plants my chickens will love

[Help_battery_hens]

my hens free range any time that i am home in my garden and they have a large coop when i am at work. all my flower beds are mostly empty because i was going to re-do them but now i want to make it a chicken garden with plants that will be enjoyed by my birds. Has anyone got ideas of what i can plant that they would either like to eat or to hide in and get nice shade and find lots of bugs under it?

 

[Imp]

My hens like to get into the bamboo. First place I look if eggs or hens go missing. Course it is rather invasive. It's a short (2ft) high type of bamboo.

Imp

 

[10 point]

mine like big leafy greens like lettuce

 

[bawkbawkbawk]

Mine are happy to decimate almost anything within reach. Their current favorite is high-jumping to eat the blossoms off of the fuchsia plants. Just be sure not to plant anything poisonous!

They also love to destroy those nice color pots you can get at Home Depot:

 

[chickiepie]

My chickens go crazy for broccoli leaves. Of all the treats I have given them this is their favorite!

 

[chickenbythesea]

does the brocolli make their eggs stinky? you know like the water left over from steaming brocoli? I have heard that chickens will destroy any plants they can get their "hands" on.

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[nurseshelly]

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Grape leaves are a yummy treat, also hibiscus leaves are yummy, petunias are edible and everyone loves them too. Mine love weeds too, dandelion, cow thistle, spiny lettuce, mallow (orange globe and mini), purslane, and an edible weed seed mix I get from Carolina pet supply it is meant for tortoises (which I also have), but the chickens love everything in it. The chicks especially go crazy for the sprouted weeds. You would need to protect the plants with something so the chickens can't eat the whole plant. Maybe put them just out of the coop so they can eat them as they grow into it? Mine stripped their coop of all green within two days. We have been putting grass down occasionally, and replacing it after it gets killed every now and then. It will last a month or two, and then it croaks from all of the grazing and poop. They love it though, and sod is cheap, so we still do it.

 

[Tracydr]

Mine love nastitutiums and garlic chives. All greens, kale, mints. Basil. Tomatoes are a favorite. Amaranth. I'm sure they would like chia, which I'm going to try for them this fall.
I'm planning in planting clover and rye grass in my garden walkways, where they graze, for my winter grass. It's Bermuda for the summer. I'm also going to try planting chia and a few other small patches of grains scattered in little sunny areas where they're not allowed to go. I'll see which gives me the most yield in a small space for next season. Course, I think we're moving out of state next fall so I'll probably be learning a whole new growing season and hopefully have far more natural pasture if that happens.

 

[Help_battery_hens]

thank you so much for your responses and i really LOVE the pics! i am going to try a few different things suggested and see how they like them. I thought about also next year just putting in any veg seeds that i do not use in my own plot and then they can have them too if they grow. i just want my garden to be a little chicken paradise for them

 

[jbh06]

Tomatoes, cabbage, zucchini and yellow squash...and my chickens favorite....sweet corn