Last Updated on January 23, 2023 by Aaron von Frank
What are chicken and ducks’ favorite garden plants? Find out what treats you can grow in your garden to share with your feathered family members!
Do you have chickens or ducks? If so and you love your flock as much as we do, your birds are likely spoiled rotten. And completely ungrateful…
It’s important for your flock’s health, longevity, and egg production to make sure they have optimal nutrition. In addition to their primary food, we like to give our ducks plenty of fresh garden goodies throughout the year, which is one of many reasons we maintain a large organic garden/edible landscape.
Over the years, we’ve learned what garden treats our ducks do and don’t like. Now, we’re always sure to grow their favorite varieties to keep them spoiled with fresh organic produce every season of the year.
The fruits and veggies on this list are also some of our favorites to eat as well. So when our ducks aren’t looking, we’ll steal food from “their” garden. (Shh, don’t tell them.)
We use temporary fencing to set up “duck gardens” in our backyard for our ducks. Our ducks can reach their heads in just far enough to trim the outer leaves as the plants mature. This gives them a fun activity and fresh foraged greens without allowing them to completely destroy the plants – which is what they’d do with unfettered access.
Top 11 garden plants for chickens and ducks
If you’re a gardener (or aspiring gardener) with spoiled fowl, you might want to grow the plant varieties we mention below. Depending on where you live, the dates/months that you’ll grow and harvest these plants will vary, but you can just follow the instructions on your seed packets to get great results.
Based on the preferences of our Welsh Harlequin ducks combined with feedback from other gardeners we know who raise ducks and chickens, here are the top 11 garden plants for chickens and ducks (in no particular order):
*note: growing info below is based on our temperate climate region, Zone 7B
1. MILD Asian Greens
If you think you can’t have an edible garden because of shade, think again. There are probably as many edible plants that will grow in shade as will grow in full sun and some edible plants can tolerate both. This is a spot that gets at most 4 hours of direct sun but it’s full of edible plants you may be familiar with. Front to back: borage, vitamin greens/vitaminna, lettuce, kale, cilantro, strawberry spinach. They’re “trimmed” next to the fencing since this bed is primarily intended to provide our ducks with some forage during the day: they can reach their fat little heads in, but not too far. 🙂
Season: fall, winter, spring
Light: full sun-part shade
Description & growing notes: Napa cabbage, vitamin greens, mibuna, bok choy, and similar MILD Asian greens all offer a similar, delicious flavor. Our ducks love them, and we do too.
Our ducks do not like spicy greens such as mustard greens or arugula.
2. Chicory
There is a huge amount of diversity in the size, shape, color, and taste of various chicory varieties. We’ve grown dozens of varieties and our ducks like them all.
Season: spring and fall
Light: full sun-part shade
Description & growing notes: There are tons of varieties of chicory, and they come in all different sizes, shapes, colors, and flavors. Our ducks like it all.
Our favorite chicory varieties for ducks are “leaf chicories” which feature tall upright leaves. You can cut all the leaves at once about 5″ above the ground and they’ll grow back within weeks, making them a highly productive cut-and-come-again veggie.
Leaf chicory is often sold as “dandelion greens” in high end grocery stores even though they’re totally different plant species. In addition to their productivity, one of the best things about them is they’ll produce continuously from fall through spring. We use row cover/low tunnels to keep it happy in the winter.
3. Lettuce
A beautiful patch of young lettuce almost ready to meet a duck for dinner.
Season: spring and fall
Light: full sun-part shade
Description & growing notes: Did you know that in poultry heaven, the clouds are made of lettuce? At least that’s what our ducks tell us…
They seriously love the stuff, and it’s hard to pick their favorite lettuce variety. Our recommendation: get the ‘Wild Garden Lettuce Mix‘ from organic plant breeding genius Frank Morton’s farm. It offers a dazzling array of colors, sizes, and shapes.
4. Kale
Ooh, kale on top and chickweed growing underneath. If you were a duck or chicken, this would make your brain light up with hunger and excitement. We harvest and chop huge quantities of kale and chickweed for our flock throughout the cool months.
Season: fall, winter spring for us (our hot humid summers are tough here for kale)
Light: full sun-part shade
Description & growing notes: Our girls aren’t too picky about which kale they’ll eat, but for some reason they seem to prefer extra frilly-leafed varieties. Perhaps it’s fun for them to grab and rip the frilly leaves versus the flat leaves (like Lacinato).
One thing we’ve noticed is that the flavor of kale takes on a more intense, almost spicy flavor as the plants get stressed in late spring-summer in our climate zone. Our ducks stop eating it then but absolutely love it every other season.
