Why bother planting around a chicken run?

Chicken keeping and gardening sit beautifully together, and the strip of ground around a run is often the most neglected patch in the whole garden. Left alone, hens turn it into bare, sour earth, it smells in wet weather, and flies gather in summer. A little planting changes all of that. Aromatic herbs freshen the air, dense shrubs screen the run from the house, and flowers bring pollinators and British garden birds back into the space. Be realistic about what plants can do: herbs are a companion to good husbandry, not a replacement for clean bedding, dry litter and proper ventilation. Given that, the improvement is genuine — and it looks a great deal better than mud.

The best herbs for scent, shade and pest control

Strongly scented, drought-tolerant Mediterranean herbs are the workhorses here. They cope in thin, dusty soil, they release their oils when brushed against, and they do not sulk when a hen scratches nearby.

• Lavender — plant a row along the sunniest side. Dried bunches hung in the coop are a traditional way to sweeten the air through winter.
• Rosemary — evergreen, tough as old boots, and happy in poor ground. Excellent as a low windbreak and a nesting shelter for small birds.
• Thyme — creeping varieties seed happily into gravel and path edges, and it is one of the few herbs that really does tolerate being trodden on.
• Mint — plant in a sunken pot or it will take over the county. Spearmint and applemint are both good choices.
• Oregano and marjoram — adored by bees, and worth growing within arm's reach of the kitchen door.
• Sage and lemon balm — both tolerate light shade; lemon balm self-seeds generously if you let it flower.

A word of realism. No herb will clear an existing red mite infestation, and none of them will stop a determined fox. Use them to improve smell, soften the run's edges and lift the general atmosphere, and keep up the cleaning, dust bathing and regular mite checks alongside.

Safe flowers and foliage to grow alongside hens

Some plants are genuinely useful because they are edible, attractive to insects, or both. Chickens will nibble young leaves quite happily, so treat them as dual purpose.

• Nasturtium — fast-growing, edible, and a useful sacrificial plant for blackfly. Let a few scramble over a fence post out of reach.
• Calendula (pot marigold) — generous with its petals, easy from seed, and said to brighten yolk colour when fed in small amounts.
• Borage — brilliant for bees, and its young leaves are safe if the hens get there first.
• Sunflowers — grown against a south-facing fence, they give shade in summer and seed heads in autumn.
• Comfrey — best grown as a compost activator and liquid feed rather than offered as forage, but a superb plant to have in a corner bed.
• Self-seeding natives — chickweed, clover and dandelion will establish themselves whether you like it or not. The hens will keep them trimmed.

Plants to keep well away from your flock

Some garden favourites are toxic to poultry, and hens are not sensible about what they peck. The following are best kept outside the run entirely, or removed if they are already growing within reach:

• Foxglove, lily of the valley and monkshood
• Yew, laburnum, laurel and privet
• Rhubarb leaves, and potato or tomato foliage
• Buttercup and ragwort
• Ivy berries, deadly nightshade and hemlock

Most of these only cause harm in quantity, but there is no sense in gambling with a flock. If you suspect a hen has eaten something suspect and she is drooping, salivating or unsteady, ring your vet straight away rather than waiting to see how she goes.

Planting tricks so the hens do not strip everything bare

Hens scratch, dust bathe and excavate with real commitment. Planting straight into run soil usually ends in disappointment, so plan around them:

• Plant outside the mesh, in a border the hens cannot reach. You still get the scent, the flowers and the screening.
• Use large, well-established specimens rather than plug plants — they shrug off pecking far better.
• Sink pots into the ground, or use half-barrels and pallet collars as raised beds within the run.
• Protect young plants with a wire cloche or a ring of mesh pegged into the soil until they are woody.
• Mulch with gravel, which the hens will happily rearrange but which keeps weeds down in the meantime.
• Rotate a moveable run rather than fighting the same patch of ground year after year.

Welcoming British garden birds without upsetting the hens

Robins, blue tits, sparrows, blackbirds and goldfinches are the usual visitors to a productive garden, and they are easily encouraged. Plant native shrubs a few metres from the run — hawthorn, blackthorn, holly, rowan, wild cherry, guelder rose and honeysuckle all earn their keep — and put up a feeder stocked with sunflower hearts, nyjer and the occasional handful of mealworms.

Hygiene matters more than most people realise. Clean feeders every week or two, rotate their position to stop droppings building up underneath, and avoid ground feeding, which attracts rats as readily as it does birds. Most importantly, keep wild bird feeding stations and poultry feed well apart. Disease can pass between wild birds and chickens, so do not site a feeder over the run, and do not let hens scratch through spilled seed. Store layers' pellets in a metal bin with a tight lid, and use a treadle feeder if rodents are a problem.

Get the balance right and you end up with a garden that works on every level: hens scratching in one corner, lavender buzzing with bees in another, and a rowan tree full of birds watching the whole operation with keen interest.