Grass clippings

[superlukee]

Hey y'all! So when the lawn mowers come to clip my grass , if I ask them to save the grass clippings for me , do you think it would be safe for my chickens ? Or do you think that there would be chemicals mixed in?

 

[BobDBirdDog]

That's something you should know and Depends if the landscapers uses chemicals, insecticides, herbicides.... to treat your lawn or not.
I never afforded someone to cut my lawn, but as I get older it might become an option.

As far as a good clean grass itself. the birds would enjoy SOME of it I am sure. But the excess grass pile (if large piles/clumps) were left for a few days, would most likely start to mold as it dried. Mold is not your friend.

Bottom line: if the grass is not chemically treated, a small amount would be better than huge piles. I have heard that some grasses can be rather toxic, but cannot cite any specific grass.

 

[Ridgerunner]

What chemicals have you put on it? Some pre-emergence or post-emergence herbicide? Some type of flea and tick or maybe ant poisoning? If a poison has not been applied it should be safe. If it has been poisoned, what’s the poison and how long ago was it applied?

One possible issue. If the strands of grass are fairly long, say over 2”, it’s possible they could get tangled up in the crop and cause a serious problem. The wad of stuff gets so big it cannot pass through their internal digestive system. That’s not good. If they bite off a piece of grass that is still growing, it gets broken into bits so it’s not a problem. But long loose strands can be. So if it is long limit how much you feed to extremely little, or cut it into shorter pieces.

 

[superlukee]

Thanks for the responses ! And the only chemical I know off is when my dad puts it on the lawn, we don't not let my chickens out when that's there but once it rains I am able to let them out because I guess the chemical is in the ground . But we let them out in our backyard and there able to eat the grass .

 

[drumstick diva]

I would suspect the landscape places use something like Roundup . It's supposed to be safe to walk on once it's dry. But they probably don't think about chickens eating it. I bet it kills a lot of worms and bugs, that chickens may end up eating.