plants my chickens will love

[LN2008]

If we're talking plants that are conducive to chicken entertainment, my girls LOVE the boxwoods by their coop. If we're talking edibles, grape vines, all the way.

 

[AspiringUrbaniteFarmer]

Mine are young & they aren't taking to too many foods outside their chick feed... they do seem to LOVE the crepe myrtle blossoms, though... & they love to seek shade & refuge under my native coontie plant.

 

[Chickenaddict]

sugar snap peas, yellow pear tomatoes, early girl tomatoes, garlic chives, lettuce, strawberries, blackberries, hostas, marigolds, pansies,
Broccoli, and anything else I don't want them to eat lol

 

[greensandjeans]

Mine love weeds

But I don't think you'll be planting those. I pull out the crab grass and the sweet clover from my vegetable garden each morning and put them in the run for them. The love both. I'd recommend kale. They love that and there are quite a few ornamental varieties.

 

[Hopper]

are there any plants that are specifically toxic to chickens?

 

[Terri O]

I would definitely say black nightshade. It is poisonous to most anything. Rhubarb leaves too. You can do a check for poisonous stuff for children and I dont think you could go wrong following that list. My birds free range and really seem to stay away from the stuff that must be back for them...or they just dont like it. Birds that cant get all they want might be different though...Terri O

 

[thesweetone]

I was just reading this portion of Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens this afternoon.. the toxic list includes:

black locust
black nightshade (isn't that a given?)
bladderpod
castor bean
corn cockle
crown vetch
death camas (and "death" in the name.. a little foreboding don't you think?)
jimsonweed, thorn apple
milkweed
oleander
poison hemlock (again, kinda figure "poison" in the name should put it on the don't list...)
pokeberry
potato
vetch'
water hemlock, cowbane
yew

In general, the guide says free ranging birds generally avoid toxic plans by nature, mostly because they don't like the taste however birds that are hungry/lacking in greens/nutrients may go for them if that's all that's available.

With respect to table scraps, Storey's lists raw potato peels - too difficult to digest unless cooked, strong flavoured foods like onions, garlic or fish, the brown seed cover of avocadoes, fried foods - difficult to digest, no caffeine or alcohol and anything high in fat, sugar or sugar substitute.

I guess that means no more throwing the morning coffee grounds in the compost for me...

 

[zzzzac]

they should love grape vines, oyster plants, and dwarf bananas. anything with watery filled leaves.
i can barely keep the leaves on mine.

 

[Nonny]

I had some lovely 2ft tall groundcover stuff (can't remember what it's called but it's like a strappy/fleshy leaved thing). It covered an area roughly the size of a small bedroom. In a few short months my three chooks have completely decimated it, crushed it to the ground by walking over it, and scratched up the roots looking for bugs.

 

[GhostRider65]

Quote:
I planted mine Kale, lettuce, Amaranth, Foxtail millet, Nasturtiums, parsley, tomatoes, egg plant, Swiss chard, Mangle beets for winter feed, along with squash, pumpkins, melons, dutch lettace and spinach, they love it I don't let them in the chicky garden but I pick a big bowl full everyday and hand feed it up they LOVE IT !!!

OOPPSS forgot I also planted them cabbage for winter, plan on hanging it in the coop to help with boredom. Plus they seem to love anything in that family, so will see.