What plants don't need a lot of sun??

[chickens r life]

I just got chickens a week ago and in the near future I am going to plant some plants next to my coop. Only problem is that there isn't a whole lot of sun where my coop is. Do you guys know of any plants that don't need a lot of sun but chickens like to peck and eat at it?

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[lazy gardener]

How many hours of full sunlight per day? Or is it at best dappled shade?

 

[chickens r life]

I would say 2 hours of sunlight at most and for about 3 hours it is dappled

 

[MinxFox]

So you want the chickens to be able to eat the plant? I was going to say cast irons because they do well in the shade and I keep them in my aviary, but I keep them in my aviary because my birds DON'T eat them.

Hostas might be good and I know birds will eat them.

 

[chickens r life]

Yeah I'd like for my chickens to Forge on the plants when I let them out of their coop.

 

[mermaids]

How about leafy greens? Spinach, kale. They fry in full sun, gotta keep them wet. I'm actually growing a planter box of alfalfa for my chickens.

 

[FridayYet]

That's a really good idea Mermaid, where did you get a small amount of alfalfa seed?

 

[mermaids]

I actually ordered them from amazon for me to eat as sprouts. Add to any deli sandwich with some avocado, instantly amazing gourmet sandwich, healthy too
I bought a one lb bag. Unfortunately the smallest container I could get from the feed store was 5 lb so I didn't take them up on that. If you want to avoid ordering online, maybe try a health food store? Find a neighbor with livestock who may want to split a big bag?
You can also store seeds in the fridge and plant them later. I've gotten seeds to grow after 3 years in the fridge.

 

[lazy gardener]

If I had an area that shady, where the chicken run was, this is what I'd do: I'd cover the whole run with a deep layer of mulch. Look for free stuff: like chipped trees from tree service companies, yard litter and used stable litter. And look for cheap stuff, like spoiled hay. Give the birds a nice 6" layer, and renew it as needed. Then, I'd do some movable planters: build them on skids, so they can be pulled around easily. Grow plants for the chickens in the sun, and as they finish one planter off, replace it with an other one. You could cover the tops with hardware cloth, so that they could eat the greens that come up through, but the root systems would remain intact so they would re-grow quickly with good fertilizer and sun. You'll be hard pressed to find anything that will actually grow and stand up to chicken abuse in an area that shady. Even when a plant is advertised as being shade tolerant, what that usually means is: the plant will survive in the shade. But you'll not see optimal performance from that plant until it gets a goodly amount of sunlight.

 

[FridayYet]

I added some sprouting seeds to my Azure Standard order - didn't even think to look there! I think I'm going to put a couple of grazing frames in the run and will put some alfalfa in the mix.

Lazy gardener - I love that idea of movable planters.