The coop my husband built last year looks much like yours. We had planted a pear and an apricot in the run , but both were blighted their first winter here in So Utah. Outside the coop we planted a fugi apple which got blight but has survived thus far. I’m really looking forward to when it will be tall enough to provide shade to the hen run. We also have two lilacs and two roses in the run, all surrounded with chicken wire and we continue to fight the hens for permanent placement of the irrigation drip lines! There’s also a tall Photinia behind the coop to provide a small area for shade and mud puddle. Unfortunately the wild birds are all over this area too. Chicken keeping hasn’t been easy for me in this new environment, nor fruit tree growing, but I shall persevere until I run out of varieties of both to try. Around the run on the outside I have tomato, cucumber and berry plants. I like the above suggestion to add sunflowers in this border as well. I’ve also asked for a screened box to lay over some sprouting grass seed so the girls would get grass that way without killing it all.
In a previous life in NorCal, the chicken run included a large rosemary shrub and a small fig tree. I’d like to do the same here. They did scratch around both, but didn’t destroy either. I also have a small mulberry in a pot now that I could transfer to the run in the future. Another great idea from the forum users!
Here’s a pic of my run from a few years back. I’m growing more grape varieties now and have pulled some of the bamboo closer to the fencing so the rhizomes don’t easily escape. I have the mulberries getting planted in there permanently as well. This is looking SE.
I had Concord Seedless and Mars growing, but I wasn’t a fan of the seed traces (for my eating pleasure) so I transitioned to other seedless varieties. I think I put 2 green, 2 red, and 2 blackish (Everest) in. Reds are Vanessa and Canadice…greens Gratitude and Himrod. Last year was the first year they really set fruit and I was hit with major black rot. So now I’m torn on spraying around the birds or going back to the Concord seedless/Mars where I had no issues.
These were the old ones. I probably should’ve left them and grow the others elsewhere.
I would plant goumi and mulberry to provide them lots of free food spring and summer… and an american persimmon for lots of fall fruit. A mulberry like Illinois everbearing or Silk Hope would provide them some nice shade and lots of fruit drop.
My sisters rich tooie persimmon tree covers the ground a inch or two deep in persimmon fruit each year. They ripen and fall for near two months.
@TNHunter I must admit, Ive never had a persimmon. They take longer to bear right? Worth it? What would you suggest for our climate? Not just for the birds but for fresh eating too?
What mulberry would you recommend? Gerardi Dwarf? Do you have issues with popcorn disease on the Illinois Everbearing in TN? Again, mostly for fresh eating but feeding chickens as a side benefit.
Yes. WB, thai dwarf, and chiang mae 60 are all similar… if not the same depending on source. Z7 is probably pushing it and better quality and production in z8 and above. Pics above are from Las Vegas. Not worth growing other than ornamental or bird fodder here. YMMV.
i just take scions in the fall, scratch the cambium and stick in the ground outdoors, then mulch. they root over the winter and grow come spring. i get about 70% takes this way. never had much luck rooting in pots.
So I’ve been in the process of removing my remaining running bamboo from the run and I want to add some safe and edible fruiting plants. This is roughly how the run looks right now…each square is 1’x1’ and the top of the image is due north. So the full run area for the birds to roam through is 32’ E to W and 24’ N to S. Of course not all of that is planting area because of the coop, covered portion of the run, and the slight summer shadows they create on the north side. The nook inside of the grape area becomes fairly shaded in the summer as well.
I have hawk netting over the top at 6-7ft high. I topped the white birch a couple years ago and have pruned and trained it to weep and provide shade to them. I have the same plan with the 2 trader mulberries planted. The grapes are outside of the run on the SW corner and climb trellises and some of the netting.
Anyway, I have some plants I want to put in there for their little food forest and I’m interested how others would place these.
I have 4 honeyberries to plant right now (aurora, blue banana, boreal blizz and boreal beast), a fargesia nitida clumping bamboo, a couple of currants, and a couple of american hazelnuts. I have a bunch bocking 4 comfrey outside of the run that I could take rhizome cuttings of and plant as well. Those 2 trader mulberries are young and will eventually branch out more and cast more shade than they do now…even if I keep them topped off.
I know some things will be a little squeezed in there and there may be some battling for light, but I’m ok with some things growing closer together in a companion sense. The birds (and I) need corridors to walk too. I figure the fargesia and currants will be the most shade tolerant. The comfrey can probably go around parts of the perimeter. I’m a little more unsure on the hazelnuts and honeyberries although I do have some ideas. It doesn’t have to be perfect either…I’m not overly worried about production.
I’d love to have chickens and possibly meat rabbits, but sourcing feed is a big hurdle for me. I see no point in producing my own eggs and meat if doing so requires reliance on outside inputs.
