Fertilizing the yard where the girls free range??

[babsterh]

I would appreciate any help, we are new chick parents! Every fall and spring my husband fertilizes our lawn with weed and feed. Our girls joined our family in May and have been free ranging since. We have about 2 acres that we usually treat. Will this be harmful to our girls if we continue to use weed and feed? I would appreciate any suggestions and input. Thank you so much!

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

I would definitely not put it on the grass.

Here is the good news...chicken poo is excellent for grass. So they are fertilizing for you.

You may be able to just keep them off it (after using weed and feed) until the rains soak it into the soil...but I can't tell you how long this would take.

 

[aart]

Why would you want to poison your yard.....and maybe your chickens?

Chicken poop will be adding nitrogen....and leaving your grass cuttings on the lawn instead of bagging them is an excellent and work saving way to get nitrogen back into the soil.

 

[Weasleymum]

Any fertilizer with weed killer in it is not chicken-safe; he'll either have to not use it, or not let the birds free-range anymore. The previous posters are correct in that the chickens' manure is an awesome fertilizer (although it doesn't do anything for weeds, of course) and most lawns don't need nearly as much fertilizer as people think, especially those that have been using the commercial applications for a long time. Try just not using it, and see how your lawn does next year!

 

[babsterh]

Thank you so much for your replies...we won't use it! We're thinking of putting down winter rye seeds, is grass seeding ok?

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Thank you so much for your replies...we won't use it! We're thinking of putting down winter rye seeds, is grass seeding ok?

I have bought grass seed that was untreated and another time bought some that was treated, so you need to make sure that the seeds have not been treated (they are poisonous if they are).

They will eat every single grass seed they find LOL. They LOVE them. They are good for them unless coated with the treatment.

I would keep them off the ground for quite a while if you reseed with treated seed...until they are growing nicely and there is no danger of ingestion.