Plants in chicken run?

[hkwdesign]

Hi - I'm just starting up with chickens too and in my run we have irises - those things are tough to remove, so I've left a patch of them. Our chicks are still small 6 & 3 weeks old - they like to play in the iris spikes, but don't eat them. There were a bunch of low growing weeds, but they have completely destroyed them - they are little scavengers! I have heard that Morning Glories are toxic for chickens - I used to grow them in this area so I'm a bit worried...Now I just throw the garden weeds in their pen to keep them busy - they love it!
Good luck!

 

[teach1rusl]

Quote:
Well, I have few chickens in a large run, who are allowed out to free range on our fenced property when I'm home. Because of all of these factors, I have tons of grass in my run (needs mowing badly now), and I have planted raspberries in there, but the young berry plant is protected by wire right now. I will keep the wire around it even when the plant is large and growing fruit. I just want the chickens to have access to the berries that drape over the protective barrier.

 

[flgardengirl]

I just planted a bunch of banana plants just outside the run to create some shade. Also I am putting climbing gourds on another side where the sun moves to in the afternoon. Gourds are edible when small and the vines won't hurt the chickens. The flowers along with other squash and pumpkin flowers etc are also edible. I am putting them on a lattice that is at an angle to thier fence so they can't get to the bottoms of the vines and kill them. You could plant grape vines to create shade or for a windblock etc as well.