Do chickens destroy your lawn?

stephbaldwin

Hatching
7 Years
Jan 5, 2013
2
2
9
if you let your chickens roam your lawn will they destroy it from their pecking and scratching? the people we are renting from seem to think they will completely destroy it but I have friends who let their chickens roam all over their lawn everyday and their lawn is fine.
 
Ours find a soft spot, dig a hole and with every use the hole gets bigger since they constantly dig under the sides. Our lawn looks like a moon scape with craters every where. Long story short, no more chickens free range unless someone is there with a stick to keep hem away from the lawn......
 
Before you'll get a meaningful answer you probably need to tell us how many chickens and how big a yard.
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I have 10 chickens that forage daily on 3/4 acre. They dig only in and around the existing flower and garden beds. They scratch and peck in the grass, but not enough in any one area to damage the grass.

They dig some significant dust baths, but the periodic rain washes the soil back into the holes for the most part, so they can start over.

If you don't have flower beds for them to bathe in, a dust bath as was suggested will work well. A shallow box with sand, wood ashes, potting soil, and such will work well.

Chris
 
Your lawn should be okay. If there are no piles of dirt on the lawn then they have no reason to scratch and destroy it. It's usually the garden beds that they go for.
 
YES!!!!! Before we got ours we were told they may dig in the flower beds, but it wouldn't be any big deal. WRONG! We have a 1/4 acre back yard and 5 hens. The yard is DESTROYED. We put up a 4 ft. fence to block off the "chicken" part, but they went right over to find fresh grass and more bugs. We have 1ft. square pavers making paths all over the yard and they dig around them so much the pavers have all shifted or sunk. Our kids think the holes are great because it's like an obsticle course to get from one side of the yard to the other. We have no grass, potted plants or flower beds left at all. I like to joke that our german shepherd and pit bull do less damage in the yard than the chickens. THey have even scratched through fiberglass weed fabric!!! It's supposed to be pest resistant!

This weeks projest is to move the coop (done), put in new fence (almost done), and clip their wings to keep them in about a 40x15 foot area in the back of the yard. I will send you some before and after (chicken) pictures to show you what I'm talking about. Don't be fooled, they make a MESS!
 
Our chicken pasture is destroyed near the coop. Anywhere that the chickens are for a good portion of the day, especially when the ground is soft, will be destroyed. When I let them out of the pasture, they don't do much to the lawn, but that's because they have the whole 1/4 acre garden to destroy.

Chickens are plant destroyers.
 

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