Free ranging/lawn care

[Justine86]

Hello fellow chicken friends I have free ranging chickens in my backyard and when I am home I let my chickens free range. I also have a lot of weeds, dandelions, and patches without grass which I have previously used Scott's Weed & Feed on. I am wondering if I can still use Scott's Weed & Feed and wait a certain amount before letting my chickens free range in that area?? I'm open to other suggestions on what to use on my lawn, for killing weeds and replenishing my grass. Thanks in advance

 

[SueT]

The chickens will 'weed and feed' your lawn, lol. I wouldn't use chemicals where mine free range. That product sounds like it contains herbicide, not good.
My girls weed my garden for me...I put cages around all the plants and the chickens weed the walkways.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I personally wouldn't use any fertilizers or lawn treatments around chickens. Having a nice green lawn is mostly a fantasy when it comes to chicken keeping.

If it really drives you nuts to not have a green lawn, maybe let the chickens freely use the back yard and just take care of the front yard, or something like that?

 

[blackdog043]

Once you have chickens roaming your yard, it becomes their yard, I wouldn't / don't use any pesticides.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Regardless of your chickens health, Weed and Feed is designed to kill weeds and other objectionable broad-leaf plants like tomatoes, peppers, cabbage, squash, onions, etc. But if you only plant corn (which is a grass) you'll probably be fine.

I must agree that keeping chickens and a nice yard are mutually exclusive goals.

 

[Justine86]

Thank you everyone for your suggestions and feedback!! So if I have large areas of weeds, creeping charlie what can I do to get rid of this??

 

[Fishkeeper]

Mow them down, pull them up, or ignore that they exist. Your chickens may help you clear the weeds out to some extent.

 

[centrarchid]

I have not been pursing the grass monoculture targeted for well manicured lawns. Even a pasture with a few plant species does not cut it if looking to promote quality forages. I manage landscape to have many plant species with a range of rapid growth times as well as mow / burn to give a range of heights in the plant community. A more diverse community has more edible plants on average, more insects growing on site, and is a better place for stopping insects that might otherwise move through. The chickens then have a range of plant arrangements to forage more consistently providing real nutritional benefits.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

centrachid has a point, gross (a lot of) vegetation is highly overrated for chicken food. But a diverse culture of grasses, weeds, shrubs, brush, and trees will provide more insects and other wee creatures that hens dearly love to eat.

Remember, the more your hens have access to the great outdoors then the more often they need to be wormed. Not trying to be gross here but a chickens' table manners is little different than going to a subway station and buying a bag of popcorn, then scattering the popcorn kernels on the men's room floor and getting down on all fours to pick each piece of popcorn up off the floor with your lips and then eat it. The things that hens come into contact with in a free ranging environment would curl your hair if you only knew. Grasshoppers, Earth worms, darkling beetles, slugs, snails, and the ever present cricket are just some of the more dangerous things.

 

[centrarchid]

centrachid has a point, gross (a lot of) vegetation is highly overrated for chicken food. But a diverse culture of grasses, weeds, shrubs, brush, and trees will provide more insects and other wee creatures that hens dearly love to eat.

Remember, the more your hens have access to the great outdoors then the more often they need to be wormed. Not trying to be gross here but a chickens' table manners is little different than going to a subway station and buying a bag of popcorn, then scattering the popcorn kernels on the men's room floor and getting down on all fours to pick each piece of popcorn up off the floor with your lips and then eat it. The things that hens come into contact with in a free ranging environment would curl your hair if you only knew. Grasshoppers, Earth worms, darkling beetles, slugs, snails, and the ever present cricket are just some of the more dangerous things.

You are flat out trying to scare people away from chickens using just about every trick in the book.