Backyard is pure dirt now

[ShanaMcS]

We have five lovely hens that free-range everyday in our Florida backyard. Our lovely grass is now a desert of sand and anything green has been devoured. I sighed, realizing the joy of our chickens was worth having a backyard that looks like Chernobyl, but today a thought struck me. Besides the organic food scraps I let my girls have, what have they to forage on? ( Of course they get organic feed, grit and water every morning). With all the greenery gone, I don't even see any bugs for them to relish in a free for all frenzy. Poor, poor girls. Should I be feeling bad or is this common? Is there something I could or should plant for them? It's a full sun, zone 9 or 10 back yard.

 

[RodNTN]

My chickens have access to 25 acres, so I don't have to worry about them running out of grass. When I keep my chickens in the run occasionally though, I go out and get buckets and buckets of weeds, grass, leaves, etc. This gives them lots to dig through

 

[1cock2hens]

for a while i wasnt letting my chickens free range so i put some neglected potted plants in with them for them to pick on. they were pots that i let sit out all summer and they grew a bunch of weeds and grasses in them, all shapes and sizes. you could try growing some pots of grass and rotating them out?

 

[rosemarythyme]

Wow that is BARE! Unfortunately anything that gets planted will also likely get demolished. You can look into grazing frames or fenced off garden beds or even sectioning off half the yard to allow it to recover, and then rotate the chickens between the halves, though depending on how many birds you have they might tear it up faster than it can recover.

 

[ShanaMcS]

Thanks! I know, I didn't even know it could go so bare. It's like it's a beach now! I have five chickens. If I fenced off half of the yard and planted grass, how often should I rotate them? Also, we only give them organic everything because of my daughters food allergies. I doubt there's organic grass seed, lol. Who knows, maybe there is - I'll search it! Thanks for your help!

 

[ChickNanny13]

I live in a residential area, have had 4 - 6 Girls at a time. Yup, they do demolish the yard Had DH built me a 8x12x7 "open air" enclosure that I keep them confined but I got my backyard back & all that I've raised have thrived. Think they just love to scratch ...

I ferment their Flock Raiser, they have grit & Oyster Shells on the side, they get leafy lettuce, kale, cabbage, other green veggies (my guilt treat) daily. When I mow, they get handfuls of clippings. At close up I toss in some dry feed (Flock Raiser) and BOSS.

Currently I have 4 year old BOs, they've been laying since early October about 3.5 eggs per day. We had a bad couple months of dark & very wet days, I got 3.2 eggs per day. After reading about how they can get "worms & sick" from bugs they eat, I've decided confined works best for me.

Some pic of the Enclosure when I had 5 Blue Wyandottes .... I do the a modified DLM, works for me.

 

[1cock2hens]

organic seed is very easily found actually, some pet stores even sell organic grass seed specifically for growing small plots for your pets. // i dont have an answer for your rotational grazing question but it is a great idea, If i were to fence half the yard off and grow the grass up I would keep them in one side till the grass started looking stressed then I would move them to the other area

 

[Kenny_]

You can easily make grass boxes for them.

https://www.google.com/search?q=gra...-6naAhWGk1kKHWF2AS0Q_AUICygC&biw=1440&bih=780

I saw one of the images had chicken wire on it - uh no! lol Hardware cloth because you don't want them to get to the root of the grass. You just want them to be able to eat the grass that comes over the hardware cloth. This has worked well in my sister's run. And I also agree with the partitioning of the backyard, as well.. it's just hard to actually get it all seeded and have them not attack it all. I guess just do one portion at a time until it's all grass again and just rotate them through and when you see it's getting worked down too low, kick them out, water it and let the sun do it's magic.

Best of luck!

 

[sawilliams]

My thought would be biuld a day time pen with plenty of room to play astound thier coop. Reestablish the rest of the lawn, I'm guess a few weeks or better unless you plan to use sod. And only let then out a few hours in the evening. This way they get all the benifits of fresh greens less work on you and less time for them to tear it up. When we had a small yard i had 12 hens and they only where let out from about 5 pm on. Given I have clay not sand, but with the limited time they will be more interested in finding bugs and eating top grass then digging through it all

 

[lazy gardener]

You are going to have a difficult time getting grass to grow in your yard b/c of the dry, sandy soil, the heat, and the chickens. I suggest that you call your county Agricultural exchange office and speak to someone who could advise you about what to plant in your county. Clump type grass may be your best bet. They may suggest some plants that would be both decorative, prevent erosion, and give the chooks some greens to eat as well as provide shade and predator cover.