Landscaping and Plantings for a Free Range Flock

[Bogtown Chick]

Landscaping and Plantings for a Free Range Flock

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This thread I'm starting as I love landscaping and plantings in my yard. And I love my chickens roaming that landscaping. Through a few years of chickening I've had to modify my yard. Gone are the fragile ferns and gorgeous astilbe and Lily of the valley that once graced the north side of my house. Just one large White Hydrangea bush remains there as cover for a flock that needs the shade to keep cool in the summer months. I've learned to "let it go". Out in the sunny side grassy hill is my perrenniel garden which has slowly evolved into a garden dedicated to plants with chickens health benefits. Please know I still like pretty though...and I borrow some of those plants in my own kitchen. I've converted a portion over to herbs. The chickens can stomp around a bit in the aromatic herb garden, get a little benefit from their pickings...but since they are often a woody type plant...no harm, no 'fowl'.

Their feet don't seem to do much damage.

I've found I love tall ornamental grasses as well. The chickens don't seem to bother with them either.

Please join me and let us know what you're doing right in your yard or garden. Any tips will no doubt be beneficial and appreciated. Post lots of pictures too!

 

[Bogtown Chick]

About 2 years ago I started following a popular blogger who planted for her chickens. Mostly herbs and such. I had at the time an overgrown choked out perennial garden that needed a re-do.

So I started thinking about herbs and studying kitchen gardens or potagers. I tore everything out and redid alot. Keeping beneficial plants and a few ornamentals that seemed to keep up to chicken feet.

I'll keep this post about the HERBS I have planted:

MINT: I love Mint. I have it in my little garden with a plastic border around it. It still sneaks out of it's area. But when I need some I just get the wayward stems and give them an extra pull to get it out of the areas I don't want. Mint as you know can be thrown on a broody hens nest to keep pests at bay. Also kept in the coop, it will keep Mice repelled, apparently. I've tried that sporatically with mixed results. But I think if I kept up with it --it would work. It's my favorite in the garden to be honest. I love the mint fragrance and I would say it is the work horse of herbs around here.





Marigolds. I love putting the petals on nests as well. And the Deer don't bother them. They give good egg yolk color, they are also an insect repellent in the coop.


Other herbs and beneficial plantings I have: Yarrow, Oregano, Lemongrass (Citronella), Lemon Thyme, Echinacea, Bee Balm, sage.





(Bee balm really took off this last year)

More Tender Herbs, I pot on my deck: such as basil. Besides I like it handy next to the grill if I'm making home-made pizzas. But these herbs would break easy in the garden under chicken feet.


I also pot lavender...even though it has a woodier stem. It does not like growing in my gardens for some odd reason. So I have to pamper it in pots it seems. Ha.

In the Garden I did sort of block off the chickens with a little diverting Pea Trellis fencing just to get some of the younger plants established. Just this bit of fencing--not very high-- was enough to sway them some where else in the yard. Apparently they'd rather not climb over. Now in the second year or later in the season I do not really need those fences.

 

[Bogtown Chick]

 

[Teila]

Hi Bogtown Chick

You have beautiful chickens, a beautiful garden and the pictures are awesome!

I have opted for mostly potted plants in the garden for a couple of reasons. 1. Water conservation in the Australian climate and 2. Not so easy for the little bantam girls to dig out the plants. I am more of a green person as opposed to flowers so tend to sway more towards large leaves and grasses:



They have their own garden beds and sweeping of the paths is a daily exercise

It was a bit windy when I took this one so the bridge and paths are covered in leaves:


They also have lawn:



And probably their favourite spot for chilling, on the decking [aka: poop deck

], under their gazebo with their people:

 

[Teila]

Thank you Bogtown Chick

I am definitely not an expert when it comes to gardening but do enjoy pottering and the end results.

I wasn’t really much of a gardener until I got the gals. Because I enjoy spending time with the gals outside, I tend to potter in the garden while I am there.

I too work full time but luckily from home and I also have some weeds that could probably do with some evicting

I have a tip for the weeds in the paths [definitely not for weeds in the garden beds or weeds that the chickens might eat]. My gals pretty much ignore the weeds between the cracks in the paths and driveway etc. They also do not like walking on the pebbles around the decorative path. For these weeds I use a home made weed killer:

White Vinegar in a 1 litre spray bottle.
1 tsp of salt.
1 tsp of dishwashing detergent.

Shake and spray on the weed. If you do this on a sunny day, the weeds are dead by the end of the day.

I dabble in growing some vegies also but, living smack bang in the middle of suburbia, confess to buying most of mine at the supermarket 5mins down the road. I have a raised vegie garden under the kitchen window in an area that the girls do not usually wander into so they have not found it yet. Hopefully it is high enough off the ground that they can only look and hope if they do find it

I also have a couple of Avocado trees I grew from seed which I am pretty proud of. PS: nearly everything here gets a name, including some of the special plants and regularly visiting wildlife etc

Arnie:


Danny:




They are now 4 and 3 years old and Arnie [on the left] has flowers for the first time; very exciting! Danny is a bit droopy as it was a hot day when this was taken. They are both ready for bigger pots but as Arnie is flowering, now is probably not a good time to transplant.

 

[lvie]

Oh - theres more - LOL.



so this is the back of the garage. It has hosta, fern, astible - all of which the chicks destroy. So I would move it and create a fence walkway (maybe) that the chicks could use to access the garden beside the garage - which is in need of complete re-work. I am so darn weary of the birds of prey around here BT and yet you free-range yours all the time. I am considering creating a covered run over on that garage side for them to free-range in. I could put down the wired frames to let grass grow and not allow them to dig it up. They love this side of the garage as it gets sun and shade to rest in and it is good digging along side the garage foundation.









