Thinking ahead - honeysuckle and cherry in future chicken yard

[littlecoopnextdoor]

Hi! I am doing the winter thing where I am planning ahead on what to grow in the garden, and mostly thinking about giving my ladies a larger area to hang out in the summer, close to the secure run. My question is, in this other area there is a large honeysuckle bush (very mature) and a black cherry sapling, as well as hazelnut sapling. Will these trees cause any issue? I can certainly chicken wire around the saplings, but the large honeysuckle is one that I can't move. It's invasive so one day it will hopefully be replaced but the black cherry and hazelnut bushes. I am hoping to let the ladies out in this area as it's surrounded by my perimeter fence and fairly sheltered from above from aerial predators, probably just for a couple hours in the afternoons when I'm home? Thoughts?

 

[Jajika]

Did you research whether these trees, (trees right?) are toxic to chickens? I have Oleander growing in the chicken yard and they ignore it even though it is toxic to chickens. It's been 20 years and no issues. They don't go after stuff that isn't good for them. How would your chickens go after these trees.

 

[Brooks_]

I would be more concerned that the chickens would scratch up and kill the sapling than if various yard plants and trees will cause harm to them. Like above, I have several toxic plants around....the chickens largely ignore them. They will still peck at them and move on. As long as proper feed is available, it is highly unlikely that a chicken will eat enough of a toxic plant to cause any problem.

 

[SandyRiverChick]

You're lucky that the honeysuckle is mature, it will probably make it.... I have a honeysuckle plant climbing an arbor outside of my fence so that the chickens can't get to the roots. They will surely dig up the sapplings. Mature plants can make it if you keep adding back the soil they remove but a sappling just probably won't make it. How big is the area? The bigger, the greater the chance that things will live. And for sure they avoid some things. You notice in people's pics, that the smaller the area, you just never see a living plant. There is alot of "alive" brush here in my first pic because they have 5 acres sectioned off and they only free range it in winter. Compared to their run which is also a pretty big area but they have killed just about everything due to it's smaller and they're in there all the time.

 

[littlecoopnextdoor]

Did you research whether these trees, (trees right?) are toxic to chickens? I have Oleander growing in the chicken yard and they ignore it even though it is toxic to chickens. It's been 20 years and no issues. They don't go after stuff that isn't good for them. How would your chickens go after these trees.

I was more wondering if they'd nibble fallen leaves or berries since both cherry tree and honeysuckle leaves and bark is toxic. Thank you for your experience, good to know they haven't touched the oleander!

 

[littlecoopnextdoor]

You're lucky that the honeysuckle is mature, it will probably make it.... I have a honeysuckle plant climbing an arbor outside of my fence so that the chickens can't get to the roots. They will surely dig up the sapplings. Mature plants can make it if you keep adding back the soil they remove but a sappling just probably won't make it. How big is the area? The bigger, the greater the chance that things will live. And for sure they avoid some things. You notice in people's pics, that the smaller the area, you just never see a living plant. There is alot of "alive" brush here in my first pic because they have 5 acres sectioned off and they only free range it in winter. Compared to their run which is also a pretty big area but they have killed just about everything due to it's smaller and they're in there all the time.

yes I know this! Their run had lots of plants that they decimated in the first few weeks of being in there hah. The new space won't be big at all (likely 12x4) it's simple a little bit extra space beyond their run. What I might do is fence off the area with the saplings until they are bigger, and maybe explore the idea of a chicken 'tunnel' that goes elsewhere...

 

[Brooks_]

I would suggest wider. To give lower birds a better chance of giving higher birds a wide berth.

 

[littlecoopnextdoor]

I would suggest wider. To give lower birds a better chance of giving higher birds a wide berth.

do you mean for the chicken tunnels or the run in general? their current run is 17x4, and I only have two chickens at the moment but getting a couple more in the spring

 

[SandyRiverChick]

yes I know this! Their run had lots of plants that they decimated in the first few weeks of being in there hah. The new space won't be big at all (likely 12x4) it's simple a little bit extra space beyond their run. What I might do is fence off the area with the saplings until they are bigger, and maybe explore the idea of a chicken 'tunnel' that goes elsewhere...

For sure that's the only way to keep the saplings alive, keep them out of there.

 

[Sussex19]

While they may be a bit poisonous, I don't think its enough to cause problems for chickens.
(this is just from my experience of goats and other animals eating them)