Need ideas on how to do chicken yard

[Zahboo]

We have a chicken coop. It's not the best looking coop, but we are going to work on it a little, and we're building on to it, also. We're going to expand it 4' for our standards and then having a 10x10 run beside that. I just want ideas for chicken friendly flowers, maybe a tree since we have ZERO.

Currently it looks kind of like this, by far not the best coop on the block, but it holds our birds. The 2' peice is what protects the bantams from being pulled through the wire and provides rain/shade protection. The large piece of plywood is hinged to allow for that side to be opened. Do you think it'd look better without the hinged piece? It never sits down except when it falls...

It's ~8x8 and will be expanded to have a 4x8 on the side. I am wanting ideas to make it more comfortable to sit out there, like patio furniture or something and a way to incorporate a garden.


Here is a layout of the part of the yard. Our yard is simple, no landscaping, so you don't really have anything to tie it into, I just want it to look better. I wanted some kind of fencing that isn't able to be seen through. Don't they make the wooden roll fence the you just tie to chainlink? I don't have enough for privacy fence or I would. (We have neighbors who play foul with our fowl)

 

[Chicken Chat]

Is that chair in there for you to sit and be with the chickens? Your coop looks great, by the way, and does its job of housing and protecting the chickens. At least the chickens have a lovely view of the cornfield, natural privacy fence. I love it when corn is in our field rotation.

Anyway, about plants, etc. I can tell you what I have in mine. Half the chicken yard has the groundcover Wintercreeper. It is hardy, pretty much evergreen, drought resistant, and its the only thing they don't eat. (I didn't plant it, it came with the property and was very overgrown) The other half of the yard had grass. That didn't last long. Now it is pretty much dirt. The back of my chicken yard has a bunch of bushes and trees (pine, Robin Hood Hedge, Burning Bush, Rose of Sharon, Maple, and Mulberry) Nothing was in the front, so I planted dwarf apple trees. I figured, that would be another something they could eat when in season. Here is a photo of mine. The little apple tree is there in front, it is only a few years old.

 

[Zahboo]

I wish I could find a ground cover. We tried english ivy but it wouldn't thrive. Right now I can't plant much because of POISON ivy. It's climbing the fence and we've been killing it for 2 years. We finally got most dead.