What Can I Plant in My Chicken Run?

I love chickens! And I love plants! But how do you successfully combine the two? No one wants to spend time and money at a nursery only to have their backyard flock consume everything, but we also don’t want our chickens to be in an ugly dirt wasteland (or even worse, get poisoned). In this extensive article, get my suggestions on how to research and pick plants, and keep them in with your chickens! And of course check out the video at the end which shows you what can I plant in my chicken run!

I might have affiliate links in this article – no extra cost to you but a small percentage goes to my family. Thanks!

I have a whole playlist on my YouTube channel dedicated to Chickens and Your Garden, which you can see here.

How to Find Out What Can I Plant In My Chicken Run

If you’re starting to look for plants to go in your chicken run, this is the research process I go through. Because, you see, plants need to meet a certain criteria for me to shell out the money and spend the time and effort to put them in the ground.

All plants in my chicken run need to be:

• Not poisonous to chickens
• Hardy for my climate (see below)
• Low maintenance once established
• Perennial or evergreen, meaning they won’t die after a season and will keep their foliage year round
• Shady, from the sun and as a cover for aerial predators (even though we did bird netting for our chicken run)
• Good for a sunny area, or good for a shady area
• Drought tolerant
• Not particular about soil quality
• Bonus: fragrant blooms
• Bonus: pollinator plant
• Bonus: provides food or edibles for the family, like herbs to cook with
• Bonus: other health benefits (see below for ideas!)

A few other things I think that you should think about when you are looking at what to plant in your chicken run – what zone are you in? If you’re in the United States, the USDA website will tell you which agricultural zone you live in. This is a quick easy way for you to look up plants which would be appropriate for your climate. I’m in zone 8!

Finally, which direction does your house face? Look at the sun patterns in your chicken run to see which way they’re facing, how much sun or shade they get, if it’s a well-draining area, and if there’s any protection from wind. All these factors will play a part in the successful life of your plants.

How I Research and Choose What Can I Plant In My Chicken Run

I go through a process to list, read about, look at, and choose plants for my chicken run. Before I’ve even gone to a nursery, I’ve made a list of the plants which fit certain criteria above, and then I start thinking about what kind of look I want.

I’m also looking at things like if a plant is a Texas Super Star (thanks, Texas A&M Agrilife!), if they have a long bloom period, and if there is any other kind of health benefit to my chickens or my family.

Don’t forget to consider how you want the area to look, and what the plants will look like at their full size. I want my chicken run to look nice in case we ever move and have to sell the house; but remember that your plants will grow to their maximum size and height in a few years. Will they still be what you want them to be? (I personally cannot wait for my little gem magnolia tree and my vitex lilac to grow up, so I have the opposite problem – I’m impatient!)

Lastly, remember that if you’re not sure what you want to do with the space, there’s no pressure to dig holes in the ground! Get some large, well-draining pots like these and green up the area with potted plants. That way you can move things around and adjust as you decide a permanent arrangement.

What to Do After I Buy the Plants

Putting plants in the ground is usually a pretty straightforward thing, but it’s a bit more complicated when you have tiny dinosaurs living in your yard!

Once I’ve brought my plants home, I put them outside the chicken run but up against the fence so that my chickens can see (and taste) the plants, but not really get to them. The plant can’t be filled or dug up, but you can start to get an idea as to whether or not the chickens will want to devour the plant completely. Sometimes they are relentless, and sometimes they could care less.

I’ll mention here too that it’s almost better to do a lot of plants at once so that one plant doesn’t get all the attention. It’s the same concept with introducing new chickens to your flock, too! More “new guys” means that there’s a smaller chance one guy will get all of the bullying.

I am in no hurry to put these new plants in the ground. I’ll wait anywhere from a few days to a full week before I dig holes and put them in the ground.

Remember that you want in-ground plants to have topsoil or just regular dirt in the hole, don’t use potting soil! And I wouldn’t mess with mulch or compost in the chicken run but that’s personal preference. If you do add compost or fertilizer, add it down in the bottom of the hole so that the chickens can’t reach it. As a bonus, that will encourage the plant’s roots to grow down which will help them in extreme cold and heat.

When I do dig the holes for the plants, I work quickly so that the chickens cannot make a mess – like scratching dirt back into the hole! I plant the plants as I normally would with a wide hole that’s deep enough to make it level with the ground, and fill it in with loose dirt or topsoil. I water deeply. And then I go to work protecting the plants from the chickens.

