Chickens and gardening: your go-to guide.

From the best plants to grow to keep chickens happy, to keeping them off your prized flower beds, you'll find it all here!

Chickens and gardening articles – pin for later.

We all have an ideal picture of how chickens can enhance our outside spaces.

The dream of a group of happy hens clucking happily through flowered pasture while eating the nasty bugs and leaving the veggies untouched is charming – but unrealistic.

Letting your chickens loose in a carefully cultivated garden is a recipe for disaster.

They will rip up plants, turn grassy areas into a mud bath and eat all the delicious plants and veggies they can get their beaks on.

The articles on this page cover everything about creating a mutually beneficial garden which will look good, benefit your flock, give you and your family year-round fruit and veg crops, and use your chickens as a way of improving the garden space.

It's a long page with links to many different articles. The best way to read it is to bookmark it, and dip in and out whenever you feel the urge to add to or improve your chickens' outside space.

Here are some links to jump to whichever part of the garden you want to concentrate on today.

Planning the run

Flowers

Herbs

Fruit

Section 1: Create a chicken run to keep your garden safe!

First things first. Before we can fill our outside area with beautiful and beneficial plants, we need to create a suitable space.

Even if you already have an established run, it's not a bad idea to re-visit the planning of it from time to time. Take some time out in the winter season, when outside work is less attractive, and plan for the following year's time you'll spend between chickens and gardening.

How much space do your chickens need? Link.
How to securely fence the chicken run - click to go to article.
Omlet chicken runs reviewed: link to article.
Which flooring is best in the chicken run? Here are ten on test - link to article.
Mud in the chicken run - link to article.
How to clean your chicken run in 7 easy steps - click for more.
A row of flowers used as a divider

Section 2: Finding the best flowering plants for chicken health.

So your outside space is set up and you want to start planning what to put where.

These flowering plants have two bonuses: they look pretty in the garden, and they add to the foods which are good for your chickens' health.

Each article gives details of which version of each plant is most beneficial, which part is useful for what, and what exactly the plant does for chicken health. 

It may seem a little strange to have "weeds" as a healthy set of plants but remember: a weed is only a plant someone has said shouldn't be there! Many of them are actually excellent for chickens. I set aside part of my space to allow the weeds free range.

And the best bonus? Weeds are free to us, and a banquet for butterflies and bees!

Try to include at least two of the flowering plants and two weeds in your garden. Grow either in the ground or in pots.

Echinacea for chickens - link.
Marigolds in the chicken coop - link.
Can chickens eat nasturtiums? Link.
Roses for chickens - link.
Sunflower seeds for chicken treats. Article link.
Choosing weeds as chicken treats - link.
A row of flowers used as a divider

Section 3: Chickens, gardening and edible herbs to improve your chickens' health.

Herbs are another source of double benefits: they're easy to grow, and excellent for promoting chicken health and well being.

Grow in your run or outside of it; in the ground or in pots. Each article has details about the exact benefits, the illnesses they can help guard against, and how to grow.

Is parsley good for chickens? Link.
Garlic benefits for chickens - link.
Thumbnail link to article about growing nettles for chickens.
A row of flowers used as a divider

Section 4: Growing fruits your chickens will love.

Whether in the ground or above it, chickens will devour as much fruit as they can get their beaks into. 

It pays to be careful though – too much of a good thing can lead to unwanted results like diarrhea.

These articles, like the others, cover the benefits as well as how (and how much) to present them to your flock.

Pumpkins for chickens - link.
Can chickens eat apples? Find out by clicking the button.
Can chickens eat watermelon? Link to article.
A row of flowers used as a divider

Section 5: Assorted related articles.

Lavender's uses in the chicken coop. Link.
Free range chicken gardens book review. Click for article.
A row of flowers used as a divider

Add link and reusable name once live. Make sure it says T2.

Gardening with chickens – thumbnail link to article.
Link to Raising Happy Chickens home page.