Non-Toxic Trellis Vines?

[CooperCarolina]

I want a vine that will trellis nicely in my newly built chicken-wire fence that is non-toxic to both chickens AND dogs.

It seems that what is safe for one is often a threat to the other.

English Ivy was our first thought since it is an evergreen, but it seems to be somewhat toxic to both (although neither seems to be very interested in it.) So we turned our attention to berries as a treat for the critters.

We already have a few acres of Muscadine and Scuppernong vineyards, but grapes are very toxic to dogs... and he WILL eat them, so cloning them in his territory is not an option.

We are also thinking about Blackberries even though we fully expect to lose the lower hanging berries to the chickens and the higher ones to the mutt, but we were hoping that we might scrounge a few from the top.

NOTE: The chicken-wire fence is 50 sq feet and 6 ft high and gets good sun exposure on nearly the entire structure. In my experience, blackberries can become weighty, but the fence is staked at 5 ft intervals so I am wondering how much "droop" to expect.

Still open to English Ivy, but the berries seem like a really smart option.

Suggestions?

 

[21hens-incharge]

You can do peas in the early spring and green pole beans for the summer if you are looking for shade and non toxic items that are light weight.

If you want to do the blackberries be aware that anywhere a cane touches the ground it will root. They can be a pain in the bottom to control if you are not on top of them from the start. To strengthen the run for them you can add 2x4's or rebar to help hold them up. My chickens are not fond of the blackberries. They much prefer the raspberries.

The peas and beans you would have to keep safe from the chickens picking at them on the lower sections. It is easy with some added wire to the bottom 2 feet if you do not already have hardware cloth there. You would also need to plant each year.

 

[JayJo]

I just planted passionfruit vines on my coop. I planted the fruiting variety, although there's an ornamental flowering variety as well.

 

[apbgv]

I havr s chocolate vine on my co-op. Been there about 8 years now

 

[CooperCarolina]

It looks like we are going with Joan J Raspberries and Navajo Blackberries. It is not quite time to plant them in my area, but we have them on order and I am looking forward to their arrival.

Ivy turned out to be a no-go for us. English Ivy may look nice, but the fence gets far too much sun exposure for it to thrive there... not to mention the fact that it doesn't produce fruit!

I'll let y'all know how it turns out.