PLANTS AROUND THE RUN

[erose15658]

We are new parents to 23 beautiful chickens!! Our chickens have eaten all of the grass in three connected 8x8 runs as well as anything they can stretch their necks out for around the run!! We can not free range because the risk of predators is very very high! One side of the run is in full sun and the other full shade. What plants can I put around and or in the run so the girls have something to pick at?

 

[CatsandCrops]

You could build ground covers (frames with wiring over top so the girls can walk on them and eat what grows up) and grow grass/wheat/clover in them. The framing helps the girls from ripping up the roots.

 

[ladybrasa]

I managed to grow a row of sunflowers in the run, but needed to put up temporary fence until it was a few feet high. Now it provides a little shade. They don’t seem very interested in it directly, but all the good leaves are above their heads. The only minor issue is that they scratched a couple at the roots and they fell over. Also I have successfully placed lavender plants and sage in the pen and they haven’t touched it. Again some protection of the roots are needed at least until established. Also scented geraniums (not the regular kind) - didn’t touch the plants. But these need to go in pots in most areas and overwinter inside if you want them to come back next year.

 

[333113]

Welcome!
Your easiest plan would be to use deep litter in the runs, because the total run space that you have per chicken really won't allow rotational grazing without overcrowding the two pens while the third regrows. Bagged shavings, wood chips (not all black walnut or cedar), grass clippings, hay, straw, weeds, whatever, will be loved by them, as they dive for bugs and worms, and turn it all into compost.
Plantings around the outside can be shrubs for more summer shade, and as mentioned, most of the herbs aren't eaten, and that includes catnip. I think that trying to protect edible plants inside these runs will take more effort than it's worth, and all that manure on dirt, plus rain, won't be so nice over time.
Your run area does drain well, I hope! Mud will be awful!
Mary

Deep litter can be nice because earthworms etc will live near the bottom of it, and the chickens will be able to dig down and find about 65 degrees, cool in the summer, warm in the winter. If you scatter oat or other whole grain in it, the seeds sometimes start to sprout before they are found, adding to the nutrition.
It takes a bit of effort to maintain deep litter, but it's worthwhile.
When it starts to look a bit old, I pull out about a third of it and put it on my compost pile, and add in replacement straw.

 

[Folly's place]

Or, as @aart does, just keep adding more stuff on top.
Mary

 

[Folly's place]

It works for many people here, and drainage is very important. A base of wood chips seems best, rather than hay or straw. As @aart about her run!
Mary

 

[rosemarythyme]

Does deep litter require a roof to be pleasant? Not a moldy mess

Nope. I get a lot of rain but the run is uncovered. Any litter system does require good underlying drainage at the location.

 

[333113]

I grow sweet potato vines over my pens. They provide quite a lot of shade and the leaves and stems are edible. And they are pretty!

My dad used to plant cherry tomatoes along the pen. His pens were about three feet high. Anything that grew into or over the pens belonged to the chickens; the rest was ours.

 

[Folly's place]

Welcome!
Your easiest plan would be to use deep litter in the runs, because the total run space that you have per chicken really won't allow rotational grazing without overcrowding the two pens while the third regrows. Bagged shavings, wood chips (not all black walnut or cedar), grass clippings, hay, straw, weeds, whatever, will be loved by them, as they dive for bugs and worms, and turn it all into compost.
Plantings around the outside can be shrubs for more summer shade, and as mentioned, most of the herbs aren't eaten, and that includes catnip. I think that trying to protect edible plants inside these runs will take more effort than it's worth, and all that manure on dirt, plus rain, won't be so nice over time.
Your run area does drain well, I hope! Mud will be awful!
Mary

 

[IamRainey]

Personally, I think it's a fool's errand. The immediate yard around my run (enclosed in chainlink) used to be full of nasturtiums. I mean you couldn't walk without stepping on them. Gone, once I let the chickens free range in the yard outside their coop. There were 2 large woody lavender shrubs. They are now a collection of twigs with barely any raggedy leaves left at the tops the chickens can't reach. Two volunteer sapling ficus are just bare switches. I don't mind that one. I should have pulled them up ages ago but I was just too lazy. And the one that breaks my heart is that thunbergia vines that had completely and charmingly twined themselves through the chain link gate to their yard are now dead remnants because the chickens have severed them from their roots.

It's not their fault. They are foraging machines. They are meant to scratch and peck at anything vegetable. So nothing is safe from them. I'm just grateful that the chain link keeps them in their yard and out of mine!