Plants chickens don't destroy?

[SarahLadd]

Hi everyone, I'm posting here for "behaviors".

I'm wondering if anyone has compiled a compendium of typical plants that chickens, on the whole, tend to ignore.

I have a reasonable garden in my yard that they forage in and I'd like to expand with some more flowers and edible plants/herbs.

So far, the flowers and edibles that the chickens ignore in my yard are: purple irises, peach bearded irises, garlic chives, rhubarb, hosta, pole beans. They will leave fronded stalks of asparagus alone but they will pick at the soft tender sprouts.

Anyone got more they can add to the list??

 

[Callender Girl]

I'm a little jealous. My chickens won't leave my hostas alone!

They do ignore a mixed bed of poppies, old-fashioned roses and trumpet vines as far as not nibbling at any of them. But, they do like to dig in and take dust baths in the middle of the bed.

 

[SarahLadd]

I'm a little jealous. My chickens won't leave my hostas alone!

They do ignore a mixed bed of poppies, old-fashioned roses and trumpet vines as far as not nibbling at any of them. But, they do like to dig in and take dust baths in the middle of the bed.

Oh no! Hostas are a very popular plant in Minneapolis. My plants are now 3 year old clippings my mom gave me and my birds have never bothered them. The things they WILL bother is what I keep fenced. I have a strawberry bed and everything loves those. And my asparagus bed is protected along with whatever mix of fragile annual herbs and veggies sound good.

 

[TheAlrightyGina]

Rue, rosemary, sage...squash, watermelon (though if they find a weakness in the rind they'll destroy the fruit)...mine love dianthus, butterflyweed, and mint.

 

[AntiqueB]

Mine eat hostas, too, but can't eat them all, ha, ha! We have tons of them.

They really don't eat much in terms of shrubbery. They may nibble the snowberry. They do tend to like flowers, I guess for the nectar. They actively pick flowers from camellias and tried to pick them from azaleas. They refuse to eat the leaves, though. And they didn't pick the lily of the valley or hyacinths.

They've also avoided lilies, irises, astilbe, peonies, and poppies.

 

[Tonyroo]

My chickens destroyed my wild Iris, mint, azalea bush, grass, hydrangea, ferns, agapanthus, and cosmos.

So now everything I want to grow and keep gets fenced.

 

[ladybrasa]

Sunflowers, only once they get tall enough!

 

[SarahLadd]

I'm back in here with a photo of my sweet potato vines and topiary rosemary. They do not like the rosemary and my vine is looking awesome. I don't know if this is just my birds or if it's universal that all chickens would leave these plants alone.

 

[springvalley123]

I'm back in here with a photo of my sweet potato vines and topiary rosemary. They do not like the rosemary and my vine is looking awesome. I don't know if this is just my birds or if it's universal that all chickens would leave these plants alone.

I had a sweet potato vine that was quite a bit bigger than yours. My brown leghorns ate the sweet potato itself. I don't recall if they ate the leaves too.

 

[SarahLadd]

I had a sweet potato vine that was quite a bit bigger than yours. My brown leghorns ate the sweet potato itself. I don't recall if they ate the leaves too.

This same variety? They dug the root up??