Best groundcover for small "lawn" with chickens

[cajebrso]

Hi all - I was surprised not to find a thread when I searched for "groundcover"/ground cover. We have a small lawn area in a suburban back yard so between the chickens and some construction work, our lawn is definitely on its way out, and I'd love to do something to get it looking better before family visits over the holidays! But if I replant grass, I expect the girls will just eat it down to nibs again in no time (they roam for ~3-4 hours per day). Has anyone found a groundcover that is a bit more chicken resistant but also can serve the function of a "lawn", for kids to play on, etc.? We also have stepping stones on the side of the house that used to have baby's tears and ornamental strawberry, all eaten now, and I'd love to put something there as well. Thanks in advance for any ideas!

 

[DobieLover]

Hi all - I was surprised not to find a thread when I searched for "groundcover"/ground cover.

You haven't found anything because nothing exists. If the chickens don't eat it down, they'll scratch it dead. If you want some green lawn, you'll have to fence them out of some of it.

 

[RoyalChick]

Here is my ground cover. Robust enough to survive the eating and the scratching. But it certainly isn’t lawn-like!

 

[Acre4Me]

Where do you live, in general? Guessing warmer if you expect something to grow before the holidays!

 

[cajebrso]

Yes, Orange County CA
I definitely think that moderating free range time will help - during covid, we'd let them out pretty much all day, but can't do that now that we are not able to monitor them as much.

 

[NatJ]

Depending on how much space and how many chickens, grass can work.

But the grass needs to be well established, and the chickens need to have other areas to do a lot of their scratching. So a mulched area under a tree can be a major help to the grass, just by causing the chickens to scratch in the mulch and hang out there in the shade.

If you need to establish grass from seed, you will probably need to keep the chickens completely off at first, and then let them on for brief times under supervision so they can eat a little but not have time to scratch & tear it up. I'm visualizing weeks before they are allowed on at all, then months of only getting a few minutes once a day.

If you just want a space the chickens can hang out on but do no harm, you might try wood chip mulch instead of anything growing.

Or if you need to confine the chickens to a run most of the time, you can help them stay busy and happy by having a compost pile in the run. ("Compost pile" for me just means I toss in anything that could rot, with a few minor exceptions for toxic things like tomato leaves. The chickens eat some things, and scratch the rest around, and generally seem to have a good time.)