6 Chicken Friendly Shrubs

If you love chickens and have some roaming around your yard (and gardens), you may be wondering:

What shrubs are safe for chickens?

Is it okay for them to be eating this kind of shrub? 

As I’m sure you have found out they’ll try to eat anything they can, whether you want them to or not. You’re in luck, below is a list of shrubs that are all safe for your chickens, because even gardens that are scavenged by chickens deserve to be beautiful. 

A chicken standing with proven winners colorchoice plants gathered around it

Dogwood

Arctic Fire® Red and Yellow and Arctic Sun® add great color to your landscape in all seasons due to their brightly colored stems that pop in the winter and green foliage with white blooms in the spring.

Barberry

Many types of barberry are all chicken safe, including Sunjoy Mini Maroon®, Sunjoy Sequins®, Sunjoy® Citrus! Another great feature to help deter chickens is that they have thorns, a chicken is not going to want to mess with a plant with thorns.

Juniper

TORTUGA® Juniper provides a great low mound of green foliage, perfect for the most difficult locations where you still want some green. 

Hibiscus

Dark Lavender Chiffon®, Blue Chiffon®, and Paraplu Pink Ink® are beautiful pops of color to add to your garden. They benefit from yearly fertilization and your chickens can help by creating and spreading their own natural fertilizer while they free range around this shrub.

Viburnums

Whether you are looking for bright white blooms or a pop of color, there are over a dozen varieties of this shrub to complete your garden. Add white with some Yin® or Yang® or maybe some pink with Sweet Talker® or even some with colorful fruit like Glitters & Glows or Brandywine™.

Roses

Such a beautiful addition to your garden and they even come with their own self-defense mechanisms – thorns! Those will help keep the chickens away!

Chicken standing beside a reminiscent coral rose in a Proven Winners Colorchoice white pot

2 Bonus Chicken Safe Shrubs

The great smell of these shrubs may attract your chickens, so they might enjoy eating this one a little bit more – but it can still be a beautiful addition to your garden.

For more on keeping your plants safe – check out “12 tips to help chicken-proof your garden.”

Written by
McKenna

McKenna

I am new to the gardening scene and love sharing information and inspiration as I continue to learn and grow with my garden. My sunny and small apartment balcony in USDA zone 6 is the current source of my gardening inspiration. I have filled this small space with herbs, vegetables, shrubs, and more as I continue to search for a house to fulfill my gardening dreams. I also will be sharing interesting tips on gardening with chickens as I grew up showing, breeding, and raising them.

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