I Love My Chickens – But I Love Plants, Too

Although it wasn’t what we had originally planned, my chickens quickly become FULLY free-range when I decided that the risk of hawks nabbing one was lower than my desire to give them a fully enriched life.

I must say, I really have enjoyed watching them out the window as they enjoyed absolute freedom. But, that was in winter.

As Spring began to bloom, my annual urge to plant flowers, herbs and a few veggies on my patio grew. But, I had an issue. My chickens have access to the patio and I had no doubt that they would not only pick at, but potentially consume anything I might plant.

I couldn’t image a summer without the color and cheer that flowers bring to my patio. So, I concocted a plan.

I ordered a Wire Cube Storage Organizer and some felt plant pots. The wire panels are quite simple to assembly, and can be stacked vertically, horizontally or even set up as single 12″ x 12″ cubes.

My favorite flowers are Impatients, which prefer mostly shade. So, this vertical stack (above) works out well for them. Of course, they are just recently planted – but, the flowers are going to grow quickly and I’m expecting them to overflow their pots and create a beautiful wall of vibrant color.

On the two lower levels, I attached “doors” with cable ties, to prevent the chickens from accessing the flowers. The “doors” lift to give me access the pots. However, I can easily water them right through the wires.

I’m lifting one door open for the above photo.

For the herbs, I created individual cubes (without bottoms) that I have placed over the felt pot containers. “Hennie” the White Leghorn hen is checking out the Rosemary!

The herb cubes are just one level high (12″) at this time, because I am allowing the chickens to have access to the leaves that grow through the wires – but not have access to the soil, roots or primary stems. That’s cilantro in the photo above.

The herb above is Oregano – which is considered to have some medicinal properties for chickens.

The cubes don’t take up much more space than if I had planters lined up along the deck.

Above, there’s Thyme on the right, which I am going to allow to grow through the wires, so the chickens can access it. However, the center pot is a pepper (I think it’s Thai chili pepper), which I want to fully protect. So, I created a double stacked wire container. It will allow the plant to grow tall, and remain out of reach of the chickens.

I will keep an eye on how the lower, 12″ cages help the herbs stay healthy. If necessary, I can add another 12″ to their cages to prevent too much damage.

If you turn up the volume, you can hear Northern Bobwhite birds calling in the background of the next video – my patio pond. It’s a repurposed, poly stock tank that’s 8 foot wide and about 32 inches tall.

This plump frog lives in the patio pond, and was out sunning itself when I went to film the flowers! There’s aquatic mint (a marginal pond plant) growing just behind Mr. Frog. That mint is super easy to “harvest” by just pulling it out of the water.

In past years, I had two large planters of Impatients on the office patio. This year, I stacked the smaller planter atop the larger one and wrapped a wire cage around it – to reduce the chances that the chickens would begin to peck at the flowers. We had weeks of cold and very wet conditions. I anticipate that these flowers will recover from the weather as the warmer weather comes in.

Check out HOW LARGE that frog is (left) compared to the chickens.

The golf cart I use to ride around the property is parked just next to the raised patio deck. I’m not sure what the chickens find so interesting about hanging out in it, but as long as they don’t poop too much on the seat, I’m cool with it.

This yellow flower is a volunteer that found its way to one of the marginal plant baskets and apparently has tolerated living in that environment. I see these wild flowers all around the property – mostly along hedge rows – but they don’t grow around our main farm pond.

An aquatic iris that I did, intentionally plant in my patio pond.

The next video is one of the hens that has learned she can snatch the “koi pellet” fish food that I toss to my goldfish. Chickens are funny creatures – and I love having them around. I’m just happy that I figured out a way to also nurture my herbs and flowers along side the birds.