What type of bush can I put in the run? UPDATE!!!

[GiddyMoon]

Thanks for the ideas here. I am really having a hard time finding things to plant OUTSIDE the fencing..so it pretties up the fence, gives them shade and if they peck and eat at it, that's ok too...I need sun dry climate hardy plants...try looking up herbs edible chicken...and see what you get in good..they are all recipes!!!

 

[chics in the sun]

I know I am planning on planting bamboo for shade, as it is heat hardy, but it may be too dry where you are for it.

 

[patandchickens]

Ten minutes on google gives me no reason to believe yew isn't as poisonous to birds as it is to mammals; but if you are happy with the "hopefully they won't eat so much it'll kill 'em" approach that is fine. Me, I feel that way about most things re: chickens but yew is really one of the more toxic ones. Just posting this so that others reading the thread can have the information to make their own decision.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[krcote]

After a little concern over planting yew, I can fill you all in and let you know the birds have lived! Now you all can make your informed decision. They ate the bottom half of the bush as expected and have left the top alone. I trimmed off the lower naked branches so they would stop trying to grow foliage and concentrate energy up higher.

Both the Lilacs and Mystery Tree seem happy. Their leaves are opening as we speak. I could not be more happy with how this little experiment turned out.
You too can grow bushes and trees in your runs!!!!!

 

[Nostalchic]

I've planted Nanking cherry shrubs inside my run, with a poultry wire hoop around them the first few years until they're well established. They are pretty, very hardy here in this windy, dry, sometimes very hot and sometimes very cold climate, and provide small edible cherries that birds (including chickens) really like and will make a windbreak and a nice little shady area for the hens to collect under in a few years. . The other deciduous shrub that might work in the west is serviceberry, pretty, quick to grow, some edible fruit, very drought tolerant. Both of these sucker something awful, but the chickens would help to control that with their scratching and picking at anything green that tried to come up outside the boundaries.. I also bought a sad little pear tree at a clearance sale from Home Depot last year (for $5) and planted it in the middle of the chicken yard for shade - wire fence around it initially, and some rocks around the roots to keep them from being exposed, and it's doing great. My hens free range most days, but it's nice to have a little "landscaping" - and some cover - in their big run when they can't.

 

[Mama Hen Chris]

Quote:
Have you tried Concord grapes or other types of grapes? You can plant them by the fence and once they take, they will grow like weeds and cover the run. Nice shade for our summers. I am thinking of doing that. We had a couple grape vines over out fish pond and it was great shade in the summer.

 

[areyoumymother]

Quote:
That's exactly what I was going to say!! My hens just discovered my blueberry bushes in the yard, and I will be lucky if I get any fruit at all!! But I don't mind.... they are much cuter..

Question: Is it a concern to plant thorny bushes (like berry bushes or roses) where the chickens have access to them ?

 

[rancher hicks]

Quote:
The Yew itself may be fine, what concerns me is that the berries are poinsonous. Aren't they?

 

[Katydid2011]

I like to plant peas and green beans along the outside fence and let them climb and weave their way up. It's pretty, practical, and bits stick through into the run where the chickens can nibble at them but can't ruin them. I have mostly dwarf evergreen trees inside our large hen yard (dwarf spruce and fir). They love to disappear inside them but they don't eat them.

 

[Katydid2011]

Quote:
What a lovely space you've created for your girls.