Oleander and tips for a chicken compatible garden?

[happima]

I'm getting my coop and yard ready for my chicks. They are 3 and 4 weeks old now and seem to be getting a little antsy in their rubbermaid brooder

Decided to put the coop on the side of the house and give them the yard to range during the day. The yard was full of 7 huge oleander plants/trees which I had removed. I'm wondering if there any issues with the dirt or stray leaves that I should be worry about. The gardeners got rid of the root balls and cleared the area of the plants, but of course it's pretty difficult to get every stray leave. And I don't know it the ground still has Oleander remnants.

Can I feel pretty safe letting my chicks out in the yard? Right now I've planted an orange tree, a lemon tree, pink jasmine in the yard where the Oleander was, plus lavendar, jasmine and mint in pots which I placed in the yard. Will this be a good play yard for them?

Here are pictures:

Any advice on other plants I could put in the ground or in the planters that are safe for chickens and not as likely to be immediately consumed/destroyed? Anything else I should think about?

Thanks so much,
Jen

 

[happima]

Oh and I'd appreciate any tips on chicken compatible plants that I can put in the containers and the chicken yard to make it look a little nicer for me and the hens. Well, mostly for me.

 

[SierraView]

My neighbors have a oleander bush that borders our property. There is no fence and my chickens free range. They hang out around this bush a lot and never had a sick or dead chicken from it. I know those bushes are very poisonous and was worried but seen no ill effects so don't worry anymore.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

I have a friend (and fellow BYC member) that has about a dozen 40+ year old oleanders in her back yard where she raises chickens. The chickens use them for shade and she hasn't seen a problem in three years.

Here is a page of plants that have been successfully grown in the runs of other BYC members: https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=22588 I think the trick is to protect the plants until they outgrow the chickens' jumping height and avoid trampling.

 

[mickeymousears]

Our house came with 3 big/old oleander bushes and everyone likes to nap in them- I tried to keep the flock away but then I noticed notches taken out of the leaves and everyone is still alive so I let them have at it-i wasn't very successful keeping them out in the first place. So idk??!!

 

[mickeymousears]

Oh we also have lemon tree mint that grows wild. Several large jasmine plants. And HAD lavender in a pot-my chickens destroy potted plants. They go in and out of all of them no problem-except for the plant of course. So everything sounds safe to me!

 

[wayne hulgan]

something really hardy with a good root system. otherwise they will dig them up. been there done that. our chicks dug 2 2 year old knockout roses. we have fences around all the others now, maybe next year we will unfence them. one year old butterfly bush has a big hole next to it, but its doing ok. 2 year old leland cryprus is doing ok also. they really do want in with the 3 remaining rose bushes. cut them back this winter and next summer they will be ok to unfence maybe? we think that chicks will know pretty much what not to eat. happy chicky day to everyone.

 

[happima]

Thanks for sharing your experiences with oleander. I feel much more comfortable putting the chicks out into that area now.

Will continue to work on building a bit of a garden back there, but am thinking I may need to put fences around the lemon tree, orange tree, bouganvillea and pink jasmine. I would like to keep those four plants. I'm prepared to lose all the potted ones

Oh, we also put in 200 earthworms (my son really wanted to get them at OSH last week and I agreed). Am hoping that the chicks will enjoy those.

For now, they remain in the brooder, which is getting smaller by the day.

-Jen

 

[mickeymousears]

OMG a few weeks ago my husband was digging in the backyard and found a worm- called "his" chicken over (the Rir LOVES him) and ever since then the whole flock goes crazy everytime he goes to the backyard. They all run towards the shovel and cry for him to dig more worms if he ignores they chase after him crying/crowing/quacking its chaos. One of these days I'm going to get a video of it. Its hilarious!

I forgot to mention that the small hole he was originally digging is now like a quarter of the yard. I keep telling him to stop but those chickens have him wrapped around their feathers.

 

[chisNchickens]

Anyone know what cleomies are? These are super easy to grow and chickens LOVE them. They do get quite tall but have lovely flowers in pinks and purples with white. They get seed pods in late summer and the chickens follow us everywhere wanting seeds. We have them everywhere. They also attract hummingbirds and hummingbird moths which are really neat to watch at night. Here is a link to a picture I took of the moth on the cleomie...

http://www.whatsthatbug.com/page/4/?s=hummingbird+moth&searchsubmit_x=0&searchsubmit_y=0