Locking Bar Eglu Classic

[no1smiles2000]

Hi everyone,

 

I desperately need to rescue my garden, the chickens have destroyed it & i want to replant my flower bed.

 

What can i plant that the chickens wont eat/ destroy? there must be some things?

[Roobaloo]

I don't have an answer but I have a question of a similar nature (and it seems unnecessary to start a new post...) if you don't mind me adding it here, no1smiles2000?

 

 

What plants/weeds are poisonous to chickens?? Are they likely to eat dangerous plants?

 

We're doing the opposite, we're making the garden as bland as possible and want to make sure there are no nasty things lurking....!

[Tutti Frutti]

I desperately need to rescue my garden, the chickens have destroyed it & i want to replant my flower bed...What can i plant that the chickens wont eat/ destroy? there must be some things?

 

It seems chickens are all different in their likes and dislikes! I posted a similar question a whilte back here and it seems that whilst mine love lavender and rosemary, others found theirs left them well alone

 

What plants/weeds are poisonous to chickens??

Here are a few off the top of my head! Daffodils, ivy and tomato/potato plants & leaves

 

Good questions, I'll be following this thread with interest - another with a decimated garden

[igobarefoot]

I've been wondering this too, now that stuff is starting to grow again!

 

So far, my girls have had a whale of a time in the garden of bamboo delights - all but stripped them bare so thats definitely one off the list to plant in future. Think they may also enjoy the hostas once they start to come out!

 

They seem completely oblivious of phormiums and grasses though and have so far ignored my herb patch, hebes and ferns in terms of eating, but have made a great job of trampling and covering them in scuffed up earth!

 

So, I think my plan is to plant big, structural stuff that they either can't reach or is too dry and non-juicy looking for them to be interested in.......

 

 

Emma

[Snowy]

Bigger, shrubby stuff is likely to last the longest. They will tend to avoid the poisonous stuff until there really is nothing left. But basically anything is fair game. I built my run around a shrub border - as they are in there the majority of the time, the only thing still thriving in there is a holly bush

[abwsco]

Mine eat the ivy in the garden. Infact Sherri my Bluebelle loves to jump onto the garden wall and strip the ivy. They also eat ferns and last year Manjula perfected the art of jumping straight up in the air and grabbing at the top of the fern to pull it down so she could eat it. They also did the same to the mature black bamboos I bought although this has been ignored so far this year when we've let the terrorists out.

[Carol U]

Shrubby plants are definitely more chicken-proof than things like bedding plants. A lot depends on the space you have, but mine love to peck about and make dust baths under the rhododendrons and weigela in the back border. More tender things like delphiniums and phlox etc. I put bits of chicken wire round till they're big enough to defend themselves, after which the chooks tend to leave them alone. Mine never touch lavender or any of the herbs, but I know that other people's do. It's trial and error really. I have all the supposedly poisonous plants, but the chooks never touch them.

[batcatz]

I don't think they will eat plastic plants.........

[Roobaloo]

I don't think they will eat plastic plants.........

 

[Tutti Frutti]

Think they may also enjoy the hostas once they start to come out!

 

NOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!! Guess what I bought and planted today... four hostas

 

But to give my girls their dues, they were more interested in the compost than the plants (planted in pots) so I put stone chips over the top of the compost...

 

And my girls LOVE herbs, their favourite is oregano. Oh and vine leaves!

[Plum]

Sorry they love stonechip more. How about hanging baskets or I have started tiling the fenceposts in the garden to give some colour and interest

[Tutti Frutti]

Sorry they love stonechip more.

 

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I have started tiling the fenceposts in the garden to give some colour and interest

 

Very clever! I know, I can dig out the fake cactii that Mr Frutti painstakingly cut out from chipboard and painted green when we had a cowboys and indians BBQ for his nephews We also did a Pirate BBQ and his cannon was awesome - fired party poppers but that's a whole other story :lol:

[phenna_family]

Our girls free range most of the time, so we decided to put ornamental grasses in pots around the eglu and they havn't touched them.

 

 

We also have ferns and clamatis which they dont touch.

 

In the borders we have hardy geraniums, which the chickens love but because they are such hardy plants and are very fast growers the chickens like to eat the leaves but the plants grow faster than the chickens can eat them, I would highly recommend them in your garden.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Claire

[no1smiles2000]

yes i supoose planting things in terecotta pots sunk in the ground will protect the plants more?

 

I also have some giant cobble type rocks i could put around plants to protect them

 

I got some baby lavender plants online which were delivered yesterday, so cute so will plant them in my protected area so i'll hopefully have a nice lavender hedge to scent my garden

 

Might get some grasses although i dont really like them

 

I do like rhododendrons, my chicks love dust bathing in the raspberry bed, but that will be fenced once they start budding

[Tutti Frutti]

Humph

 

Chickens 4 - Hostas 0

 

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Don't bother planting a Eunymus ...

 

Before:

After:

 

Rhododendron, pieris and hydrangea are all untouched - along with large shrubs they can't reach!

[Plum]

Rhododendron, pieris and hydrangea are all untouched

 

so far

 

I can talk my first ones were selective but so are my new buddies they eat the ones the others left behind

 

Untouched but don't tell the girls - photonia, pyracantha, yellow bush, leylandii - no sorry they've started on them, bush with blue flowers, lavender