Can I "de-weed" grass that my chickens will live on?

[GimmeCake]

My current coop is a small chicken tractor, which is quite small considering I have 6 chickens and I'm planning on getting 3 more soon (and one of the three will be a rooster). So I quickly threw down some normal grass seed mixed with some of that grass/mulch/fertilizer stuff to grow a nice 10x10 FT area for the run. Now I'm putting down a coop soon.

Here is the problem with my plan. The area I'm planting is fairly barren (no grass, just weeds, tree seedlings, and lots of visible dirt) so planting wasn't too easy. But the fact that where I planted has absolutely nothing growing there, wet tilled dirt, little wet blobs of mulch and fertilizer, and plenty of surrounding weeds, were bound to have a problem. So now we have little pieces of grass popping up, but lots of weeds as well. If I waiting until the grass is bigger, can I weed the grass? If so, how long until it's considered safe for chickens to eat?

Thanks!

 

[Whittni]

You can check the weeder you use. I pull weeds by hand because I don't like the idea of the chemicals possibly being in my eggs or harming the birds. You might look into buying some sod to start your grass.

 

[chfite]

I would wait a month of reasonable rain before letting the chickens on that plot in a tractor. The only chemical I use inside the area where the chickens forage is vinegar for weed control.

So far as the weeds are concerned, the chickens will eat them, too.

Chris

 

[The Bantam Guy]

chicken will eat no DEVOUR everthing around them green weeds,small plants,grass so there really no point in planting grass they will eat it all

 

[cafarmgirl]

What Bantam Guy said. 9 chickens in as small an area as that are going to have it completely bare before lunchtime. I wouldn't waste the time planting or weeding anything. My run is 13x23, I initially had 8 chickens out there, they were only in the run part time and were out on my pasture the rest of the time. The run was completely bare and the dirt dug up within a few weeks. To be honest, if your birds are going to be in there full time I'd try to make it larger or have fewer birds. Or let them out for a few hours each day.

 

[tdgill]

keep in mind also that weeds are some of the most nutritious stuff out there. Chickweed, dandelion, wild lettuce, lamb's quarters etc. We should all be eating as well as our chickens do