the one plant that can flourish in your run.

[Silkie-Feet]

my chickens always tear up every green thing in the run. i was just wondering if you could put bamboo in the run? it would provide shade, dosen't take up that much room, and i don't see how they could manage to eat it. please tell me if you have tried it, or if you beleve that it will (or won't) work, and why.

 

[bywaterdog]

How large is the run? If you are planning to have 36 chickens in there they will destroy most everything. Clumping bamboo is a good choice, but don't expect instant results with it. The plants will have to be protected ( wrapped in chicken wire ) at least for the first year, perhaps even the second until it becomes well established.

I had several large banana plants 10-12" in circumference and 15' tall in my run that were "cut down" and eaten by my birds, I thought that the bananas were indestructible.

 

[seedcorn]

horseradish will survive. At least mine does. Plus the large leaves give them shade.

 

[gsim]

Quote:
Bamboo indeed will grow in a chicken pen. However it must be protected first until established. If allowed to get dense, it is a great place for snakes and rats too. I know a man who planted a mulberry tree in his pen. Actually it may have been there already. His chooks are always up in the thing hopping from branch to branch eating the mulberries.

I am going to plant 3 or 4 Cherry tomato plants in my run this coming spring. I will keep the chooks from them until they bear well then let them plunder them at will.

 

[BlackBart]

Maybe grow plants in some big pots and switch them when the chickens start to destroy them. Gives the plant a rest and time to recuperate until its turn comes up again.

 

[theguy67]

Im not sure how slow people realize bamboo grows. I bought a plant last summer for the tortoise pen, and it hasnt grown that much. It may be from low nitrogen levels (which chickens would solve that) but i started to throw cow poo on it and hasnt started up yet. It spreads quickly just dosent grow up fast. BUT, it is an evergreen, soo it dosent die back.

 

[marquisella]

Make sure you get "clump" bamboo, not the kind that spreads. Clump bamboo stays in one space and gets thick, bamboo that spreads will grow all over and be impossible to contain.

Suie