they're going to have their own way of landscaping the run that might not coincide with your ideas.

 

[briana1975]

Quote:
I was thinking the same thing. I put rocks or pots with sand and DE or logs, but anything alive pretty and green they kill.

 

[WingingIt]

Quote:
Same here. It looks pretty now, though.

 

[pharr389]

Yes They'll Kill The Greenery, But They'll Enjoy It While It's There. Looks Good!

 

[tasymo]

I think it's great! I just enclosed a large section of my yard that includes an overgrown hedgerow, a comfrey patch and a compost pile as well as a bit of lawn. It was the area they most liked to hang out in when I let them free range. It's not predator proof by any means, so it is their semi-free range area for when we are home and can keep half an eye on them throughout the day. I think chickens are much happier if they have bushes and tall grass they can hide in.

 

[patandchickens]

Very pretty.

I give it a month, two at the outside.

Chickens DIG

Big time. Seriously.

(P.s. what's that lighter-green coniferous-looking little shrub there, it's not a yew is it?)

Just sayin',

Pat

 

[95yj]

nope, i'v been planting chicken runs for years, you just gotta be selective about the plants, any kind of conifer or evergreen does great as well as the ornamental grasses, their both too tough to kill. the biggest problem i'v experienced is the chickens digging under the roots, which i'm going to prevent by covering the roots with rocks from our gardens. one time i put a hosta in a bird run, lasted about a day. you can also kill the plants with eutrophication, over nutrition, in this case nitrogen, which is why theres so many of them, plus it helps to spread the beating. Ounce the plants get established their pretty solid, plus they're tiny little oeg's they don't do too much damage, nothing that a little mantanance ounce or twice a week can't take care of. I had this coop planted in almost the smae way, but not quite as nice for a wile with more birds in it, but i pulled the plants to pull a stump and work on their house, so i'm pretty confident this'll work out. as for the evergreen species no idea, i just grabbed the plants we had lying around the house, so all of this was completely free.
now how about some possitive posts???lol

 

[elmo]

I have some bamboo that's growing up next to one of our runs, and a few boles popped up inside the run while the hens were broody, so it had a fighting chance. During those three weeks, being bamboo, it shot up about four feet, so now it's safe from the chickens. I topped it off so it wouldn't interfere with the roof of the run. The chickens like the cover it provides, and it looks nice to me.

If your chickens do destroy the plants in your run, you can still put plants just outside the run, about a beak's length away from the fence. Of course, be careful with anything you plant to make sure it isn't toxic to chickens.