what type of grass should I plant

[killions123]

I live in northeren ohio and have a 55' x40' run for my 13 chickens. The problom is due to all the snaow this year the spot i shovelled for them about 15' x 10' has turned to mud. What would be the best type of grass to re plant over it. Thanks Chris

 

[mailmamm]

I'm in Western Washington and am setting up my coop and run. I also would like to know what type of grass/grain to plant to give my hens good greens.

Alice in Chickenland

 

[CoyoteMagic]

Don't worry about it. It won't have time enough to grow. Chickens will have it torn up again before it has time to root.

 

[ranchhand]

I have to agree, chickens and grass do not combine well. They will scratch it all up in less than 30 seconds. If you really want to see them work fast, turn them loose in your flowerbeds!

Best thing you can do is lay down sand and/or gravel. I have seen boxes formed of 2 x 4's with hardware cloth on top. The grass is planted inside the box and the chooks can only eat it as it grows up through the hardware cloth. I would think any organic rye grass seed would be okay. Just watch out for the chemicals.

 

[Dust Bunny]

enchanted grass

 

[Mahonri]

You can plant it, but it won't last. They'll have it shredded into dirt in a weeks time. just sayin'.....

 

[elmo]

The only way this would work is if you're using pen rotation: locking your chickens out of part of their run while the grass grows, then when you allow them into this part of the run, seeding the other part, etc.

I'm experimenting with something similar to that this year: I have a chicken tractor that I move around our yard every day or so, which allows the grass to survive (mostly). This year I'm going to sow cereal rye grass and millet seed in our back yard, and skip mowing entirely.

 

[Three Cedars Silkies]

I will say that if you use sod instead of sprigging or using seed, it will have a better chance of lasting for a while.

We over-seeded the backyard with LOTS of winter rye this year and it is lovely...and the chickens have NOT torn it up. There are a couple of areas that didn't have much grass in the first place and those are more bare...but overall, it did well.

We had the agricultural extension agent out to make recommendations about seeding for establishing a warm weather grass and they recommended for our area and the amount of shade that we have, argentine bahia. We'll be putting it out this week and will overseed the already established rye grass. That way the rye will help the bahia get firmly rooted before the rye dies when the weather gets hot.

This is about 1/3 acre that I'm talking about and we have had 15 large fowl chickens on it during the day.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
Gravel.

Seriously!

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[Imp]

I have grass with chickens.
They, 4 hens, free range in the backyard about 6000sf, about 4000 sf of grass. Even then there are patches they look less than great. They can do a lot of damage. Someone on here recommends 450 sf per chicken to keep grass. I think that might just barely work if you were in a snowy area that they cannot get to the grass in the winter. Good luck

Imp- I do encourage them to scratch in the mossy areas.

Taken last April