Chicken run running out of grass!!

[newchickmom]

My run didn't take long to get bare either but is only 16 x 20. My solution for the girls to have greens is to let them out in the barn-yard for an hour or 2 in the evening. It has worked so far and they are spread out enough in the yard that they can't really do any damage.

 

[ericana]

yep. we put the yard in an area that we didn't want grass anyway. but it's really a function of how densly populated the area they have is. the more chickens in the same area the faster they will denude it. but a few chickens in a vast space will have a hard time clearing it.

 

[mjdtexan]

Quote:
How many chickens do you have and is your run a hundred foot long or is it a hundred square foot?

I dont have an answer for you but am in the process of getting brooder (almost done with it) and coop going. I really like my grass.

 

[bantymum]

I have lush green grass everywhere in my back garden because mine are free all day and fertilise it with their droppings.
They dont have a run but have a house which they gladly go to every night to sleep in. I dont need to mow the lawn cause the girls do it for me.
Im lucky here to not have any predators, however if i did have preds, then of course i would have a run and be faced with the same dilemna which is where the mesh laid on the ground comes in handy.
Ive seen it done and it does work, though its best to get really tough rooted grass, the grass grows through the mesh with the roots safely under the ground under the wire, which even the toughest chook cannot budge! ( small grade mesh, not the large)
I wish you the best of luck, be positive!

 

[mamaKate]

Be careful if you plant grass seed. Some of it is coated with toxic stuff (antifungals etc.)

 

[mksenoj]

Done deal the grass will not grow back. Sorry.

 

[mjdtexan]

Quote:
Really? What if you move the chickens off of it? Seems like over time the grass would grow back. Wouldn't it?

 

[wateboe]

I invested in electric poultry netting (from Premier, in my case) that can be moved from place to place to allow the run areas to recover between uses. My situation allows for a plug-in energizer and I can rotate the fence around the barn (coop is in the barn) so that there are four different grass spaces that I can rotate through over time.

I am real happy with it so far, and the chickens adjusted to it very well.