i want to know what kinda of plants to grow in my chicken run, i want some that will give them shade and some that will make it look better it's on a hill and they ate all the grass and now there alot of run off, i have mint that does well in there but i want more so what could i put in there that they can eat and some they wont
It will usually turn into a dirt run pretty quickly. Might try some bushy plants like bee balm, butterfly bush, rosemary, lavender, depending on what zone you're in. Maybe chickweed and sunflowers for them to eat? Some marigolds. I know some people plant luffas or gourds over the outside and tops to shade the pens.
Whatever you plant, they will eat right away before it gets a chance to grow up. You could probably put a fence around it until it's bigger but they still might kill it. I want to plant some shrubs for shade and if I do, I will put some chicken wire or something around them until they're big.
Perhaps you could plant your plants on the outside of the run so as it matures they can eat it but not to the point of killing the plant.
I put a few small boxwoods around the fence of the run (which they are never in anyway...). They are doing great except one has some low-bending limbs now from the bigger birds pushing their way through it. Both the adults and the chicks ocassionally try to peck at them but they are very hardy and tough plants, it takes some real effort to pull a leaf off and the waxy reward they get isn't really worth it. They also provide some good cover for the smaller birds to keep safe distance from the adults yet still be around them. Another idea which my wife came up with was to start some grass/plants from seeds or seedlings in a pot and wrap the top in a wire mesh so that the plant can grow through the opening in the wire but the chickens will never be able to get at the roots or the base of the plant to destroy it. You could then give the plant a break now and then by taking it out of the run for a week or so to regrow some fresh leaves/berries, etc.
I have a chayote squash vine in my run. I grew it up tall on a frame and kept them fenced out while it was getting started. they love the shade and they eat the leaves they can reach. the actual squash don't interest them, so it works really well. It is perennial here but it grows really fast...
