mccroft Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 Well i've seen loads of photo's of everyones chickens and a good few people seem to have well planted gardens. I know my previous flock left my shrub roses, most herbs and fuschia's alone but destroyed my rockery,rhubarb (leaves and stalks) and seem to nibble on everything else. What do your chickens leave for you to admire through the spring and summer months? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janepie33 Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 Mine don't touch the bay tree, the olive tree, forsythia, the evergreen clematis and the box shrub. They don't tend to eat the daffodils, but they do trample on them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C&T Posted January 26, 2009 Share Posted January 26, 2009 It's that time of year again! I was at Wisley Gardens yesterday, and it would have been so rude to have left without buying something from the garden centre... So bought a lovely rose bush hoping that the chickens will leave this alone... But would love to hear of other plants that won't be eaten by the wee feathered monsters... It would be nice to have a garden AND chickens... I have already planned how to fence off the new veg plot! I am guessing that while at the moment they won't touch tomatoes, if they had the opportunity to wreck a tomato plant that would be a whole different game... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Speckled Hen Posted January 26, 2009 Share Posted January 26, 2009 Rosemary, established large heathers and fuschias, iris, hellebore, daffodil, juniper, foxglove. Anything taller than three feet. Anything else is eaten. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jomaxsmith Posted January 26, 2009 Share Posted January 26, 2009 Mine have several spotted Laurels in their run which they ignore. They also have a Cornus which they nibble but it still gets its leaves and 2 perenniel grasses, which they do eat but if they leave them alone long enough for them to grow, they will still look pretty. In the garden, they don't get much chance to go for the plants as I don't let them free range often but when they do, it's the small stuff that gets scratched up and the more established plants are left alone. Jo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackrocksrock Posted January 26, 2009 Share Posted January 26, 2009 Mine love the fuschia bush and the leaves and the pods after the flowers being particularly tasty they are still alive to tell the tale though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickenanne Posted January 26, 2009 Share Posted January 26, 2009 Mine eat everything and anything: the flowery bit of garden is now separate from the chickens-and-apple-trees bit! They even eat (am not making this up, though it does sound implausible) chillies from my chilli plant: ahd taken it out the coldframe for the afternoon, and they'd scoffed half the chilli's before I realised. Niavely, i thought they'd not touch them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted January 26, 2009 Share Posted January 26, 2009 Mine won't touch Lavender. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C&T Posted January 26, 2009 Share Posted January 26, 2009 Mine eat everything and anything: the flowery bit of garden is now separate from the chickens-and-apple-trees bit! They even eat (am not making this up, though it does sound implausible) chillies from my chilli plant: ahd taken it out the coldframe for the afternoon, and they'd scoffed half the chilli's before I realised. Niavely, i thought they'd not touch them. Wow! Would have thought they would have been safe!! Did the eggs taste funny afterwards??!? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dancing cloud Posted January 26, 2009 Share Posted January 26, 2009 Mine tend to leave alone anything big and established eg fuchsia, hebe, azalea, laurel, but eat anything small, so the ground cover soon disappeared. Before Christmas they followed me round eating the pansies as I planted them , till I caught on to what they were doing. Threats were uttered ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abwsco Posted January 26, 2009 Share Posted January 26, 2009 Before Christmas they followed me round eating the pansies as I planted them , till I caught on to what they were doing. Threats were uttered ... I know I shouldn't but LOL's at that. I planted two mature black bamboo and within 2 minutes they'd stripped off all the bottom leaves then not content with that the younger gilrs were jumping up over 3ft to eat the ones at the top Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chocchick Posted January 26, 2009 Share Posted January 26, 2009 Er...? I haven't seen them eat lavender or roses. I now confine them to a pen as they don't understand special occasions and start demanding to roam the whole garden permanently. Anything taller than three feet. Anything else is eaten. Usually the things you're not that bothered about. I did have to drag Megan off a rhubarb leaf (poisonous) and they eat the odd privet leaf (poisonous). Poor pansies sorry, you do have to admire their cunning Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dora Posted January 26, 2009 Share Posted January 26, 2009 Well I know shouldn't , but I too lol at the pansie planting, but only because they did the same to me!! I am so determined to have some flowers back in the garden we have built some shelving round the garden where the fencing is and put planters on them which I have planted my bedding plants and bulbs in. This worked fine for a while until they noticed something different had happened! I came home one afternoon to find one of the planters on the ground contents scattered and plants eaten !! I still do not know how they managed it because the shelves are just wide enough to take the planters and high enough (or so I thought) to be out of jump/fly range . Still , we carry on trying to outwit each other !! I do love them dearly grrr !