5. Mâche
Mache goes from a tiny, low-growing green to a bush of tiny white flowers very quickly in the spring (you can see it flowering in large clumps in this photo). It’s edible at every stage. Beneficial/predatory insects will LOVE you for growing it – as will your poultry.
Season: fall, winter, spring
Light: full sun-part shade
Description & growing notes: Another incredibly cold-hardy green. We’ve had mâche survive uncovered down into the single digits.
The plants stay small throughout the winter, then doubles in size nearly every week in the late winter/early spring until it starts producing tiny flowers and seed pods.
Mâche greens are delicious – they taste almost nutty. Some of our ducks also love eating the tiny seeds off the plants, which are probably loaded with good omegas which then go into their eggs.
6. Austrian Winter Peas (the greens/leaves, not the pods)
Peas don’t just produce tasty pods, they also produce delicious foliage. The best part is the tender young growth shoots, which taste just like peas, but have a soft, silky texture. Our fave variety for shoots is Austrian winter peas. Here’s a quick video showing you how to harvest them from the plant. #austrianwinterpeas #heirloomseeds #organicseeds #GrowJourney A post shared by Tyrant Farms (@tyrantfarms) on
Season: fall, winter, spring
Light: full sun-part shade
Description & growing notes: Peas aren’t just a spring plant if you know the right varieties. ‘Austrian winter’ peas are the cold-hardiest variety we grow, surviving uncovered to around 10°F.
The peas from the mature spring pods make a killer dried pea for soup, but they’re not as good as snap peas for eating raw. The real magic of ‘Austrian winter’ peas is in the delicious edible shoots/leaves, which taste every bit as good – if not better – than sugar snap peas.
They’re very high in protein, and as you might have guessed, our ducks LOVE them. These also make a great nitrogen-fixing cover crop. Learn more about how to grow & harvest Austrian winter peas.
7. Snap Peas (for the peas in the pods)
Season: fall, winter, spring depending on your agricultural zone
Light: full sun-part shade
Description & growing notes: Pretty much every duck parent we know (and we know lots of them) say their ducks go absolutely bonkers for peas in the snap pea category. Thus they grow snap peas and/or buy bags of frozen peas from the grocery store.
However, our flock of Welsh Harlequin ducks must be broken as we’ve never managed to get them to eat a single pea. Don’t take our ducks’ word for it. Peas will likely be very popular with your ducks — if not, you can enjoy them!
8a. Small Tomatoes (currants & cherry)
Season: summer
Light: full sun (smaller-fruited currant and cherry tomatoes can actually grow in part shade, although they won’t produce as much fruit.
Description & growing notes: We have no idea why, but tomatoes are probably our ducks’ absolute favorite food. If we were the only thing standing between our ducks and a tomato, we’d be seriously worried for our health.
We love and recommend ‘Matt’s Wild Cherry’ tomatoes (in the small tomato category) for a few reasons:
- the plants are incredibly robust and need no care;
- the small tomatoes are the perfect size for a greedy duck bill to gulp down whole;
- they readily reseed and come back in the same spot year after year; and
- they’re an absolutely delicious tomato for duck slaves (aka humans) to enjoy by the handful as well.
8b. Large tomatoes (beefsteaks)
Season: summer
Light: full sun (with the larger sized fruits, tomatoes require a full sun spot – minimum 6 hours of direct sunlight per day).
Description & growing notes: One of our favorite things to do on a summer evening is to score a large beefsteak tomato with a knife, put it on the ground, do our “duuuuuckliiiiing” treat call which sends our flock flap-running across the yard, then watch as our flock viciously rips the innocent tomato to shreds within seconds.
It’s like Shark Week, but with tomato juice instead of blood and ducks playing the role of Great White sharks. We’re not sure who gets more pleasure from this activity, us or the ducks. We hope you and your feathered family takes as much pleasure from tomato-sharking as we do.
9. Sunberries
Yum, sunberries!
Season: summer
Light: produce most fruit in full sun, but tolerate part shade
Description & growing notes: A relatively unknown fruit attributed to the famous plant breeder, Luther Burbank, sunberries (aka wonderberries) are related to tomatoes and other nightshade fruit, but taste more like a mild blueberry.
The 2-3′ tall plants form prolific clusters of berries that ripen black. Ducks, chickens, and humans are all happier when sunberries are ripe.
Do note that some of our ducks absolutely LOVE sunberries and some are meh on them. Who’s to know the mind of a duck.
