NEED safe shade trees for my coop run

[The Triplets]

Hi - my girls live on concrete in Southern California. They do have a small foraging area and I provide lots of stimuli, but I need to plant large potted bushes/trees to provide more shade and hidey places from ariel predators. I love Ficus trees (weeping Figs) but some of the sites say they are poisonous some say they are not. Anyone have any luck with this or suggestions? I have a very pale green thumb. I just need shade trees, or bushes that can take full sunlight.

 

[lazy gardener]

I'd suggest that you take your question to your state site, or perhaps some of the state sites in your time zone. You'll get lots of ideas for stuff that would do well in your zone. You'll be planting your chosen plants in pots, and not directly in the ground? You'll need to be watering the plants every day, while if you plant stuff in the ground, it's a bit more tolerant.

I'd suggest planting a tee-pee. Take 3 saplings, or bamboo poles, and fashion them into a tee-pee shape, tied at the top and with the bottoms about 4' apart, and buried into the prepared soil (preferably) or the pots, and tied at the top. Then you can plant pole beans or cucumbers around the poles. You'll need to put something around the poles to keep the chickens from digging up the soil and destroying the plants.

If you can plant anything in the ground which can stay from year to year, I'd suggest anything which will produce a crop that the birds can eat. That all depends on how much space you have available. You'll have to fence it off until the tree or shrub gets well established, and even then, you'll have to monitor to see that they don't destroy the plants from digging into the root zone at the base.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

I don't know about the ficus/weeping fig tree.

But you could plant a real fig tree in a pot. They do well in pots, love full sun, have large leaves for shade and grow relatively fast--probably faster than a ficus. You could find a variety that does well in your climate (maybe Black Mission, White Kadota, Black Jack). I have three fig trees in my yard and the chickens love to hang out under them and I've never seen them peck at the leaves. They do, however, love the fruit. Can you plant grape vines anywhere near their run? I have grapes growing over mine and the chickens love the leaves and they provide excellent shade. You can see pictures of my grape-shaded run on the "My Coop" link under my avatar.

 

[The Triplets]

THANK YOU - Those are both excellent ideas! I'll get working on it.

Gallo del Cielo - I'm totally jealous of your coop/run!

 

[lazy gardener]

Grape vines are an excellent idea. You could have an arbor, and a bonus, at least in my area is that Japanese beetles LOVE grape leaves. And Chickens absolutely LOVE Japanese beetles!!!

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Come back and let us know what you did and how it works for you!