# Plants



## zookeeper (Dec 5, 2014)

Hi all. I keep my chickens and ducks in a part of my garden. There's 2 fruit trees, a high evergreen hedge, a rhododendron bush and no other plants. The hens love messing about under the bushes and have the whole place stripped of anything edible! What I'd like to do is add some more plants. This is part of the garden and I'd like it to look a bit less "industrial"! Has anyone got any ideas of plants that poultry won't eat but look nice? They have loads of fun climbing inside the bushes and making dust baths underneath!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Its not so much what they're eating but their activity that is killing anything green that is not a shrub or tree. All that scratching in the dirt pretty much keeps anything from growing.


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## zookeeper (Dec 5, 2014)

Yes, plenty of that! They also devour anything green. Even rhubarb leaves. They're poisonous but the toxic bit must be in the veins as the hens never eat those. The result is skeletonised leaves! They don't eat the rhododendrons, luckily as I know they're poisonous but they go up on top of their coop and eat the leaves off the plum tree! I love my hens. Would be nice to have a bit of landscaping in there though!


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## Maryellen (Jan 21, 2015)

We have fencing around the fruit trees and certain areas of the gardens we dont want them in yet.. Otherwise they too scratch and dig it up. 
You could always try fencing to temporarily keep them out


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## zookeeper (Dec 5, 2014)

Thanks for the replies. To clarify, I'm aware of ways to stop chickens digging up plants. What I was interested to know was what plants people have been able to put in the area where their hens live, that don't get eaten! Maybe it's going to be experimentation on my part!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I suppose no one really knows since the chickens destroy whatever is planted. The only sure fire answer I know, is space. Mine had acres to wander which means they were never in once place long enough to destroy whatever was growing.


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## Maryellen (Jan 21, 2015)

I have three Aphrodite shrubs in with the chickens that they just dig grooves to lay under the branches. In my big yard i have a lilac shrub that they do the same thing, but that's all they have access to as all fruit trees and gardens and wildflower gardens are fenced off for now until all plants are big enough to be ignored like last year


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## myhppyndng5221 (Apr 4, 2015)

We have hundreds of pine trees, from having a Christmas tree farm and the taller ones lining our driveway are the chickens favorite. They try to see who can be up the highest and also nest in the dirt and needles underneath. Certain ones refuse to come in the barn at night and test the predators, even over the winter with the ice and wind that we get they prefer to roost in the trees. Silly chickens.


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## zookeeper (Dec 5, 2014)

There's a big high hedge between us and our neighbour, which her kitchen window looks into. She likes to give bits and pieces to the hens, they've learned that they can climb up the inside of the hedge and stare into her window! This means they get treats faster! So funny to see all the heads sticking out of the hedge!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

You have got to see if she will take a pic. That would be so much fun to see. It also goes to show what extent the birds would go to for a handout.


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