what to plant for shade for chickens?

[sdshoars]

well our lovely ladies have decided they are not happy with our fenced acre, and they like to go visit the neighbor's garden. which is fine with them, but once they get out of our fence, they are on their own predator wise, which is not ok with me. we will be building them a big run, but there is not shade! i can't plant a tree there either, so i am thinking some sort of bush? what would you plant?

 

[gumpsgirl]

Any bush or plant will be useless because they will just devour it! We used an old trampoline mat to cover part of my run that was in the shade. It works really well! Try thinking about what you can cover the run with, versus planting things. You will feel like this if you try to plant something.

 

[ChooksChick]

I planted a 'Three Sisters' garden this year for the crops it would bring and the way the 3 plants work together- this is just a ground crop (squash, melon, etc.) a corn crop, and a vining bean crop. Th corn acts as the stakes for the beans, and the squashes keep the feet of the beans and corn shaded. Very nice, just plant the corn a couple of weeks before the beans.

My girls ate the leaves of the squash, cantaloupe and watermelon, but I got fruit, anyway. What really resulted was the beans ended up 8+ feet tall with less density at the base and it became a chicken spa! The girls loved hiding in the big, shady pockets and dirt bathing. It was the best accident ever, as it also gave them a great place to hide from the hawks that discovered a potential chicken-dinner-waiting-to-happen.

I'm going to give them a real run next summer- they just free-range around our 40 x 300 backyard. I'm going to plant purple, green and white beans all over the perimeter of it. It's just gorgeous, plus the girls don't really like the beans! Also, I didn't really have to water, even though we get HOT and DRY.

Best of luck!

 

[sdshoars]

will they eat boxwoods? that doesnt seem palatable to me, but then again i am not a chicken. i dont eat mice and grasshoppers... ugh.... what to do?

 

[Chicabee19]

There was someone posting pics today of their new run and I noticed their tall ornamental grasses were still intact. The tops are high enough that the birds can't reach them.

 

[keljonma]

Climbing thorny old fashioned roses. Don't trellis them, just let them fall. It will create a canopy chickens can hide under. But because of the thorns, they don't dig.

 

[seedcorn]

horse radish......huge leaves they can hide under during summer/fall. Will be gone in winter and come back next spring. Chickens can't kill and won't eat it. or at least mine don't.

 

[jvls1942]

If it is in the hicken yard the chickens will destroy it.. I fenced in a thick well established blackberry patch last year.. this year there are two (2) dead stalks standing in a completely barren yard.. If you are planting something for shade, plant it outside the yard and close to the fence.. I would recommend grape vines.. my brother did the grapes around his dog kennel and they completely covered it is a coupe of years.. now you cannot even tell if there is a kennel there.. lots of shade and grape wine for a bonus.

 

[debilorrah]

It would have to be something they don't like to eat. You thought goats were bad! Chickens eat everything.

 

[pasofinofarm]

We planted muscodine ?sp grapes over the runs. The vines are woody and the chickens don't mess with them. They provide shade and when the grapes ripen they drop snacks for the chickens for a couple of months.