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SAB Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 I am watching this post with great interest as hope to put some planters in big run area this year - to add colour (and some pleasant smells!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mccroft Posted January 27, 2009 Author Share Posted January 27, 2009 I wonder if Kates garden still looks like this http://club.omlet.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=4703&st=0&sk=t&sd=a Inwould love a few areas of the garden in flower, so Kate if your read this any advice would be great Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jomaxsmith Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 Before Christmas they followed me round eating the pansies as I planted them , till I caught on to what they were doing. Threats were uttered ... Pansies are the reasons mine are currently confined to their chicken garden - I planted up some tubs of bulbs and pansies in the autumn and they completely ignored them for months - until recently when they de-headed every pansy they could reach, It's like now they've found them, they can't leave them alone. The most annoying thing the chooks have ever done was when I planted some nerine bulbs - these need to be planted very shallowly with tops poking out. I swear I had to shove them back in their planting holes countless times over the next few days because the hens just wouldn't leave them alone. The blooming things didn't flower either, too traumatised I expect! Jo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valkyrie Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 What they don't eat, they dig up or trample over! They don't eat leeks, but they will pull off the leaves for the hell of it and drag them up the paths. We still have lots of grass, but the borders are looking a bit worse for wear. At the moment their new friends are the little birds, particularly starlings, who pick out bits from the bird feeders way above their heads and drop bits down to them. They are not eating my snowdrops though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C&T Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 Well, after reading this thread and what people have to say so far, I am going to re-plant the entire border down the side of the garden! Hooray! Any excuse! I have already been on the David Austen website, and found lots of Roses that look lovely, and claim they smell fantastic. Way more then I actually have room for... Now, what else to add in... A few nice lavenders as they seem to be safe. No pansies, obviously... I can just see our two chickens enjoying them for a mid-day snack. This could keep me amused for days... Work? What work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Webmuppet Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 My chooks don't touch penstemons, roses, ferns, campanulas or hostas. Which is just as well 'cause that's whats in the garden. Mine love tomato plants though and kept breaking into the conservatory to get at the plants last year ( I saw them scoffing the leaves before they got chucked out!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cooks Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 Mine won't touch Lavender. that's interesting to know becuase I wanted to put some potted lavendar around their run. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mostin Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 My hens don't eat any of my plants but I think Shirley was Bruce lee in a former life . Her leg kicks can decimate anything she comes across. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valkyrie Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 My hens don't eat any of my plants but I think Shirley was Bruce lee in a former life . Her leg kicks can decimate anything she comes across. Mostin, my sympathies! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dora Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 You know several of you have said they don't touch roses ? Is it any type of rose ?Like big thorny ones ,standard ones, or climbers ? Iask this because I used to have a minature rose , but you can probably guess what happened to it !! So if there is a particular rose they don't eat , well...... I've got to give it a try ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mccroft Posted January 28, 2009 Author Share Posted January 28, 2009 You know several of you have said they don't touch roses ? Is it any type of rose ?Like big thorny ones ,standard ones, or climbers ? Iask this because I used to have a minature rose , but you can probably guess what happened to it !! So if there is a particular rose they don't eat , well...... I've got to give it a try ! Mine are bush roses that sramble over say a rockery area which are covered by a mass of small roses. Sorry don't know what the proper name is) They are not overly thorny. I have five and they are about 1 metre in width by 1 metre high, after three years from planting. I have them in red,pink,yellow and white. Infact because they leave them alone I was thinking of planting some on my rockery as they have stripped it bear and it's the only part of the garden that we can see from the back of the house. I think they were about £4.99 last year from my local garden centre Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dora Posted January 28, 2009 Share Posted January 28, 2009 Thanks for that I'll look for some big bushy ones and give it a whirl ! Failing that I'll paint some pictures of flowers round the garden instead !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
