Chickens Eating Grass

[Caitlyn777]

Hi, I have three young chickens. I'm not sure exactly how old they are but they have all their feathers and are okay sleeping outside at night. I started taking them out of their pen, which has no grass, on to my yard. They love to eat the grass and bugs but sometimes I notice them eating long pieces of grass. I want to make sure this is safe for them because they are eating less food than normal. I was thinking this could be because they are just full from the grass but I'm worried their crops are getting clogged.

 

[Chickassan]

It's a possibility but I've never had it happen.You could cut the lawn shorter I suppose. That is about the only option chickens going to eat what they love and they love grass.

 

[lazy gardener]

Your birds will be fine. Just be sure they have grit available to them. You might consider putting a deep litter in their run. That will give them plenty to do, and be more healthy for them when they can't be out in your yard.

 

[Crazy for Chickens!]

My chickens do that all the time and they are just fine!

 

[cowboyclayt]

My chickens are free range on 10 acres. Most of it is woods, but a lot of it is grass. I have never had any problems.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

In all my years of chicken keeping I have yet to have one incident of impacted crop. ...bedding with hay and straw, grazing on grass and using yard trimmings in the run

 

[Kates Chooks]

I can't free range my chickens like I would like to. I have an acre and a third, but chickens don't understand boundaries without fences and some neighbors would not appreciate roaming chickens. So, I pull fresh greens for them , almost all white clover and plop it in the run for them and they love it. When the green is gone and fall comes around, I will start growing fodder for them from barley in the house. As long as they have grit, their crops will chew it up. I put a deep layer of wood chips in the run, there is tiny bug life in there and they
love digging around in it.
Edit to say, these are natural wood chips, NOT landscape mulch! LOL

 

[GC-Raptor]

I've been letting my girls out of pen 2 hours before sunset for several weeks now. They have access to short and long grass, so far no problems. I offer them granite grit in a separate container and plenty of water and unlimited access to layers pellets and oyster shell.
Because I don't let them out till late in the day, they stuff their crop with lots of feed, so they don't overdo the grass and weeds. GC

 

[ChickenMammX4]

We don't free range so we pull fresh grass and give them weeds from the landscaping. Never had a problem. Just make sure they have access to grit.