Best grass to plant in a chicken run?

[jthornton]

Here is a couple of photos of the sprout boxes, unfortunately the season is coming to a close and with the cold days we just had they didn't do much. So the one to the left of the hen is todays fresh seeds. The one on the far right is yesterday progressing back toward the hen.



JT

 

[MissChick@dee]

Here is a couple of photos of the sprout boxes, unfortunately the season is coming to a close and with the cold days we just had they didn't do much. So the one to the left of the hen is todays fresh seeds. The one on the far right is yesterday progressing back toward the hen.

View attachment 1565984 View attachment 1565985

JT

I think those are just awesome.

 

[Moon Goddess]

My run originally had a fence that did not allow them under their coop, so it had some tall grass and underbrush under and around the base. When I built a new fence I went ahead and made their run bigger so it would encompass the coop, mostly so they could also have it as shelter while outside. I would say within two days of the old fence being removed they had eaten everything green in that area. I wouldn’t find it worth the effort to grow things in their run personally, but I do dump fresh mown grass clippings in the run when they’re available from yard work.
Those are some cool ideas though with the rotating sprouts. I’m sure any chicken would be happy to have that in their run, but I just don’t have the resources to do something like that myself.

 

[HoneysuckleHomestead]

I know this is an older thread, but I wanted to post an update. I tried the boxes that I mentioned in the original post, and they've worked surprisingly well!! I planted some ryegrass and clover and the chickens keep it trimmed back just under the wire. It's worked great and I'm planning to make a few more. Thanks for all your input.

 

[MissChick@dee]

I do that to my perennial’s raised boxes. Strawberries & asparagus. I’m constantly rethinking things. Seems now I have to keep an eye out for comb damage from wire pecking. Nothing serious so far. Awh the challenges of chickens.
I really like your idea.
Glad to see it stand the test of time & chicken.

 

[Col1948]

I got some Sunflower seeds to go in to the feed, then one day I wondered what would happen if I planted some.
So I got a tub and put some soil in and planted some seeds about an inch below the surface, I kind of forgot about it then after week there was lots of these shoots about 2 inches tall sticking up.
Then I just put the tub outside next to the coop, in a matter of a couple of hours the lot had gone, they loved them, I watched as they were eating almost ravenous, you would think they had never been fed.
So now I grow them all the time, every so often I put the tub out with fresh shoots.

 

[333113]

I go to two feed stores on the edge of rural areas, and both carry 50 pound bags of "seed" oats and barley for a few dollars more than the regular "feed" oats and barley. (In my area in Missouri, oats or barley are about $12 or $14 per bag if just rated for feed, and $16 to $21 if rated for seed.) Both oats and barley seed types are untreated, and either of them could be used for human-consumed sprouts, too. I sprinkle these in my pens after a rain, and some seeds are eaten, others end up sprouting or growing greens to some degree before they are eaten.
The poultry pasture greens look good, but the price of seed oats and seed barley look much better, to me. As a beekeeper, I like buckwheat, too, and the chickens like buckwheat, but around here seed buckwheat is about $60-something per 50-pound bag. I would like to tell you the exact price but when they said "sixty..." my mind blanked it out, sorry. I did buy one pound of it for my bees at $1.89 per pound, and that will actually last me all summer.
In the winter I intermittently sprout in the house in cheap cat-litter plastic bins from Walmart or Dollar General, and it takes from three days (sprouted but not green) to six days (green) to make sprouts. After it's sprouted, I set the sprouting bin inside the pen and let the chickens at it. Each cat-litter bin takes a quarter-cup to a half-cup of seed to make a bin of greens, so each seed bag lasts a long time, for me.

 

[jthornton]

(In my area in Missouri, oats or barley are about $12 or $14 per bag if just rated for feed, and $16 to $21 if rated for seed.)

What part of Missouri are you in? I've not found oats or barley around here.

Oh and you should add your location to your profile so it's always there.

JT

 

[danceswithronin]

As you can see, my run is pretty bare, and I'm wanting to get some greenery back in there.
View attachment 1564997

I'm working on building a few "raised flower bed" frames and I'm going to plant some grass in them, somewhat like this...
View attachment 1564998

BUT MY QUESTION IS... is there a particular type of grass that you'd recommend? Something with a little more nutritional value than others, something that is better quality, something that chickens like? Does it matter what type of grass I plant?

Thanks for any input!

Those are brilliant! I'd given up growing grass in my run because the cheeks just decimate it, need to try this!

 

[333113]

What part of Missouri are you in? I've not found oats or barley around here.

Oh and you should add your location to your profile so it's always there.

JT

The feed stores I shop are in Fenton (http://www.fentonfeedmill.com) and near Washington, Missouri (http://straatmannfeed.com). Both provide seed to farmers.