Plants chickens WON'T eat

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trish25158

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Plants chickens WON'T eat
« on: August 09, 2010, 15:33 »
Hi I'm new here and to chicken keeping :-). I have found the advice in the forums invaluable and at times highly amusing, thanks very much fellow chook keepers. Does anyone know if there is a single plant on the earth that I can place in the run that they won't eat. At the moment it looks like a barren desert apart from the cherry tree and the rhododendron x

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joyfull

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Re: Plants chickens WON'T eat
« Reply #1 on: August 09, 2010, 17:54 »
In short the only things I can think of are nettles and dock leaves  :lol:
Staffies are softer than you think.

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Casey76

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Re: Plants chickens WON'T eat
« Reply #2 on: August 09, 2010, 17:56 »
I have some very nice 7ft high nettles and a huge 10ft high thistle... apart from that... it's one big dust bath or mud pit depending on the weather ;)

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otis pony

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Re: Plants chickens WON'T eat
« Reply #3 on: August 09, 2010, 21:39 »
my girls don't like mint, although they do sometimes give it a try!!  make sure its an established clump, i dug an old root from the veg patch and got it going in a large plastic pot first with large stones covering the soil so they can't turn it into a dust bath!!  they don't seem to eat established tomato plants either, but i put them up a bit higher so it's an effort for them, just in case.  good luck
...............happiness is wanting what you have, not having what you want.................

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Foghorn-Leghorn

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Re: Plants chickens WON'T eat
« Reply #4 on: August 09, 2010, 21:58 »
Mine won't eat geraniums... Not sure if that's because there's plenty of other choice so they don't have to settle for eating them or if they genuinely don't like them but they are my only pot plants that have survived.
"The chicken came first—God would look silly sitting on an egg."

— Author Unknown

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SnooziSuzi

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Re: Plants chickens WON'T eat
« Reply #5 on: August 09, 2010, 22:20 »
yup, nettles and dock are about all that will survive!

Having said that, there's a couple of potatoes in my hen run that I clearly missed and they haven't touched them, plus the soil should be nicely fertilized to give you a good crop!  8)

I have 3 raised beds in my hen run but I have put chicken wire around them to stop the chooks getting in and digging up the veg and making dust baths out of them!  :lol:

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agingchick

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Re: Plants chickens WON'T eat
« Reply #6 on: August 09, 2010, 22:36 »
Mine haven't touched the lilacs, holly, budelia and fir tree that I put in their run for shelter and they seem to have held up against their digging too. :)
Diane
I use to be indecisive now I'm not so sure

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8doubles

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Re: Plants chickens WON'T eat
« Reply #7 on: August 09, 2010, 22:40 »
One of mine destroyed a Christmas cactus yesterday so you can cross that off the list. :)

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GrannieAnnie

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Re: Plants chickens WON'T eat
« Reply #8 on: August 09, 2010, 22:41 »
My girls eat young nettles, they just don't like them when they get too big.

Interesting about the buddleia and holly though!  Although holly is a bit slow growing.

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Sue33

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Re: Plants chickens WON'T eat
« Reply #9 on: August 10, 2010, 10:50 »

there's a few shrubs in my garden that the girls haven't gone for, choisya, viburnum, budleia, roses, hebes, photinia, kerria japonica, maybe because they have quite a large chunk of the garden to free range in, and the beds are quite big, they are more interested in the bug life underneath the shrubs  :D could be different story if there was only one shrub in their run,  sounds like your run is pretty big if you've got a cherry tree and rhododenun in it  :)

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trish25158

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Re: Plants chickens WON'T eat
« Reply #10 on: August 11, 2010, 18:24 »
thanks guys, that gives me quite a few to work with. No the run isn't huge but does surround a tree and a shrub. However I'm hoping to move the run to the other side of the coop and add a few plants to the trashed side. It will give them a chance to become established (I hope). Being able to alternate sides will help the ground to recover, I think and give the chooks some new ground to enjoy - happy days  :D

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conventgirl

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Re: Plants chickens WON'T eat
« Reply #11 on: August 13, 2010, 17:16 »
ours dont like marigolds or roses  :)

x

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Bev

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Re: Plants chickens WON'T eat
« Reply #12 on: August 13, 2010, 21:35 »
I have a blackcurrant bush in mine, they don't eat the leaves and love climbing in it to get the berries when they arrive!

Also there is a big bush which looks like the tombliboo bush on the childrens programme, 'in the night garden', don't know what it is but it is very fast growing. Other than that we have bind weed and a massive bramble which I must get round to chopping!

Bev :)



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