chicken moat around my garden

[truthalive7]

Hi everyone. I have a homestead in Texas. My garden is surrounded by a chicken moat, which is something I've just installed a couple months ago. It gives the chickens a bigger run than they had previously and protects my garden from bugs. My question is this... At my older smaller enclosure, the chickens turned the grass into dirt. In this run, they have not done this, and the weeds in my moat are out of control. It is very difficult and frustrating to enter the moat and try to get rids of the weeds. What would i need to do to get the chickens to eat them? Do i need more chickens? Should i feed them less feed?

Thanks

 

[1muttsfan]

Not sure what you mean by moat - you mean the chickens are penned around the garden? How many chickens, and what is the footage of the area they are confined in? A picture would be interesting.

 

[21hens-incharge]

They may be a kind that the chickens find icky or are dangerous to them so they do not eat them.
I would whack them down and give the chickens much more time in the moat. That should give them access enough to the dirt to destroy what is left of the weeds.

 

[truthalive7]

Yes, a chicken moat is a pen that surrounds the garden. The moat is about 4 feet wide and 4 feet tall, and about 100 feet in total length. I'll post a picture. I put them in there when it was mowed, and have gone in there once to wack the weeds, and that just about ruined my back. There are 3 gold sex link hens.

 

[truthalive7]

 

[21hens-incharge]

With only 3 chickens they cannot keep up. I suggest you get more chickens.

 

[mrcoon]

Yes, you need more chickens. They can't keep up with the weeds and so they will eat the easy or more tasty plants or bugs first. Sadly, that will let the other "less tasty" weeds/grass survive and thrive. So again you need more chickens about 6-7 would be the minimum for a 400 sq ft space. You may want to go to 8-10 to give each bird about 40-50 sq ft each bird.