We add new plants to our chicken garden every year and in autumn 2020 the new plants that we added
were color mixes of delphiniums, dwarf lupines, coneflower, foxgloves, hollyhocks,
bees balms, hydrangeas, and an azalea, I bought these plants mostly in five centimeter plugs and
they definitely need protecting if they're going to make it to flower in the spring and summer. So
what I've done is I've taken a roll of fencing and I've cut it into little segments and then wired
the ends together to make these little fenced tubes and then I staked these around my modules
that are in the ground. It took me a couple hours to make about 30 of these and if you want to
make them too then you want to buy the plastic rolled fencing, and mine is half a meter high,
you need some clippers to cut the plastic, you'll need some wire and wire cutters and U stakes
which are the kind I bought are for like astro turf, fake grass, for keeping it
secure to the ground, and the u-shape really holds it in tight. I put three of those onto
each little circle cone. I'm hoping these fencing tubes can remain up all year and as the plant
grows the leaves and the stalks are going to hide that as they grow through the holes and then these
fencing tubes will not only protect the plants from the hens but then also double
as a support for heavy blooms and support for high winds that we get in the autumn,
so we'll see if these meet my expectations, I'll put an update in spring and throughout
the later season and see how these have worked out for these new plants.
Hi, I'm Beth from Garden City Chickens, I make a video weekly and write in my blog
about my little flock in my little garden in the United Kingdom.
Every year we add more plants to our garden and along the way we're gaining more experience
in how to choose plants that thrive in our garden which is also our chicken's habitat,
and through trial and error we're learning ways to protect them, learning what better plants to
choose. So there are three ways that our chickens have killed plants in the past and we were trying
to, that's why we do these changes, to avoid more plants dying in the future! So they eat
the foliage for one, secondly they'll dig up the roots and it will kill the plant that way because
they'll destroy the roots or expose the roots, let's say even before I notice to cover it up.
And then thirdly if they stand on a plant they'll stand on it and crush it and scratch away at it
and that breaks the branches and also ruins the foliage and then can kill the plant. So
maybe you've had experience with these ways of plants dying as well,
it's very disappointing, I'm only laughing now because if I didn't laugh about it I would cry!
I find that our plants are most vulnerable from being killed by our hens
in the spring and in the winter, so in winter when the foliage has died back
they can get really close up to the the base of the plant, the foliage isn't protecting
the roots as closely from the centre of the plant if that makes sense, so then they can
dig a lot closer to where most of the roots are and can cause damage and kill it that way.
Or in the winter when that foliage dies back, then they could actually get onto the plant
and break the branches and kill the plant. And then in the springtime, let's say when there's
the first new growth, with let's say daffodils or tulips, plants that they, foliage they wouldn't
normally be interested in pecking at later in the season, they are interested in now because this
is the first growth they've seen and they're excited and there's not much else going on
so they're pecking and then let's say the daffodil just never recovers from that
or with the new growth there's still not a lot of stalks and leaves protecting the whole of the
plant so when they step onto the new growth and rake at it, what very little is there
it doesn't give the plant enough energy to recover and continue growing, so it never gets fully
started, So that's the two seasons where I feel like you need to, I need to look after my plants
a bit more than I would in terms of protecting them from my very curious active garden hens!
So I told you the bad news about mixing hens and plants together in your garden,
so you might be wondering why am I continuing to try to mix my little flock
in my little garden? I really enjoy having my hens in the garden because they're really fun to watch
and they're really fun to interact with and also I'm trying to give them as much space as possible
with as much variety, with as much stimulation as possible, so to have as much range in my
little garden as they can, I think it's just better for their well-being overall.
So what can I do about my desire to have a beautiful garden and improve my
chicken's habitat when I've just told you that naturally it doesn't set itself up to work when
they're in this confined setting, when I'm telling you they are going to destroy things!
So in my region where I live in north Wales in the United Kingdom I've been choosing plants that
have at least one of these six characteristics: Hardy, low maintenance, also do well in semi-shade
or shade. I want these plants not to be easily pushed around by my hens exploring around them
and, like lavender, I want them to be beautiful and I don't want them to be super sensitive to
soil and sun conditions because they're already having to tolerate my chickens and I don't
want them to have to tolerate anything else! Another characteristic is dense ground foliage,
so similar to chives or day lilies, the dense ground foliage around them protects its own
roots so the chickens really can't get in there and do digging up outside of the exterior because
there's just so much denseness happening in the center, so the plant protects itself essentially.
Fast regrowing plants like sage, the chickens can help themselves peck away at the leaves because
that sage is going to regrow back plus more. Also spreading easily, so I don't want the
chickens being able to tip that balance in the plant so if there's a lot of that plant spreading
easily like the Crocosmia, then it's not going to just tip the plant too far over if they scratch or
damage a bit of it too much because there's just a ton of that plant still going and going strong.
I choose plants that sometimes grow to a tall height because once the plant gets higher
than a chicken can jump those leaves, those stalks, those fruit, it's going to continue
to thrive and they're going to be okay past that height, so examples in my garden of this
would be like sunflowers, currants, raspberries, our grapevine.
Finally toxic leaves, chickens will mostly leave alone plants that have toxicity to them
that we know are toxic to animals. They will occasionally do some leaf pecking but if they
have access to their food and other safe plants then they're going to be okay and examples of this
in my garden are rhubarb, the big stalks and the leaves will overhang the allotment plot so they
could reach those if they wanted to and they do occasionally peck up the leaves but then leave it.
And foxglove as well, it gets a nice height and the leaves aren't that great for them.
So these plants I try to stick to these characteristics when I'm buying plants
and it's because I'm coming from a place of disappointment from experiences where I've
bought things and they just have not done well, and these types of plans usually do go well,
but I'm not being too strict about it if I see something I like that doesn't meet my rules
I'll still try it out because sometimes I'll surprise myself and the hens will
not be interested in it most of the time, or enough for me to protect it and make it work,
but this is a good starting point if you're unsure of what to pick to get started in your garden.
Where do you live and what plants do well in your chicken's habitat?
Do your plants also need protecting? Feel free to write a comment below or send me a message!
Thanks for watching and I'll see you next week, bye!