Cut Grass for Hens to Eat???

[rivers2011]

I am wondering if hens will eat (and enjoy) cut grass. I have a chicken tractor that I plan on moving them around the yard in, but my yard is less than half an acre, and I want my hens to have greens even after they've eaten through all the stuff in our yard.
Thanks for your help!

 

[benjoycei]

YES!!!!!!! They love grass, and bugs in the grass.

 

[Chick Norris]

The clippings need to be very short to prevent digestive problems like impacted crop.

 

[rivers2011]

I will keep that in mind. Thank you!

 

[MsPony]

Yes, extremely short! I feed alfalfa w: no problem because its short stems. But my chicken vet cautions against anything bigger as it could impact their crop.

 

[Schwartzfarmnc]

Once you start they will beg for it each time they hear the mower....mine do anyways. I use a bag for my push mower and just dump it in the run and they all run over and dig in it and clippings go flying all over the place, and we have not had any issues with them being impacted so far, I've seen them take down some large pieces when they free range and does'nt seem to bother at all.

 

[Annie84]

How short is short? We live on acreage and wait till the grass is long to mow, should I not give them the clippings then? Typically it will be a few inches long (the clippings). When I let them outside, they eat grass, don't they?

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Quote:
Yes, I cut mine to 2-3 inches at most. I give them some every day, as their run is bare dirt. It cuts down on the feed bill too, but don't go over 10 percent of total feed unless you want them to have softer shells and possibly other problems.

I use yard scissors to chop it up if it is too long.

 

[Schwartzfarmnc]

Quote:
When chickens free range they take down small, medium and large pieces. The size you are talking about sounds right, a couple of inches would be just fine, they eat it like it's noodles sometime too. My mower cuts pieces about 2 1/2 inches and they go wild for it.

 

[MsPony]

Being able to peck off their own grass vs eating a certain cut size is completely different

I just chose to keep it short to err on the side of caution.