Chicken Pre-Setup -- Run + "Garden"?

[castillo_de_luz]

Ah, I misunderstood. I thought you were planning a garden the chickens would actually be in. Sorry about that!

No worries! It's possible I'd let them roam briefly on occasion, which means they could decide to meander over into that bed. Mass destruction will NOT be permitted At least until it's time to turn over the soil, in which case I could definitely let the ladies handle that job for me.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'd likely plant some fast-growing veggies with leafy greens that could be quickly harvested and fed to them. Something easy to sow or self-sowing - radishes, peas, leafy greens, herbs, etc. Could even be something perennial - such as tree collards, my chickens love eating tree collards

Something like this. As I understand this thread, it's not there for your chickens to graze in. It is there for you to toss things into their run for them to eat as a supplement to their normal feed. I do that from the main garden but having something handy is so much nicer.
I'm not sure what would grow well in Massachusetts but I'd think along lines of green leafy veggies that not only grow fairly fast but create a ground cover to shade grass and weeds from growing so it does require less maintenance. Chard and kale would be high on my list but grow a variety of things. Maybe zucchini or yellow squash.

 

[perkolator]

Glad the suggestion helped. I'm sorta doing the same thing for my chickens this year; my garden is a few hundred feet away and up a hill, so having some goods nearby their run will be handy.

I planted some cover crop in Fall that grew against the fence and they enjoyed pecking at that through the fence. Just planted peas along their fence last weekend to do the same thing since they like to eat those in the garden. I left some Halloween pumpkins around the perimeter to sow themselves there, and I've got a few cuttings of my purple tree collard that I'll be planting there too. Gonna plant extra cucumbers and summer squash this year and let some get oversized for giving to chickens.

I believe bean greens are something you don't want to feed the foliage to chickens, but pea greens are ok.

 

[SandyRiverChick]

I have a berry garden and a tomato garden for the chickens. They LOVE all berries and cherry tomatoes. So I toss berries and cherry tomatoes into their side of my garden fence during grow season and then in fall I let them decimate the garden beds. Just an idea......

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I have a medium-sized pot (above ground) that I designate as my mint spot. That's all I give it! Hmm I've never grown catnip, despite having a cat. That could be a fun one, although we do have neighborhood outdoor kitties so I don't know how that would go. Maybe they'd help with pest control if I reward them with nip!

Lol. It won't make them better mousers. When my cats have been in the 'nip, first they come barrelling in the house like their tails are on fire, smashing into walls and insisting aliens have landed. When that wears off, they roll around on the floor in ecstasy, eyes crossed and drooling. Basically they're drunk.

 

[NatJ]

I believe bean greens are something you don't want to feed the foliage to chickens, but pea greens are ok.

I keep seeing sources that list the leaves of bean plants as being safe for people to eat, and I haven't found anything that lists a chicken-specific reason to avoid them.

For the sake of clarity: I am talking about phaseolus vulgaris, the common green beans and string beans and kidney beans and pinto beans and so forth. I haven't seen as much information on other species of beans.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Yeah @NatJ I'm not aware of any reasons to avoid them eating bean leaves. I have seen recommendations to avoid them eating the dried beans themselves. The dried beans contain a substance that can harm them. One bite won't kill them, it's a matter of dosage. And if the beans are fully cooked they are OK. Kidney beans are supposedly the worst.

I avoid feeding them quantities of dried uncooked beans. If a chicken picks up a stray dried bean when foraging in my garden after gardening season is over I don't worry about it. I should have harvested the vast majority of them anyway.

 

[Etiene]

Maybe something like peas or beans? Both of those grow fast, and the greens are safe for chickens to eat if/when they poke into the run, or if the chickens get out. Neither one is likely to be invasive the way mint is. Peas like cooler weather, beans like warmer weather, so you might choose one or the other depending on when you are planting them.

Plant daylilys they like eating the slugs that crawl on the plants but don’t hurt the plants. Daylilys have dozens of colors and grow high enough to hide the chickens.

 

[castillo_de_luz]

Hi hun,
in my experience whatever you plant will be eaten, trodden on, dug up or just overwhelmed by hen poop in no time. Each year I add things to their run in an attempt to make it look a bit better. Not that they spend much time there but a bit of colour would be nice.
This year I’m trying my luck with mint and creeping Jenny. Neither are poisonous to hens which, of course, is important. They have taken and so far so good. I already have a sickly looking rosemary bush (planted two years ago) but despite it growing happily in concrete it doesn’t do well in the hen run
Good luck,
Hugz

They won't actually have access to this garden bed - no free ranging. I'm only looking to make it chicken-friendly just in case I let them out for a few supervised minutes occasionally.

Mint... it's just far too invasive. If I plant mint in that bed, that's all I can ever plant there! Creeping Jenny is an interesting thought, although it's not native to the US and isn't otherwise useful or edible that I know of.

 

[NatJ]

They won't actually have access to this garden bed - no free ranging. I'm only looking to make it chicken-friendly just in case I let them out for a few supervised minutes occasionally.

Mint... it's just far too invasive. If I plant mint in that bed, that's all I can ever plant there! Creeping Jenny is an interesting thought, although it's not native to the US and isn't otherwise useful or edible that I know of.

Maybe something like peas or beans? Both of those grow fast, and the greens are safe for chickens to eat if/when they poke into the run, or if the chickens get out. Neither one is likely to be invasive the way mint is. Peas like cooler weather, beans like warmer weather, so you might choose one or the other depending on when you are planting them.