foreveryoung Posted September 2, 2007 Share Posted September 2, 2007 Hi I was wondering are the any plants that are hardy enough to survive hens and that are not poisenouse (sp?) for a rockery?? I while I was sorting out my cube I found I had more bolder type rocks and thought I could put it in the run but then wondered if there was any plants I could actually put there that wouldnt eith be killed buy my girls of actually harm my girls?!? what do you think? http://s20.photobucket.com/albums/b202/edines33/vids/?action=view¤t=thecube.flv Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowy Posted September 2, 2007 Share Posted September 2, 2007 Not too sure about rockery plants Emma - I'd be inclined to think they will scratch them up if they don't eat them. What about a couple of nice shrubs? Use the stones around the base of the plants to stop them digging them up again. They love to jump about in branches - a sambuccas is a fast growing, leafy shrub. It will be too tall for them to eat and as long as it's roots are protected, will give them nice thick branches to jump around in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foreveryoung Posted September 3, 2007 Author Share Posted September 3, 2007 sambuccas is that the plant name or is that a group of plants Emma xx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly Posted September 3, 2007 Share Posted September 3, 2007 Sambuca is actually elder - so you would get lovely dark berries in the autumn which your chooks would probably enjoy. Beware however - when you park your car somewhere at this time of year, and come back and find it covered in pink splodges, that's because the local birds have been eating elderberries! You might get some interesting decoration in the chicken-run ... I agree though, some small shrubs would be good. What about a Choisya Ternata (mexican orange blossom) - has pretty white flowers on, grows vigorously and smells lovely when you prune it. I'm guessing that it probably tastes quite strong, and that might put chickens off? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowy Posted September 3, 2007 Share Posted September 3, 2007 Thanks Olly! I've had it a few years and couldn't remember the exact way of spelling it! I hadn't realised it was a variety of elder - but of course, when I look at it, it's very similar! I have the sambuca niger (Sp?) variety which has lovely yellow and black frondy leaves. Exept it doesn't have any leaves at the moment - I had to chop it's top off to get the top on my chicken run. Hopefully it should regrow next year though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