10. Ground Cherries
Small currant tomatoes on the left, ground cherries in the white bowl on the right. This is the stuff duck and chicken dreams are made of.
Season: summer
Light: full sun for best fruit production and flavor
Description & growing notes: This strange little husked fruit blew our minds when we first ate it many years ago. It tastes like a cross between a pineapple and a tomato.
Ground cherries are a staple in our summer garden every year. As it turns out, our ducks love them to, especially Svetlana the flock matriarch who could eat her body weight in ground cherries if we let her. Find out how to grow, harvest and use ground cherries.
11. Chickweed
See the long stems with tiny green leaves and tiny white flowers? That’s chickweed (Stellaria media) – your ducks and chickens will love you for growing it, and it probably already grows as a “weed” all around you in the late winter/early spring.
Season: fall, winter, spring
Light: grows well but will go to seed earlier in full sun; thrives in part shade
Description & growing notes:
Chickweed is a delightful “weed” that grows abundantly in the winter and spring throughout the US. The flavor is sweet and mild and most similar to corn silk (yes, the frills that stick up out of the top of a corn husk).
It was brought over by early European settlers since it’s one of the earliest greens to produce, and has since naturalized all over North America. It’s one of the most cold-hardy greens you can grow – we’ve had it live uncovered through 10°F.
It grows crazy fast in the spring and our ducks will absolutely gorge themselves on it. Yes, the reason it’s called “chickweed” is that chickens do indeed love it too. Once you know what chickweed looks like, you’ll probably see it everywhere during its growing season.
Update: What plants our ducks do NOT like
Just as in humans, there seems to be wide variability in what one duck or chicken (or flock) likes versus another. We talk to lots of poultry parents whose birds like things our flock won’t touch, despite repeated exposure.
For example, our ducks do NOT like: watermelon, blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, beautyberries, grapes, or many other fruits. Other people report that their ducks love these treats.
Since our ducks won’t touch them, these plants are not included in the favorites list above. If you find that your flock does like them, grow away!
If you found this post helpful, please share it on Pinterest!
KIGI,
Other helpful duck articles that’ll quack you up:
- What to feed ducks to maximize their health & longevity
- 5 tips to keep your ducks from destroying your yard
- Do duck have teeth? Learn all about ducks’ amazing digestive system…
- Duck winter care tips
- Duck summer care tips
- How to build a DIY self-cleaning duck pond
and more duck articles from Tyrant Farms!
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11 Comments
Pam Davidson
June 17, 2022 at 3:34 pmHave you tried feeding your babies papaya? Mine get either papaya or watermelon every day in their afternoon treat. (It’s also a good way to keep them out of their run while I change out the waterers, bowls, and kiddie pool. Otherwise they tend to be a little too helpful.) I’ve got a variety of babies, buff, welsh harlequin, blue and black Swedish, silver Appleyard, golden hybrid, khaki campbell, and the queen bee, my Rouen, Quackers. All of them seem to love both fruits if the way they attack the food trays is any indication. Especially my boy Georgie. The girls have all learned to get out of his way when the food goes down. He has no qualms about running them over or me for that matter. I have found that if I put the fruit on the bottom they dig past the peas, corn, green beans, carrots, and kale to get to it and hardly notice the powdered brewers yeast I sprinkle on. Everything else is just an afterthought. Don’t get me wrong, they love their veggies, but I guess they all have a bit of a sweet tooth, well I guess in their case it would be a sweet bill. I’m going to try some of the other things you listed to try and give them more variety.
Any suggestions on how I can go about keeping my kale fresh? I’m new to this so haven’t had time to get my own garden going and have to rely on store bought for now.
Also, what kind of regular feed do you provide? I’m having trouble finding one that will work for both my ducks and chickens since they grew up together and the chickens are convinced their ducks. They even go so far as to wade in the kiddie pool with the ducks, feet only but I’ve had chickens all my life and never have I had one that would get in the water. At least not on purpose. They don’t roost at night either. They dog pile right in with the ducks. It’s the strangest thing I’ve ever seen, but cute as all get out. I never realized that ducks and chickens could bond. I also didn’t know that they would bond with my german shephard mix. Quackers treats her like she’s part of the flock. She doesn’t hesitate to correct her when she’s being a little to rambunctious. She also calls to her when she gets too far away. Is that normal?
I’m also working on building them a better pool based on your other article. I just have to make a few alterations so the chickens can wade with them and Ellie can swim with them. By the way, you’ve been a lifesaver as I navigate the new world of raising ducks. I had no idea what I was in for, but I’m enjoying every minute. You might go so far as to say I’m obsessed.
