Can I feed my chickens the grass species Bermuda Grass?

[Bryce Thomas]

Around the coop/run it grows wild at almost 2 feet tall. Can I just rip some handfuls from the ground and throw it in there for them? Can I use the dead bermuda grass as bedding too? Thanks.

 

[aart]

I thought Bermuda Grass was a very short drought resistant turf grass?

Long green plant matter can cause crop impaction.
Cut and thoroughly dried would be fine for bedding.

 

[alwaystj9]

For hoofed stock:
Bermuda grass hay makes a perfect free fed hay. It has low starch, high fiber, and good protein content to ensure the health of your animals.

That's from some old 4H stuff. I fed Bermuda hay to livestock in the Carolinas and sometimes it is available here, in Louisiana. I don't know about feeding it green but when dried as hay, it swirls nicely into nest boxes! It's a long segmented stem, not usually as leafy as Timothy. Closer to orchard grass hay, I guess.

 

[STACEYH]

I take an old ice cream bucket and scissors cut it into bits when it is green and sit the bucket in run takes about 10 minutes for me. yes you can use it for bedding

 

[NatJ]

I take an old ice cream bucket and scissors cut it into bits when it is green and sit the bucket in run takes about 10 minutes for me.

I've done that with long grass, too: it cannot tangle in their crops if it's cut short enough! A pair of scissors and a few minutes' time makes a bunch of little bite-sized bits for the chickens.

(I have done this with other grasses that grow long and tough, not Bermuda Grass specifically.)

 

[Bryce Thomas]

I cut a patch of that overgrown bermuda grass and it was an old lawnmower it was not electric it was one of those where you would push and the metal blades would turn and that old thing turned it all into 1 inch grass pieces and after giving the bits to my birds i've never seen anything go crazy for grass before lol