This means two things: I need to cover the plant itself from being eaten now that it’s in with the tiny dinosaurs, and I need to make sure they can’t scratch up the freshly dug dirt where my new plant’s roots are. The easiest thing is to make a cylinder out of a small wire like chicken wire or hardware cloth and safely enclose the plant. This can remain on for months – the plants can still get sunlight and water, but the foliage and roots are protected. (You might have to stake this wire to the ground, or surround it with rocks, so that nosy birds can’t knock it over.)

When you’re ready to uncover your new plants and leave them defenseless against your vicious flock, I would do it when you have time to be out there and watch them for a while. You want to get an idea as to whether they’re going to eat a plant down to nothing in a few hours, or just taste it and walk away, or totally ignore it. And don’t be in a rush to leave the plants exposed! Like I said, they can remain protected for months.

How to Know If A Plant Is Poisonous to Chickens

This list can get pretty extensive and I’ve linked to the most comprehensive list I’ve found online, but a quick-and-dirty list of toxic plants for chickens (and note it’s not always the same plants that are toxic to humans, or dogs, etc.):

• All bulbs like iris, tulips, lilies, amaryllis, elephant ears
• Tomato plants and all nightshade varieties
• Oleander
• Mountain laurel
• Trumpet vine
• Some lantana – thanks Mary!
• Morning glories
• Most vines

The best article that I’ve found with the most extensive list is here (not my content). I’ve quoted it below.

An incomplete list of plants that are poisonous to chickens includes daffodils, foxglove, morning glory, yew, jimson weed, tulips, lily of the valley, azaleas, rhododendron, mountain laurel, monkshood, amaryllis, castor bean, trumpet vine, nightshade, nicotiana, and tansy. Again, that list is incomplete, and you may be able to keep many of these plants in your yard, despite the fact that they’re poisonous. If you want to be extra careful, though, whenever you add a plant to an area that your chickens access, you should use Google to find detailed information about it, so you can see if there are any potential problems for your chickens and other pets.

My Pet Chicken

What Can I Plant In My Chicken Run That Has Health Benefits

While your chickens will likely peck and “taste” at most anything you plant, certain plants and herbs will actually have health benefits for them! It’s great when a plant not only provides beauty and shade, but is also edible or beneficial to your flock and/or your family. This is a quick list because “health benefits” gets to be something of a personal opinion, but the ones I’ve learned about recently are:

• Hibiscus has high calcium which is great for strong egg shells (you can also make a tea out of it!)
• Herbs like oregano are great for warding off internal parasites and worms
• Herbs like lavender and mint repel flies

What Do I Have In My Chicken Run?

Before we get down to the videos, here is the list of the plants I’ve put in my chicken run for our first season here at this house. Everything was planted between March-May 2020. They’re all perennials, all chicken safe, and should all provide shade and nourishment for years to come! (Fingers crossed.)

• Little gem magnolia tree
• Musa banjo banana tree
• Muscadine grapevines (2)
• Texas vitex lilac
• Double bloom pink hibiscus
• Orange bells of fire esperanza
• Gold star esperanza
• Mystic spires blue salvia
• Silverado sage
• Pink salvia greggii
• Mexican bush sage
• Bottlebrush
• Rosemary
• Dallas red lantana*

And in hanging baskets in the chicken run, I have the following:

• Yellow lantana*
• Sweet potato vine
• Bougainvillea

Around the perimeter of the chicken run, but technically on the outside, I’ve planted the following:

• Purple heart
• Sedum succulents
• Echevaria succulents
• Tropical milkweed
• Orange bells of fire esperanza
• Gold star esperanza
• Moss verbena
• Mexican dwarf petunia
• Portulaca
• “Steppable” stonecrop

*Remember that some variants of lantana are poisonous to chickens (and humans, and dogs). My chickens have been exposed to lantana in the past and hate messing with it, but keep this in mind. Thanks Mary for teaching me!

Are you inspired yet? I hope so! With some research, a bit of good ole muscle, and some patience, your chicken run can become a beautiful addition to your landscape while providing lots of benefits to your backyard flock. Let me know what you’re planting, and check out my YouTube videos below for all kinds of green inspiration!