Landscaping around the coop area

[llnmaw]

Sorta coop related?

Our coop is in the side yard, chickens have access to the whole side yard (fully fenced) and it is currently a lovely mixture of weeds and dirt. It looks awful and I've never really cared until now as we are spending so much time back there I want it to look nicer. Do those of you with lovely landscaped yards just never let your girls out? Is it a pipe dream to think I can actually grow something in their area? It is a generous sized side yard area so they will not be concentrated to a small area in which to forage.

My plan....find out what a chicken might not like, protect it until it is mature and then see what happens. Got any linkies about plants that chickens might not devour? (I've seen the one about toxic plants)

Any suggestions? We are in zone 4 ( I think). I'm planting a fruit tree for some eventual shade, beautification and..well...fruit! But I'd like some shrubs? Something that might flower? Evergreen?

While I'd love flowers I'm pretty certain those would be a goner based on the destruction of the tulip leaves nibbled through the fence

Oh, maybe sunflowers? If I can get them big enough to not get demolished?

Thanks!
~L.

 

[newchknmama]

Me too! I am putting my girls in the side yard as well and didnt know if landscaping was an option or not. I dont want it to look like a barnyard over there.

 

[Celtic Chick]

Quote:
I've never heard that before. Here I've been eating elderberries & their seeds for years, and so have my chickens.
Guess I had better do some research.

 

[new chick 203]

A great book came out this spring called

Free-Range Chicken Gardens: How to Create a Beautiful, Chicken-Friendly Yard

By Jessi Bloom
http://www.timberpress.com/books/free_range_chicken_gardens/bloom/9781604692372
It's great. everything you need to know.

I realize you posted this a year ago, BUT...

The only thing I have that the chickens didn't demolish are some relatively mature lilac bushes. Even the new shoots that come up seem to be undesirable. There is also a lamb's ear plant next to the house that seems as though it might resist the chickens. I read that butterfly bushes and juniper are good, but avoid yew because it's poisonous. I plan to try this, later. Other than that, I live on a lovely patch of dirt. I've resigned myself to the fact that I'm going to have to segregate the yard into chicken area and garden area. Probably won't happen this year, though. A kitchen renovation is demanding all my time and money. Next spring, though, I'll put an attractive fence up between the front and back halves of the yard, give the butterfly bushes and the junipers a try in the back, and have fun in the front with all the things the chickens would love to eat, but won't be able to. I'm also in zone 4, so the same plants should theoretically work for both of us.

 

[Sorin]

The only advice I can offer is to warn you chickens love scratching in mulch if you plan on using any. I hope someone else will offer more advice, Good Luck!

 

[hennyannie]

I hope some folks with more chicken/landscape experience reply. I too have been wondering about shade options for around my chicken area.

 

[Judy]

My chickens never destroyed any shrubs or young trees. They will lay bare an area where they come out of the coop. They ate all the grass and what weeds they wanted in a 64'x64' chicken yard (around 15 chickens.) OTOH, when turned loose, which used to be all the time, they have about an acre of "lawn" (mowed whatever-comes-up) plus areas of high weeds and some woods, and they never made a bare spot in the "lawn."

 

[hennyannie]

I would just like to make sure I don't plant something that will be totally destroyed the first week or harmful to livestock. I am familiar with what horse and goats can't eat but our farm chickens always stayed in coop/run when I was growing up so it was a non-issue.

 

[llnmaw]

Did a little digging and found this:

http://hanburyhome.wordpress.com/chicken-resistant-plants-2/

Off to see what might survive in our climate.

I still welcome any plants that have worked for your own yard/chickens!

~L.

 

[hennyannie]

Good job! I saw alot on there that I already grow so now I know it won't hurt them I can plant some in their area too!