Landscaping Plants for Duck Pens

[4hooves&featheredfriends]

I have shared pics of my 3 little blueys and am now planning for them to depart the comforts of my living room as they REEK! I change the bedding daily(if not 2x), the water 3x per day and they are spoiled with chopped greens 2x per day.

Well, I started to build the duck house and am designing an aesthetically pleasing landscape for the benefit of my neighbors. I have hostas of several varieties - I haven't been able to find them on a list of poisonous plants. Can someone tell me that they are safe?

Liatris? Sedum? How about tall grasses - used in landscaping?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[lilchick]

If you thought chickens were hard on landscape well try ducks!! My 6 call ducks have eaten and drilled little holes everywhere in their 10 by 20 ft. pen down to bare dirt... They stripped every shrub and plant in there as high as they could reach...
Any soft leafed plant would be destroyed by your ducks! Try evergreens and tall lilac bushes.. I find it better to plant along the outside of the pen to have any type of landscaping at all! good luck...

 

[sianara]

I'm also on the hunt for safe plants for both duck and chicken yards. I haven't found hostas on the toxic list however, I found out they are in the lily family which IS toxic!

Here's the link to my thread on The Easy Garden.com http://www.theeasygarden.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=25724&p=1 See post #8.

Of course, I don't know if it would be fatal or not but am not willing to take a chance. My ducks used to get into my DH hosta all the time and eat pieces off the leaves and lay eggs under it. Then one of my ducks died unexpectedly but I assumed it was because of reproductive problems (the poor girl used to regularly lay 4 oz eggs!). My husband pointed out yesterday that maybe she died from eating the plant and we just didn't realize it was from that at the time. Now it makes sense because since she's been gone none of the others have taken any bites from that plant.

Maybe it's just coincidence...

 

[Duck Keeper]

So far, nothing has happened to my ducks, who like to destroy the lone hosta if given the chance... I'd try to keep them separate though, for the hosta's sake!

I think tall grasses would be okay, and would probably induce nesting behaviors.

 

[sianara]

Hmmm, tall grasses are a good idea. Not only would it induce nesting but would provide some shade in a sunny part of the yard.

 

[monarc23]

My ducks wander through my landscaping but leave it alone for the most part my broiler chickens are hte ones that wont quit mashing down my blue grass palm things

^ the ducks pond is to the left of that black mini fencing (that is there to keep the chickens out of teh wiild flowers that are seeding).

 

[rlhbond]

A very simply ground cover is clover. My ducks love to eat clover.

 

[Cetawin]

Hostas, even though being way off to the side in the lily family, are chicken safe and I am fairly sure duck safe. But they are low cover and they will get annihilated inside the run...m girls tore em up in less than 2 weeks.

 

[sianara]

Quote:
Ok, well that makes sense as to why they weren't listed on the toxic list. Thanks for clarifiying.

 

[sianara]

Quote:
Yes, mine love it too. In fact part of their yard is the 2"x3" welded wire and they stick their heads out and eat the clover that can be reached. It's funny to see about 8" around the entire fence is bare and at 8.5" it's clover galore