Chicken run question plus unfortunately STORY

[Tonyroo]

How long do you have to keep the birds off the reseeded area?

Most grass seeds take a week or 2 weeks to start growing depending how warm your climate is at the time your sowing it. It's better if you use grass seeds that grow well for your state. Like close to native plants, they will endure a lot better to soil types, pH, and much hardier.

I have 2 large areas I re-seed, the chickens do eat some of the seeds but they never eat all of it. So I have large mats of grass coming up. They do enjoy eating sprouting grass.

Doing this is easy for me. The labor is just raking the topsoil and raking grass seeds into it and watering it.

I get my grass seeds from a farm nursery store. I bought cereal rye seeds at $0.69 lb got 10 lbs 3 months ago.

This time I went with pasture fescue mix at $1.46 lb got 7 lbs. These seeds just needed a light raking cause all of the area had remaining grass in it. Just maintaining the thickness of the grass.

 

[Karen Glatz]

Aha thanks. I don’t use any as I have dogs too. Weeds don’t bother me.

Tall weeds will short out your fence. You need to keep them back with weed killer or constant mowing or whacking.

 

[Aunt Angus]

I have a chicken yard surrounded by electric netting. I also have hawks in the area, so I have heavy duty poultry netting (non-electrified) over the top. It is nylon, so it doesn't interfere with the charge.

When I need to reseed, I just move the fence, seed the area that is now outside the fence, and then move the fence back.

I use a fast growing seed mix from a local store here. We let it grow for 3-4 weeks before we let the chickens on it. I use Scratch & Peck feed. It actually sprouts if sowed. I throw that in there, too.

 

[Cutie Clucker]

Round-up, etc.

I thought you can’t use weed killer because the chickens will eat it. Won’t it make them sick?

 

[HighlandRogue]

I'm not sure I understand the question.
It's electrified poultry netting, 42" tall with support strands. It has 8 hot strands spaced slightly wider apart as you go up the net. The very bottom strand is just poly rope.
You can clearly see the net in the background here.
View attachment 2814194
The fence line is due for a weedwacking and vegetation killer treatment. I do that about 3-4 times a year.
You just turn off the fence and move the net back out of the way, weedwack close to the ground and spray an area about 1.5-2 feet wide then put the net back in the center of the area you weedwacked and sprayed and turn the fence back on. I do this after the birds have roosted on a dry evening when the next day is expected to be hot and sunny.

I'm new to this chicken thing and this is the first I've heard of electrified poultry netting. That's a pretty clever deterrent. Again, so glad to be part of this community site. I'm learning so much. Thanks for your follow-up post with the pic!

 

[HighlandRogue]

I have a chicken yard surrounded by electric netting. I also have hawks in the area, so I have heavy duty poultry netting (non-electrified) over the top. It is nylon, so it doesn't interfere with the charge.

When I need to reseed, I just move the fence, seed the area that is now outside the fence, and then move the fence back.

I use a fast growing seed mix from a local store here. We let it grow for 3-4 weeks before we let the chickens on it. I use Scratch & Peck feed. It actually sprouts if sowed. I throw that in there, too.

I never thought to seed the run. Good stuff! Thank you!!

 

[Alanzs]

I thought you can’t use weed killer because the chickens will eat it. Won’t it make them sick?

Keep the chooks away from the sprayed area for a day or two. Never had any problems.

 

[3KillerBs]

I thought you can’t use weed killer because the chickens will eat it. Won’t it make them sick?

Follow the directions carefully in re: pet exposure.

 

[7 Biddies]

This is what I've got: https://www.premier1supplies.com/p/...plus-12-48-3-kits-electric-netting?cat_id=190



I hope that he's paying for the cost of the damage and keeping his dog leashed in the future.

I have NO patience for people who bring uninvited dogs to people's homes.

Ditto. I don’t even like their unruly kids. My nephew thought it would be great to bring his chocolate lab here so she could run. I said, “What do Labrador Retrievers ‘retrieve’?“ Duh. “Birds?” “And, my chickens are …. ?”

God, I hate citiots!

 

[7 Biddies]

Yeah. I had no warning that he was coming so I never even thought of putting the chickens in

Ummm. It’s your property, and the chickens’ home. Either leave the dog at home or in the car!