This is the area behind the two-story shed and the garage. But there is a patio for the hens to poo up and that is a hassle. They love, love, love the river bank. Again - lotsa hostas and lotsa shade.

Okay - gotta stop this for the time being. I am going to enjoy watching this thread and getting ideas of redo on these areas to make them chicken-friendly and allow the flock to free range.

 

[Bogtown Chick]

Dusting Pits and Chicken Excavating: For us Where there's dry open dirt, there will be chicken excavating out a dusting pit. Usually it is under the cover of a large bush as seen below or large tree.
Chickens I've learned like to also keep their breasts cool in the summer by laying in dirt. I always keep a galvanized tub in the covered run and they use it in the winter or if we have a rainy spell. But they love any loosened dirt. And if its new and you do the loosening for them, they will take advantage of it. I've found now since my perennial garden has started to fill in....and the ground is not as loose as it was last year ...the chickens seem less enthusiastic to use it as a dusting ground. Phew. So Under the Large woody bushes, Large Pine trees, black dirt pile or their dedicated tub they will go. When I till up my vegetable garden this fall. Guess who will be in there digging for grubs and such...but also dusting to their hearts content.

 

[lvie]

Good Morning Still and thank you Bogtown! I am excited about re-doing my gardens now that I see your new thread!!!! I took some pictures but with this time of year I doubt I will get much done the rest of this year. Need to put the vegetable garden to rest yet. This will be my second winter as a chickener.


This is the front of what I have for a coop and run. You can see that I have begun the winterizing procedure of covering it with plastic - which is suppose to be clear -
To the right is the nesting boxes (there are six for 14 birds) and under it is the bathing facilities. We will go around to the back of the coop next. This is a work in progress. This coop sits between the garage on the right and a two-story storage building on the left.




Here we have walked to the back of the coop/run. You see the garage on the left and the two-story shed on the right. So the coop narrows at the back with a latched door into the covered run. I have fenced in a outdoor run just out side that coop door, hence the green stakes. It is covered with wire so that the hens stay in instead of 'flying the coop' and I have tried latching various mediums for a cover but have been unsuccessful thus far in obtaining the look I want.

Okay - some (most) of the girls coming to greet me. The second is that front enclosed area where the afternoon sun shines in. It has a dirt floor (as is true of the whole run) and this portion is covered in pine needles which they absolutely love! Then there is the little coop that I use for their convenience of laying eggs in. There are six nesting boxes and they usually use two of them. ????. Whatever. Under it, behind that ladder is the dusting box. It is a mix of black dirt, landscaping sand and ash along with some charcoal.

 

[Teila]

Good morning

It is interesting to read your winter preparations while we prepare for summer. While you are looking at adding light, we have just put an additional layer of shade cloth under the clear corrugated to reduce light.

The girls have switched from up at 06:30am and bed at 05:00pm to up at 05:30am and bed at 06:00pm, which will blow out until 7pm soon enough.

Being sub tropical, we have torrential rain and thunderstorms which usually roll through after a hot and very humid day. While your plants are risking freezing to death, ours risk drowning.

This was February last year with our old coop and run:



This year we are ready

 

[Bogtown Chick]

I like saving the the clippings idea. What kind of grass? I spread my clipping in their yard. In piles. They have a blast scratching through it. I have St. Augustin down here. I usually wait till it puts up little seed pods before cutting. I overseed with rye in the back & actually have to cut it a few times in the winter. My back yard is huge, but all shade. I have a worse time growing things back there in the summer. I have an old pecan grove, and not much grows in the shade.

Memphis: Our 'grass' was a seed mix of some sort from the hardware store 11 years ago. I think I do usually look for Kentucky Blue Grass...? But since getting the birds...I don't spread weed/feed on the lawn...so now it is crab grass (which actually my chickens LOVE--my allergic husband does not), dandelions--atrocious and ugly in May/June--chickens love, white clover, and clipped weed oddities in general. We're definitely not fancy on the lawn here. I think we have our share of plantain in the lawn too also very good for chickens.

Old English Game Birds.

You got me, what does: I Dnt knw wh M cnt fgr tht n t. M b prtty gd t brvtns. mean???? Your spelling is atrocious!

Sorry I've been away folks. I'm playing catch up from that busy weekend. 15 million loads of laundry...you know the issues. My yard is still not attended to. It was a gorgeous evening out last night and I should have spent some time out there. But grabbed the camera instead and watched chicken TV. And then the kids wanted to go to a H.S. Volleyball game. So we did that after a short episode of "Chicken Days of our Lives."

FREE is ALWAYS BEST!
So Another plant that is very important in the Landscaping is this Hydrangea. I think it might be Annabelle with the Flattened White flowers. It was a clump of about 6 stems my sister brought to me after we built our home and it was FREE... Her stems came from her Husband's Grandmother who lived in an old house in the city. This plant seperates well and takes off in new spots like crazy! I find that it likes partial shade/Partial Sun. This Plant is big and dynamic around my house and the chickens LOVE it! For shade, for predator coverage, For naps, for dusting under. I've heard that the foliage is poisonous to them. But I have not had a bird die as a result of it. (I had the plants before the chickens) I think the birds know what is good for them and what is not.








Also in my Landscaping is PeeGee Hydrangea. They are doing only so-so. One has been run over by snowmobile (when covered with snow) and they are on the perimeter of the yard...where deer like to browse. So they've taken their fair share of beatings. As I type this I think I will ammend their soil a bit and give them some extra attention this fall. See if we can't get them going a little better. These bushes are valuable to my birds as well. Plus...they are gorgeous as they blush in the fall.








Edited to add: Welcome @Goosegrrl Excited to see what is happening in Florida in Plantings! Hope you are all good after Hurricane Matthew.