I just realized I sent this directly to Matt instead of to the list so
I'll resend now.
== == ==
You first need to decide if you want the birds to eat the shrubs or
not. If they are at all palatable and they can get at the leaves
they'll eat them sure as anything.
Also, if you want to eat the fruit then they need to be up off the
dirt a good bit because the yard dust will get all over the fruit even
if the birds can't reach them.
Mulberry trees seem to do well in hen yards. I bought a "Peggy's
Black" mulberry (unknown species) from the Just Fruits & Exotics folks
who told me the original tree was growing in a hen yard up in the
Florida panhandle. I liked the idea and since I needed a shade source
for my henyard that is where I planted it. It was tall enough by the
time the birds went in that they could not reach the leaves and they
did not harm the trunk or bark so I didn't have to put up any sort of
protection.
The tree more than quadrupled its canopy volume in one growing season
and put on a fair crop of fruit for no bigger than it was. The manure
load just seemed to agree with it. My only mistake was not keeping it
watered enough during our really dry period last year (we're still in
a drought) so the tree suffered limb dieback. Once I realized what
was happening I started watering it more regularly and the dieback
stopped. I'll stay on top of it next year so I expect it will recover
fine. In two years I expect the yard will be well shaded and they
love all of the fruit that drops.
.....Alan.
Quoting Matt Demmon <mdemmon@gmail.com>:
[Hide Quoted Text]
I've been thinking about the flip side of an issue that's been
floating around lately. There's been a lot of interesting talk about
which animals may mesh well in an orchard environment. I'm wondering
if any one has opinions on fruiting shrubs that may benefit from being
in a chicken yard. Something that would handle the high nitrogen
fertilizer on thrive on it, and provide the chickens with food, and
leave some higher up fruits for us. We have a fairly large chicken
run, and only a dozen or two birds at any one time, so it's not like
it's a manure lagoon, but it is about 40% bare ground right now. They
yard is shady in the north and full sun in the south. We're in zone 5,
southeast michigan. I guess I'm mostly curious about what effect the
chicken manure would have on various plants. In my mind I thought
something like elderberries or some brambles might make most effective
use of the nitrogen. I know that different plants react differently to
soils, and while some may be able to utilize it effectively, others
might produce way too much green growth at the expense of health and
fruiting.
-matt demmon
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