vines for shading your chicken run

[srothove]

Try climbing Nystersium. There are several varieties and the flowers are edible for humans, too. My girls LOVE the leaves and stems. Enjoy!

 

[bj taylor]

what a great question and great answers. this question is slightly on the ignorant side - are chickens pretty good @ knowing what is ok for them to eat, or do they just eat everything & then decide if they are going to survive or not?

 

[darkmatter]

squash:

 

[jeepguy982001]

cucumber or climbing tomato plants.

 

[gale65]

I think we're going to put some grapevines. I found a wild one but only one. I don't think it'll spread sideways, right? So I will need more. The squash vines look nice but I want something I can plant once and it will come back up every year. And it has to be fast growing enough to cover a good portion of the side by early in the season.

 

[kari_dawn]

Quote:

that's a good question! If they were MY chickens, they would eat everything, and then decide if they are going to survive or not! My girls are pigs! Honestly, I think you should probably do some pre-screening...trial and error may not end well for the girls...but I do not know how good chickens are at knowing what is good for them and what is not.

 

[CountryRoosterUSA]

I used gourds last yr. they worked great. Vines get around 12' high and 12' wide, they cover alot of space. Plus you have the gourds to dry up and use. My chickens ate the leaves that came thru the fence,, no harm done, gave them something green to eat.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Morning glorys are fast. You may have to offset many vines like cucumbers or beans so the chickens won't eat their shade.
Wisteria is very robust, comes back every year and is great shade. Whatever it grows on has to be robust too.

 

[stevin]

are the morning glorys a perenial? would they survive the harsh new england winters?
also, i love the deep shade that the squash vine provides. thats exactly the type of shading i'm looking for.
my run however is 6' high and 12' wide x 18' long. so i'm looking for something that would be able to cover that much area.
even if that means multiple vines or even a combination of different vines.

 

[Angiebubs]

I beleive some of the vines mentioned are posionous-here is a good site for determining if vines are safe or not: (IE Morning Glories)
http://www.poultryhelp.com/toxicplants.html