Landscaping around the coop area

[Codyandme1]

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um just wondering, are the nasturtiums poiseness?!?

 

[Carols Clucks]

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um just wondering, are the nasturtiums poiseness?!?

Nasturtiums are strong tasting/smelling guessing that is why the chickens don't like them. As for being poisonous, I found a nice pesto recipe from Sunset Magazine using nasturtiums.

 

[Cambium29]

I'd personally go with a mix of shrubs and tough groundcover around the perimeter of the run. Then maybe throw in some plants you want the flock to eat, in raised beds for easy maintenance. You can use temporary fencing to block the beds off alternately to let them recover.

Rosemary is pretty bitter tasting; they shouldn't bother that too much. It's also a pretty tough plant and comes in lots of variety. Smells nice, too, so that's an added benefit.

Godd luck!

 

[Cosmopolis Chick]

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I don't know how deep you have in mind but my girls will swim to get to where they want to go. I'm not foolin'.
One side of my property is under 10-24" of water during the rainy season (which is 6 months around here in the Pacific Northwest).
The chicken run incorporates that wet area and even though they have plenty of greens on the other 80% of their yard they daily
jaunt around in deep water, seem oblivious to it! I don't like it but it'd be an enormous chore to drain it.

Did you see a post a week or two ago about a fella going to make chicken gardens
in squares in his chicken run? He's laying chicken wire or hardware cloth overhead -
high enough the hens can't eat all of a plant.

 

[MulberryMama]

Check out the book "Free-Range Chicken Gardens" by Jessi Bloom. Tons of useful information, including gorgeous photos and garden layouts, along with listings of plants that chickens will/won't bother. I bought it from amazon.

 

[RoriStix]

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.

 

[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.

 

[GitteChick]

Do you have the log in information?

 

[StandinginSovereignty]

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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.

I thought that this only applies to certain varieties?