Chicken-Friendly Gardens: What to Plant and What to Avoid in Victoria

Libby, who looks after our marketing, spent a morning last spring photographing a customer's backyard flock. She came back with some lovely shots and two clear lessons - don't leave the office door open and hens have no interest in posing. The respective flocks were on a mission to explore every inch of our office, and redistribute every plant in the customer's garden.

If you keep chooks, you will know the feeling. Let loose in the yard, a flock can flatten a seedling bed and strip the new growth off almost anything before you have finished your morning cuppa. The good news is that chooks and gardens can get along well. It just takes a little planning.

How chickens see your garden

To a hen, a garden is three things: somewhere to scratch, somewhere to dust bathe and something to eat. She rakes the topsoil with her feet looking for insects, digs a bowl in dry, loose soil to bathe in, and pecks at anything soft and green within reach.

Once you see it that way, the plan is simple. Protect what you love, give them somewhere they are allowed to dig, and choose tough plants for anywhere they can reach.

Shade comes first

A hot northerly can turn a Melbourne chook run into an oven, but in our experience the most dangerous days are the humid ones. We have lost hens on a muggy day before. Chooks do not sweat like we do. They shed heat through airflow over their comb, wattles and wings, and on a still, humid day that simply stops working.

So before you plant anything else, think about shade and airflow. A deciduous tree such as a mulberry on the north or west side of the run is ideal, giving summer shade while letting the winter sun through. Until it grows, shade cloth does the job. On hot days, add ice to the drinkers, and please do not hose your hens down, as wet feathers only add to the humidity. Our article on preventing heat stress in backyard chickens has more summer tips.

Plants that earn their place

The plants that last around a chook run are the tough ones, the ones hens don't like to eat or can't easily dig out. A few that do well in Victorian gardens:

• Mulberry. Summer shade, autumn leaves for scratching through and fruit for everyone.
• Saltbush. A hardy native the hens can pick at, and it bounces back.
• Coastal rosemary (Westringia). Tough, drought-hardy and mostly ignored by hens. Perfect as a hedge along the outside of the run.
• Rosemary and lavender. Strongly scented, so the chooks usually leave them alone. Great on the sunny side of the fence.
• Lomandra and native tussock grass. Fibrous and hard to uproot, with clumps the hens love to shelter beside on a hot day.

A handy trick is to plant shrubs just outside the run, close enough for some foliage to poke through the wire. The hens get a nibble and the roots stay safely out of reach. Anything new inside the run will need a wire collar for its first season, or it will be scratched out within a week.

Plants to keep well away

A well-fed hen with plenty to do rarely goes looking for trouble, but bored or hungry chooks will sample almost anything. These common garden plants should never be within reach:

• Oleander
• Foxglove
• Azalea and rhododendron
• Angel's trumpet (Brugmansia)
• Rhubarb leaves
• Green potato skins, and potato or tomato leaves
• Avocado skin, stone and leaves

Anything mouldy in the scrap bucket belongs on the list too.

The best defence of all is a full crop. Scraps and garden greens are lovely treats (our guide to kitchen scraps for backyard chickens covers what is safe to share), but they should top up a complete feed, not replace it. Our Sustainable Layer is a fully balanced ration, so your hens get everything they need and are far less tempted to go hunting for something they shouldn't.

Give them somewhere to dig

Late last spring, a teacher at one of the schools we supply emailed us a question. Her hens were digging up their run so enthusiastically that she wondered whether to bring in fresh topsoil before the hot weather. Our answer was no. The hens weren't removing the soil, just rearranging it. With some shade and cool water, they would be fine.

Digging is natural and healthy, so rather than fight it, give your hens a spot where it is allowed. A dust bath in a dry, sheltered corner will save your garden beds from excavation, and a mix of dry soil and wood shavings makes a great base. Our article on creating a dust bath for your chickens explains how to set one up.

Close the loop

This is where chooks really pay their way. When you clean out the coop, the used wood shavings and hemp bedding, mixed with droppings, make wonderful compost. Fresh chicken manure is too strong for plants, so let it break down in the compost for a few months before spreading it on the garden. The plants feed the chooks, and the chooks feed the plants. If you love that idea, you will enjoy our article on the permaculture power of backyard chickens.

Want the full plant list?

We have kept this to the essentials. For a detailed, plant by plant list of what is safe and what is toxic, Amber Dawson at Nursery Near Me has written an excellent guide to chicken-safe garden plants in Australia. It is well worth a read before your next trip to the nursery.

Happy gardening and happy chooks.