10 Plants That Thrive Around Your Coop (and Keep Your Girls Happy!)

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Your backyard doesn’t have to be an eyesore just because you raise birds.

With some greenery here and flowers there, you’ll be more likely to spend time with your girls, who are guaranteed to be happier in a pretty, treat-rich enclosure.

But are there plants that you can grow near a chicken coop? Are any of them edible?

If so, is it even possible to keep the birds from eating them down to the roots?

Yes, yes, and yes.

I’ll go over all the deets in this guide.

Finding the Perfect Coop Landscaping Strategy

Let’s start by defining your goals. Do you want to provide shade, foraging materials, or pest control? Or is it purely for aesthetics?

Based on what you’re trying to achieve, you can choose:

• Herbs: Hens might not eat them. However, they smell great, and you can grab some fresh leaves while you’re collecting the eggs.
• Veggies and Grains: To cut down your feed costs, go for alfalfa, amaranth, buckwheat, or even pea shrubs.
• Fruiting Plants: Most berries and fruiting trees will work. Plus, large trees can handle the girl’s continuous pecking and digging.
• Flowering Plants: To beautify the area, sunflowers, nasturtiums, and butterfly bushes will do the trick.

Of course, you can always mix and match strategies.

That’s what I do—climbing vines near the sides of the run, a few potted herbs or ornamental grasses inside the enclosure, and a mulberry tree right next to the coop.

10 Chicken-Friendly Plants to Grow Near Your Coop

Here are ten great plants that work in or around coops:

1 – Comfrey

• Perennial
• 12” tall
• Zones 4–8

Comfrey is so good for chicken that it’s been studied as a possible replacement for rock mineral supplements in poultry feed.

Plus, you’ll get a pretty (and compostable) ground cover out of it

2 – Oregano

• Perennial
• Up to 2’ tall
• Zones 4–10

A bit of oregano can help boost your girl’s immune system and ward off infectious bronchitis.

And if your hens don’t like its taste?

No worries; the bush will grow until you end up with pretty little flower clusters instead.

3 – Marigolds

• Annual
• Up to 48” tall
• Zones 2–11

A while ago, I heard that if hens eat marigolds, they lay eggs with vibrant yolks.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t get my flock to nibble on the plant. But hey, my hens change their diet preferences way too often.

I’ll give it a go again. Fingers crossed, they’ll eat it this time.

Even if they never grow a taste for marigolds, the flowers help keep the flies and wasps away from the coop. That’s enough for me.

4 – Mint

• Perennial
• Up to 18” tall
• Zones 3–11

A well-maintained coop won’t stink.

Still, it doesn’t hurt to have a mint plant freshening up the air. You can also pluck some leaves and put them in the nesting box.

But you have to be careful.

Mint spreads aggressively. You’ll want to use containers to control its spread.

5 – Amaranth

• Annual
• Up to 2’ tall
• Zones 2–11

Amaranth will give you showy red blossoms while providing your hens with edible, protein-rich grains.

Usually, you’d have to heat-treat the seeds before incorporating them into a boiler diet at a proportion of 20% or 40%. But this shouldn’t be an issue since your backyard hens will only nibble a few raw amaranth seeds here and there.

Even the leaves can make tasty treats for you girls as long as you dry them first.

6 – Sunflowers

• Annual
• More than 3’ tall
• Zones 2–11

Few plants are as practical and cheerful as the sunflowers.

I’d protect them with chicken wire, though. Once they get tall enough, your chicken won’t be able to get to them.

You can reach the flowers and harvest the seeds to use as a treat for the winter days.

7 – Grapevine

• Perennial
• 10’ tall
• Zones 6–9

A grapevine growing on a trellis near the coop fencing can do wonders for your flock. It’ll provide shade, cover the hens from vultures, and drop some sweet fruits.

That said, in most cases, you’ll need to wait a couple of seasons before seeing any crop.

8 – Loofah

• Annual
• 2’ tall
• Zones 7–13

Once I tried loofah sponges for exfoliation I couldn’t go back.

Now, I want to grow them myself, and the wire fencing around the chicken enclosure will give it enough support, much like it does for the grapevines.

What’s in it for the chicken? Well, the shade, of course!

9 – Sunchokes

• Perennial
• Over 2’ tall
• Zones 3–9

One of my friends used to have a tall sunchock near their backyard chicken run. The hens did munch the lower leaves to oblivion, but they never actually ate enough to kill the plant.

So, the lifecycle went on, and my pal harvested the tubers. Those tubers taste so good roasted (for us) or boiled (for the hens).

10 – Mulberry

• Deciduous tree
• 30’ tall
• Zones 4–8

It’ll take a while to establish a mulberry tree in your yard, but I promise it’ll be worth it.

The tree will provide tons of shade over the run or the coop. Once the summer rolls in, the fruit will start falling and create a feast for your chickens.

Just make sure you don’t stomp on the fruits when you’re walking into the coop/run. They’re quite pigmented, and it’s so easy to track the stains indoors.

Potentially Toxic Plants to Avoid

It might seem like hens know what to eat and what to avoid, but these instincts don’t always kick in.

This list is by no means conclusive, but it should help you avoid some common not-so-hen-friendly plants:

• Tulip
• Foxglove
• Hemlock
• Nightshade
• Hydrangea
• Hogweed
• Rhododendron
• Rhubarb

Golden Keys for Protecting Plants Growing Around the Coop

When given unobstructed access to a plant, most chickens will eat it, sit on it, or dig all the way to the root balls.

That doesn’t mean you should give up and let the area turn into a wasteland.

I use wire enclosures to protect plants that attract the hens the most. This way, the girls can eat whatever pokes through the gaps without scratching and digging the plant to its death.

Sometimes, I just arrange some hardscaping rocks around the base. But it’s also possible to lay chicken wire (with a trunk hole) around the plant and cover it up with mulch to discourage digging.

Sooner or later, the hens will lose interest, and you can remove the barriers.

It’s also vital to provide other foraging opportunities.

Toss in some wood chips on the run and around the coop. The chips will attract enough tasty bugs and critters to keep the girls busy for hours!

Final Thoughts

A final word of advice? Don’t rush in.

Just because a plant is popular among chicken keepers doesn’t mean it’ll work for your flock. There’s always a bit of trial and error needed.

So, don’t go buying a dozen flats of one herb thinking it’s fail-proof. The smart thing to do here is to test things out with one or two plants first!

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