chemically treated lawn

[kortmom]

I am new to chickens. I have six that are just a week and a half old. Before they arrived my husband had the lawn fertilized and we had a tick control application applied. This was done about 4 weeks ago. We have told our lawncare company no more chemicals in the backyard where the garden and the chickens will be from now on. My chickens will be in a chicken tractor for their foraging since we have predators here so I can limit them to where I want them in the backyard.

My question is: at what age can I bring them out for an hour or so on the lawn under cover if it is a high 70, low 80 degree day, and since it has been a month, is it safe for them to be on the grass?

 

[Michael Apple]

4 weeks should be fine at those temperatures. In regard to the lawn, what chemicals were they using? The birds will be eating the grass. I wouldn't have chickens on my lawn because before long, it would be picked clean with much excavated soil. I have the option of a few acres of pasture though.

 

[kortmom]

I'm not sure exactly what they used. It is a landscaping company that comes. I know it was fertilizer, weed killer and a tick killer, but that's all I know.

I am thinking of making an 8x4 chicken tractor. Do you mean to say that my six chickens would eat down the 8x4 area of grass underneath their tractor to bare dirt in an hour or so? That will not go over well at all with hubby.

 

[Michael Apple]

Six chickens in a 8' x 4' area of grass? Give them a day or two.

 

[FenikT]

Many lawn companies use imidacloprid or carbaryl. Both are moderately toxic to mammals and highly toxic to several species of birds like sparrows, pigeons, and quail.

Frankly, chickens will solve a property tick problem. Chemicals are indiscriminate and in many cases, so diluted by the lawn company as to require their reapplication which (1) drains your wallet and (2) increases chemical resistance of bugs.

 

[Randal Scott]

I also have the same view as of yours Michael.