Landscaping around coop/run?

[RUNuts]

Y'all are full of good ideas here! I like the sunflowers, tomatoes and peas around the perimeter fencing. The dogs have worn a path, so I will have to politely ask them to stop.

Maypop will wait for next year.

 

[rosemarythyme]

That's what is so odd about chickens. Mine won't eat some vegetables other people use for treats and my friends birds won't eat green tomatoes off the vine.

Completely normal. It seems every flock has their favorite treats, and things they won't touch at all, even if it's well liked by other chickens. Example: many people say their chickens like lettuce... I've tried multiple varieties and my chickens won't eat it, though they'll happily uproot it all and stomp on it.

 

[21hens-incharge]

If you want something that is nice looking and smells fantastic........maybe mint on the sunny side.
My birds don't touch it but walking by it will release a wonderful smell.

I grow chard and more in large pots. To protect the plants from being dug up a short dome of chicken wire about 2" above the soil will keep them out of the dirt. Not out of trouble as they like to grab a bite on the way by.
I stuck a short tomato cage in a pot and grew cucumbers up it as well as pole beans.

It is an adventure trying to garden with chickens about.

 

[jthornton]

Completely normal. It seems every flock has their favorite treats, and things they won't touch at all, even if it's well liked by other chickens. Example: many people say their chickens like lettuce... I've tried multiple varieties and my chickens won't eat it, though they'll happily uproot it all and stomp on it.

Mine will eat lettuce and cabbage and that is fun to watch them tear it to bits. Now if you want to have a rodeo at my place just walk in the chicken yard with a banana in your shirt pocket... I have pullets that will fly up and sit on my shoulders waiting for their bit of banana and when I sit down wow...

JT

 

[Hopperkiller]

They aren't pretty but halved plastic barrels is what i used for raised vegetable garden. Digging in thin black dirt supported by rocks for regular garden failed. Set these up just behind and to one side of coop. Used some 3 foot chicken wire to keep them out but 2 foot would have worked better. Too hard for aging fat boy to get at bottom fruits. Move these to around the run and can be beneficial the the flock and I.

 

[boatagor]

I think I've decided to do some sunflowers around the coop. I may just do vegetables in pots on my patio...we have an entire herd of deer that run through our yard every night so it may be tempting fate to have a vegetable garden that far from the house. These were all great ideas and I can't wait to get started!

 

[SimplyLivinthatFarmLife]

I disagree with your wood chip theory. I have my chicken run loaded with wood chips and it has been amazing. I have never had a foot injury, it creates movement and exercise for the birds because they have to scratch in it to find their treats, it keeps the run from getting muddy and smelly, their manure gets mixed in isn't sitting there attracting flies and it turns into amazing compost.

Lucky for me, we live near a river so we use river sand in our run...works great!

 

[SimplyLivinthatFarmLife]

Mine will eat lettuce and cabbage and that is fun to watch them tear it to bits. Now if you want to have a rodeo at my place just walk in the chicken yard with a banana in your shirt pocket... I have pullets that will fly up and sit on my shoulders waiting for their bit of banana and when I sit down wow...

JT

I wish my girls would take to bananas-no such luck!

 

[CannedMonster]

What a great thread.
I have been growing sprouts for my chickens...they won’t eat them
Our property is new to us as we just bought it in August. There are no less than 26 rose bushes on the property. Most of them are in the backyard with the chickens.
They have scalloped stone beds around them and 2-4” rock also. It seems to keep weeds at bay.
It’s not as nice looking as mulch IMO.
The chickens do scratch in the rocks but they don’t really displace it.
There’s also bulb flowers too. Mostly Iris, I think. And clematis. And other things I can’t identify.
The rest is lawn. Lots and lots of lawn lol.
I’ve been trying to look up native flowers and shrubs to plant that would withstand the chickens.
We do want to plant some vegetables but we’ll probably fence them off from the flock.
One thing I’m trying to figure out is how to create more “cover” for them when they’re free ranging on the grass.
It’s very open back there.
And how to keep them off of the deck?

 

[RUNuts]

I've been led to believe if you spray them with a water hose when they get on the porch, they won't be there when you look.

Cover in the yard = bushes (fruit bearing is best but roses are pretty), tables, porch swings, trees or other structure like a trellis. I put 4 pallets up around the fig tree to protect it from the chickens and dogs. Hope it survived the frost.