Aaron von Frank
June 18, 2022 at 7:15 amWonderful to hear about your various experiences with ducks (and chickens and German shepherds)! Sounds like a good place to be an animal.
Oddly, our Welsh Harlequin ducks do not like watermelon or papaya. We grow both fruits (yes, even papaya – https://www.tyrantfarms.com/how-to-grow-papayas-in-pots-in-non-tropical-climate-zones/) and can attest that our ducks’ watermelon aversions are not due to low quality fruit. We’ve heard from countless people over the years that their ducks do like watermelon so we’re not quite sure the reason for our flock’s lack of interest. Perhaps we could have continued to provide watermelon to them when they were ducklings so they acquired the taste.
Perhaps most accurately you could refer to your ducks’ sweet tooth/bill as a sweet lamellae. Ha!
Keeping kale fresh: we keep ours in the fridge in a bag in the veggie drawer until we use it. When giving it to our ducks, we chop it into small pieces and then put it in their water bowls. It doesn’t last very long from that point on.
We give our ducks Mazuri waterfowl feed. They have lower protein Maintenance feed and higher protein Layer/Breeder feed. If you want to take a deeper dive into our recommended duck feeding regimen: https://www.tyrantfarms.com/what-to-feed-pet-or-backyard-ducks-to-maximize-their-health-and-longevity/.
So interesting about your chickens… and your “swimming” chickens – ha!
As for your duck calling for your German shepherd – not something we have personal experience with but it sounds like she’s quite bonded with the dog, as you said. In that case, being out of visual contact with a beloved flockmate can cause a duck to get a bit stressed and call out with their “where are you?” quacks.
JAMES ORR
November 9, 2020 at 4:37 amAre any of the plants in your top 10 poisonous to pets? I looked up ground cherries and a lot of sites say do not allow consumption for the unripe fruit or leaves by any livestock, pets, or humans.
Aaron von Frank
November 11, 2020 at 5:12 pmHi James! It’s generally a good idea to avoid nightshade leaves (tomatoes, ground cherries, eggplants, etc), whether you’re human or poultry. We’ve grown lots of nightshades in proximity to our ducks and they seem to quickly gain an intuition of what’s edible or not. They also get lots of leafy greens each day so they’re not ravenous for greens or nutrient-deficient. In our opinion, the risk is mostly to the plants which will be trampled to death by ducks or pecked to death by chickens if given full access. Long story short: plants like ground cherries shouldn’t be a health risk to your poultry, but it’s probably best to grow all of these plants in an area your poultry can’t access and dole out the garden-fresh goodies accordingly.
Vickie Ray Degand
May 13, 2020 at 3:26 pmWe have a tropical garden with palm trees & all sorts of tropical plants, many produce fruit. Mixed in the area are tropical flowers, Japanese maple tree, really anything you might find in a tropical setting, minus the alligators. Would it be safe for both the plants & the ducks to allow them to free range in that area? Thank you.
Aaron von Frank
May 17, 2020 at 2:03 pmSounds like duck paradise! Yes, should be safe for both plants and ducks.
They’ll fertilize your larger plants. Be warned that they may trample or nibble your smaller plants though. The main things you’ll need to be careful of are whether you have fencing to keep them on your property and keep predators from getting in. You’ll still want to put them up in a protected coop at night when predators are most active. In our experience, ducks quickly figure out which plants are edible and which aren’t. Also, be sure you’re providing them with a good, balanced diet which includes fresh greens.
Typical Troll
June 26, 2019 at 4:22 pmAny suggestions for hot weather and shallow root edibles?
I’m building a “Quacker Box” with a green roof and we’re nearing our hot summer days.
Might just do a cover crop if I can’t figure it out.
Dust Bowl Blue
July 16, 2018 at 1:11 amI would also suggest kale – so pretty to grow, but not something I’m fond of eating. My hens go mad for it, so it’s a win-win!
Aaron von Frank
July 23, 2018 at 9:45 amAgreed! That’s why kale is #4 on this list. 🙂
Randy Bill
September 4, 2017 at 4:22 pmI brought home 4 wonderful, 12 to 13 week old welsh harlequins about 6 weeks ago. Do you have any suggestions for helping to tam the. They know me and know I bring food, treats and fresh water, abundantly, but I still can’t get any closer than about 3 feet.
Aaron von Frank
July 23, 2018 at 9:49 amHi Randy! Sorry we missed your question. Yes, in fact we have a whole article detailing how to get your ducks to like you: https://www.tyrantfarms.com/how-to-get-your-ducks-to-like-you-three-tips/