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bennyboy

Plants by the side of a permanent run?

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Hello all,

 

Have finally been given the green light to buy an Eglu. Hurrah! I'm thinking of building a permanent site for the Eglu and then letting the chickens cruise around as and when we're around.

 

However, I'd like to have some plants/flowers around the Eglu...Am I limited to pot plants (in tall containers)?

 

Thanks

 

A Very excited Ben.

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The perennials are just coming through in my garden, I've been watching the chooks as they scratch around and so far they have left alone my osteosperums ( the original old fashioned mauve coloured ones - not the new hybrids ) my geraniums have had a few pecks taken out of them , the aqualegias are the favourite - the seedlings have been decimated :lol: so maybe some geraniums/ osteosperums in containers might stand a chance of survival ? OR you could go the other way and plant stuff esp for the chooks - I'm thinking of planting some perpetual spinach along the side of the run for them, we'll see if it can grow as fast as they can eat ! :lol:

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Mine mainly leave lavender alone and never touch the rosemary, so we have a big bush of it next to their run. They don't like mint either, or anything with a strong taste. Some things, like delphiniums, are fine once they are a couple of feet high, so I just put plastic wire netting round them till the tender shoots have grown up. Anything strong and shrubby is fairly safe. Hope that's helpful.

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.

 

Exotic grasses don't seem to appeal to hens. :lol:

 

I think Cinnamon planted exotic grasses in her new run and her chickens destroyed them :(

 

Tessa

 

Yes, they certainly did,the little monkeys.

Didn't eat the mind,just pecked the ling pointy leafs out & threw them on the ground :roll:

I am thinking about planting a small tree next so they can roost in it too.

 

Also both of my pens of hens ate all the lavendar I planted :twisted:

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In the old house, we had a small rhododendron in the garden that was about the only thing the chickens ignored. It is poisonous to chickens though, so I assume they possibly had a small peck, got a sore tummy, and decided against further feasts. :?

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Don't put ornamental thistle on your list either - mine have just spent the last half hour stood around mine tearing up the new shoots - not eating them, just pulling them up :roll::lol: will have to cover what's left of it before the girls are out again. I'm reading 'keeping poultry' at the moment, the author suggests; honeysuckle,clematis,berberis,pyracantha or firs for growing on the outside of the run.

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I've got hebe's planted all around the eglu run and the girls seem to ignore them. I've discovered that if I can get a plant past the new growth stage then they are not interested in it. So far they've eaten the new leaves off the roses, the mint, thyme, hydrangeas and the corokia. They've shown no interest in the clematis, salvias, lillies, daffs, oregano, chives, heuchera, lemon tree or lavender. The oregano is the one plant that is thriving with all the rough treatment it gets and is turning out to be a nice groundcover at the entrance to their run.

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The only thing my girls don't seem to eat is rosemary. Other than that they are omniverous!! I like the idea of the perpetual spinach - they love it. I have it on the allotment and thegirls consider it a real treat to be able to free range along to it and peck their own! It has outgrown their appetite for the winter and is brilliant. Go for some pots of rosemary, maybe thyme as well. A friend of mine has a tehory that they don't like any herbs that can be made into stuffing! Very wise those birds!!

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I grow herbs in pots along the (outside!) front of the run. They will nibble rosemary, mint and thyme, but tend to ignore the lavendar and sage. If you put pots in the run, even if they don't eat the plants, they are likely to jump on the pots and scratch the poor plants to bits.

 

I originally planned to rotate the pots in the run but the chooks are too good at destroying them (then to add insult to injury, they start dustbathing in the remains), so I snip bits of the herbs off with my secateurs and scatter them in the run to make it smell nice, although sometimes they get eaten!

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I have planted some small lavender bushes in front of my Eglu run, and when the hens are out they don't eat them but they partially dig them up and I have to replant them all the time. I grew them as cuttings, and didn't plant them until I thought they looked strong enough.

 

Young plants don't stand much of a chance. The best option is to put the run near existing large bushes if possible, but only a few lucky people can do this, as everything is always in the wrong place.

 

Big square pots around the run holding down the skirt look nice, but I have arranged my Omlet netting so that the hens cannot get near them when they are out.

 

I can't imagine anything that would survive inside the run.

 

Gardening and hens don't mix, but I can't give up either. The problem is that you need years to get things growing beautifully all round the run (I rather fancy a bamboo jungle around mine); but who could survive long with an empty run while waiting for the plants to mature?

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I've got weigela, holly and hebes growing in my run. The weigela and holly is still looking good, although what they don't eat, they dig around and can disturb the roots. The hebes are mostly OK, but they are nibbling the new growth :? so they are bald round the edges with a crown of new leaves right in the middle :lol: But they are burrowing around in the roots - not sure how much longer they will survive this abuse. :roll:

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