potato Chicken Garden.

[jazimo]

I have been planning on using a 4x4 container that is about 6 inches deep to turn into a "Chicken garden," by planting chicken friendly plants in it and covering with chicken wire. I started wondering, would potatoes make a good choice for a chicken garden? It is my understanding that the goal with potatoes is to keep the plant growing and it seems like chickens nibbling it would be just thing.
1. Are potato leaves safe for chickens to eat.
2. If the chicken poop would be too overwhelming for the plants. This will only be a small part of their coop and run and I only have 4 LF and one bantam chicken...

Any thoughts?
Thanks!

 

[Ridgerunner]

Do not use potatoes. The leaves contain solanine, a substance that in quantities can be harmful to the chicks. It also tastes bitter. They are not likely to even want to eat it, but if it is the only green stuff around they might. Solanine is the same stuff that makes feeding them green potato skins a bad idea. Tomatoes, peppers, and even eggplant leaves also contain solanine.

I suggest you plant grasses or some type of hay crop, red clover or alfalfa for example. Another decent choice is about anything you would eat as greens. Kale is a pretty good choice here because it grows fairly well all summer, but your climate may be different.

Will the chicken poop overwhelm it? I don't know. It depends on how much they poop in there and some on how wet your climate is to rinse some of it away. They will poop in it as they stay on top to eat it, but if you have other things around higher than that frame, they are more likely to perch there and spend down time there instead of perching on that frame. Chickens like to roost and perch on higher things.
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[jazimo]

Thanks for the info. I was originally going to plant something else...but thought that I might kill two birds with one stone.