Chickens destroying my yard

[Ximena]

We're going to be moving into a new house with a small but grassy back yard 60x30 feet we have 3 hens and 6 more coming, I want to build them a 10x10 chicken tractor. Is this yard bid enough or will they completely destroy it. What about the poop will that kill the grass.
~Thanks

 

[Intheswamp]

Something tells me that you're going to have too many chickens in your backyard.

Overpopulation of any creature over a limited area will cause a decline in health of those creatures.

For nine hens I would be sure to have a coop a minimum of 36 sq ft. A 4x8 coop gets you pretty close, but will be tight. For the run I would go by the 10 square foot per chicken recommendation. For nine chickens it would be 90 square feet. Your 10x10 run that you propose would work. I would build it as a fixed coop and run, not to be moved around...more is *always* better. I would let the chickens out to free range for an hour or so late in the evening, just to help them keep their sanity.

But, having nine chickens in a 100 square foot run will result in a barren moonscape. The ground will become packed down and saturated with manure. Then the rainy spell comes and it begins to have an incredible stink to it. Having a 60x30 backyard tells me you probably have a neighbor across the fence from you. They'll probably smell it, too. Oh, and flies...there will be flies. Just saying...

Ok, so what do you do? Deep litter. Build your run/tractor tall enough so that you can raise the ground-level up by a foot. Pile in the wood chips, dried leaves, dried grass clippings, twigs, cornhusks, etc.,...anything to get a thick layer of carbonaceous "brown" material down on the ground to balance out the nitrogen-rich chicken manure. This hopefully will create a healthy deep litter system that will host organisms that will in turn devour the droppings while at the same time imparting some health benefits to the litter. And, it will help with the smell and the flies.

The other thing to do is to start feeding them fermented feed. It is noted that one benefit of feeding fermented feed is that the chickens' poop doesn't smell nearly as bad...some people report that feeding fermented feed causes the poop to not smell at all! Besides helping with the smell it can cut your feed bill almost in half in some instances. The chickens also get more nutrition from fermented feed...lots of probiotics, too. Win, win, win...

Oh, and as for your grass surviving nine hens....I think if you do some research you will find that what the other posters have said about the chickens stripping it bare is correct.

I'm not trying to be a pessimist with the above information, just wanting you to be aware of what you're looking at. A question that I have is "Do you really need nine hens?". That 100 square foot run and 32 square foot coop will work a lot better with four chickens.

Best wishes,
Ed

 

[Teila]

Hi there Ximena

I agree with the posts so far.

If you are moving 9 hens in a 10 x 10 tractor over a 60 x 30 foot yard, moving them when they have moonscaped an existing area, by the time you get back to the original moonscaped area, I do not think it will have had time to recover. Ergo, you will end up with a totally moonscaped yard.

You can still have a nice garden while having chickens also.

Are the hens full size or bantams? I have 5 bantams in a suburban back yard and went with a fixed coop and run plus a couple of hours supervised free range on week days and all day on the weekend. I use deep litter in the run and because of our climate, have a slatted timber floor in the raised coop.

The reduced free range means we have green lawn and the poop has not killed the grass:



I also keep my plants in pots which not only helps with reducing water used but also tends to stop the girls digging them out. If you have lots of shaded garden areas you may find that your hens prefer to spend time scratching and digging in those as opposed to ranging on the lawn. This is where my girls spend most of their time, only ranging on the lawn late in the afternoon for a short while.




I also have an area of the garden which is just for the chickens .. they love it!

 

[MeepBeep]

If I fed the chooks lots of alfalfa, sprouts, ect would that help with the grass destruction or will they always go for the grass? This yard doesn't need to be perfect but I don't want them to kill everything

The damage to the yard will be done in the winter, when the grass is dormant and in the spring as it starts to grow in.

What was said above...

During prime summer growing season the grass can withstand a ton more abuse, and will be much more resistant... During spring, fall and winter it simply can't recover as fast and it's during those times that the grass and lawn will sustain permanent damage and be unable to recover...

This is why many people don't let 'grazing' animals into the pastures until the grass is well established in the late spring... I do it myself, my llamas and goats get locked in the barn once the snow starts melting (February/March) and are kept in the barn until the pastures gets to about 8-10" tall with new spring growth before they are allow to graze, I also take into consideration the amount of rain fall as soggy wet ground with animals tramping it can be very harmful as well... Then come about October they are again locked in the barn until the snow covers the ground to protect it... This prevents the animals from turning the pastures into mud pits and gives the grass a fighting chances to come back, but even then I over seed the pasture every spring as soon as the snow melts to give it a boost...

Doing this allows my pastures to fully maintain my animals from about April to October with no sentimental feed and no bare patches of mud...

Even if you don't get snow, the growth rate of the plants drastically slows during the winter months as does it's ability to recover...

 

[Intheswamp]

I wouldn't put anything on the bottom but would attach aprons around the outside perimeter along with stringing your electric fence around it.

Best wishes,
Ed

ETA: I would use 2x4 welded wire backed with 1/2" hardware cloth for the sides and top. For the aprons I would only use the 2x4 welded wire.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

I've read that if your tractor has a hardware cloth floor and it's raised a little above the grass, they'll only be able to eat the grass tips. Good news is you won't have to mow.

That is correct but as a special added attraction, with a permanent Hardware Cloth floor in your coop you should also expect every chicken in your flock to be crippled by bumble foot.

Hens would do 10 times better if you kept them on a welded wire floor like most caged layers live on.

Hens are not as attracted to grass as they are keen to kill and eat all the wee creepy crawly things found living in your yard.

 

[aart]

Quote: Well, hardware cloth is a welded wire, but has smaller gauge wire and openings so it is more flexible, like cloth.
I think the change from HC to welded wire happens at about the 3/4" to 1" opening size....the largest common HC is 19ga 1/2".

HC can be rougher and sharper on feet from galvanizing the smaller mesh.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

We're going to be moving into a new house with a small but grassy back yard 60x30 feet we have 3 hens and 6 more coming, I want to build them a 10x10 chicken tractor. Is this yard bid enough or will they completely destroy it. What about the poop will that kill the grass.
~Thanks

Have no fear, the 9 hens you're considering will kill every blade of grass in an 1,800 square foot back yard long before the poop from a mere 9 hens does the grass in. Of course how quick this happens will somewhat depend on your location and the local weather..

 

[Flock In Texas]

I've read that if your tractor has a hardware cloth floor and it's raised a little above the grass, they'll only be able to eat the grass tips. Good news is you won't have to mow.

 

[Leigti]

I don't know, with that small of a backyard you might be better making them a large run and then just letting them out once in a while to free range. It won't take them long to destroy that area. My backyard is about four times that big, I gave the chickens three force of it and fenced off one fourth to try to keep nice grass in. I'm going to plant foraging seeds in the rest of the yard.