We have a relatively large yard (about 1/3 acre) in an urban setting, we have one side of the house dedicated to a small veggie garden and a buffer zone and then the chicken run, it is 16 foot wide and 28 feet long. Inside that we have a 10 X 8 foot hardware cloth wrapped run and a large coop sized enough for at least 10 birds). So all that said, we had a wonderful mexican petunia and buttercup garden once, which has now been reduced to a moonscape (sand and devoid of anything. I was wondering if anyone has suggestion on how to plant something it it, perhaps closing part off and planting and rotating their access? Any suggestions would be great. The rest of the yard is all tropical gardens and pools and sitting areas for guests so they cannot roam outside of their dedicated area.
You'd probably have to fence the birds away from anything planted in the run or they'll eat the foliage and scratch the roots out, killing the plant. Take a look at the threads in the search linked here: advanced search>titles only>plants in run
The only grasses that chickens can't kill are native bunch grass varieties. But you need to keep it fenced off for a good year until the grass gets established. After it puts down its deep roots, it is extremely resistant to both chickens and drought. You can get this seed in most feed stores by asking for "dryland pasture mix". It comes in all sorts of very attractive and decorative varieties. Look on the internet for more choices. The reason these bunch grasses are so durable is due to the root system. Unlike sod grass with roots that grow laterally, bunch grass roots grow vertically and quite deep, thereby making it almost impossible for chickens to destroy. They will grow in all climates.
