Feeding cut grass

[JoCin]

We've been at this for almost 4 weeks now! We're happy to say that our bullying chicken has stopped after isolation and we are so thankful. My husband also added a second 6' roosting bar and that has helped with bedtime bullying as well. Thank you for those those shared ideas. Now my question today is feeding our 6 hens freshly cut [untreated with any chemicals] grass. How much should we give them? Will they eat too much of it? How long is it good for in their run? Thanks.

 

[Debbie292d]

We've been at this for almost 4 weeks now! We're happy to say that our bullying chicken has stopped after isolation and we are so thankful. My husband also added a second 6' roosting bar and that has helped with bedtime bullying as well. Thank you for those those shared ideas. Now my question today is feeding our 6 hens freshly cut [untreated with any chemicals] grass. How much should we give them? Will they eat too much of it? How long is it good for in their run? Thanks.

Congrats on curing the bullying!!

Sure, I'd give them some but not too high of a pile that they can't scratch it up as if it's fresh, it's damp so probably will mold. They'll eat some but I think have more fun scratching in it. Ours and millions of chickens free range and get as much grass as they want so I'd not worry about it provided they have their layer feed or whatever to eat too.

After they scratch it around, it'll be dried out in a couple of days. It's not hurting anything but I suppose if you wanted to, you could rake it up sometime at your leisure.

 

[K0k0shka]

I give my chickens the mowed grass every summer, every time I mow. I mow often so it doesn't get very tall (long strands of grass are an impaction hazard). I get about 1 barrel of grass per cutting, and I have 6 chickens. I dump it in a tall pile and they enjoy climbing the "mountain" and scratching it around. It's flat and spread all over the run in under an hour. As it dries, they keep scratching and turning it over the next day, to uncover not-yet-dried fresher grass to eat underneath. So they actually do a great job spreading and drying it out! I haven't had any mold issues, and no problems with the chickens. Just their poop looks greener than usual. The dried grass is a great addition to their run bedding.