Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[fuzzi]

So I haven't gone this route (though I was involved with a relevant project once) and to answer it need to rely more on book knowledge than experience, but since you are looking for edible things to plant, the chicken-friendly ornamentals mentioned earlier might not cut the mustard with the other members of the field association.

So, flicking through Crawford's chapter on Shrubs (chap 13), he starts with the common berries and currants, then moves onto a range of which this is just highlights:
Amelanchier (we have one, more high than wide),
Arbutus unedo aka Strawberry tree (had one, loved it; strongly recommended, evergreen and windproof too),
Quinces - he thinks the flowering varieties (chaenomeles spp) are more reliable and versatile crops than the true quince (cydonia oblonga); we have them but don't consume them,
Fuschias (their fruits are edible but flowers difficult to pollinate here, so don't often produce fruit),
Goji berry (apparently already naturalized in many parts of the UK),
Mahonia (berries are edible; I also have this and recommend it; evergreen, tough - front line shelter belt here - and lovely scented flowers in winter),
Roses (hips are edible),
Elder (have here; recommended; chickens love them too),
Bamboo (seeds are edible - it's a grass, and shoots), which you are familiar with and know makes good chicken cover
Bay, and
Garrya elliptica aka fever bush, which we don't have but I recall my mum was a big fan of in her garden.

How much any of these might cost you I have no idea. Some self seed easily so you might be able to pick up for free if you ask around.

Bamboo is extremely invasive in some areas, check before planting.

 

[RoyalChick]

Bamboo is extremely invasive in some areas, check before planting.

I was just going to post that. If you plant bamboo you spend the rest of your life trying to get rid of it!
I will put down a vote for forsythia. It doesn’t really grow horizontal perching branches unless pruned a bit when it certainly will. It grows very fast. You can usually get it for free by layering a branch from a friend (it is common so many people will have it). It creates excellent cover for chickens. It isn’t evergreen unfortunately, but if you let it rip it will form such a dense tangle of branches that it provides cover even without leaves.

 

[HiEverybirdy]

Not a hedge by any means, but the huge wall of opuntia that grows at the far end of the property is a popular hangout spot. The lower pads have completely lost their spikes after decades of growing, and thus are quite accessible for the smaller sized hens. The males seem to share my hatred of them

I'd side with the male chickens! Lost spikes or not, opuntia seems super stabby.

Our scary pointy plant in the chickenyard is thorny blackberry. The chickens like to relax in the tunnels I've pruned through it. It makes a nice shelter besides the risk of eye injury if the birds aren't paying attention. Of course the real payoff is in June when the berries ripen.

Carolina sweetshrub (native, keeping)

A favorite find on hikes here in the mountains. I didn't realize it grew so nicely in eastern NC.

We picked up a handful of sweetshrub stems at Forestry's free-tree giveaway here in 2018. Seven short springs later, disco! I suppose I could've purchased bigger plants for a quicker payoff.

Mahonia (berries are edible; I also have this and recommend it;

Previous owners of the acreage we just added planted a small hedge of leatherleaf mahonia/Mahonia bealei. The hedge is near a neighbor who loves plants and trees and likes the mahonia, so we haven't removed it. Apparently the berries make good jelly, and cedar waxwings like them, too.

I'm not a fan. It's listed as an "emerging threat" in Tennessee. Not exactly invasive, not exactly not. Of course the bigger issue is that, as a child, I was so vehemently warned against eating mahonia berries that I still view them as inherently scary.

 

[HiEverybirdy]

I’ve heard him (Doug Tallamy) speak several times, and I’ll be seeing him again in a few weeks. I’ve also got several of his books.

He’s one of those who inspired me to go back and get my BSc in Ecology at my advanced age.

He's a truly skilled communicator, which makes his books and messaging very palatable. I'm double-booked the weekend he's going to be nearby in May, but if plans change, I'll head down the mountain to hear him talk and shop some native plants.

 

[Shadrach]

this is widely regarded as one of the best books on the topic
https://www.agroforestry.co.uk/product/creating-a-forest-garden-2/
and is based on decades of experience. He also has some very useful appendices on propagation, hedging and fencing, attracting pollinators and other beneficial insects, and edible crops by month of use. He even considers chickens (recommends not to exceed about 20 per acre).

I might buy a copy. Thanks.

 

[Shadrach]

Funny you should mention hedgerows. Yesterday a video popped up on my feed which was about working on hedgerows, "hedging". It's a totally new concept for me!

I went on a hedge laying course years ago, just out of interest in the subject. I was employed part time and I found the course at a center (since closed due to finance cuts) that I was teaching (volunteering) a course on farm fencing.
Unfortunately I got a full time job because shortly after I started someone else was going to start a course on fruit tree management which I would have gone on.

 

[Shadrach]

I just saw the results posted on your thread; I’m so sorry!

But I find it incredibly difficult to believe that supermarket eggs have low levels across the board. How can this be?

It's because they never get on to natural ground, or put another way, they live in a controlled environment.

 

[ChaosMom]

It's because they never get on to natural ground, or put another way, they live in a controlled environment.

So it’s not contaminants in the feed? I confess I didn’t read the initial article linked several days ago.

 

[MrsNorthie]

Also, is there a movement in the UK toward no-mow and native plantings? I

We hold off mowing until late spring when lots of other things are in bloom, to give the bees a chance and then we mow sparingly leaving several areas to just go wild.

 

[no fly zone]

I planted some Spanish onions, rosemary, mint, and basil yesterday.