Grass - dream or reality?

[J.D]

So when summer rolls around I’m re-vamping my chicken run. It’s quite large so I’m building a new coop in the middle with two runs either side (I want to try rotation/I’m hoping for some Orpington chicks ) at the moment the ground is just dirt...

I just really want grass I keep dreaming of my ladies roaming in a sunny pasture. (I know I know, hens destroy everything ... )

I’ve been looking into meadow mixes and farm pasture seed mixes. Mostly mixed grass seeds with added clover and herbs. I was wondering if anyone has any success on the green area or is it destined to be forever a dream...?

 

[BantyChooks]

Dream. Try free ranging, if you can; even the largest runs eventually go bare. To put it in perspective, I haven't needed to mow my side yard all summer except maybe once because 40 birds kept it so short.

 

[lazy gardener]

How many birds and how much space for each run? I've been able to keep a 1600 s.f. electronet run (which was moved around "a bit") green when ranged by 25 birds. Your better bet might be to build a grazing frame in each run, and convert the remainder of each run to deep litter. the best you can do is simply plant each run, and hope for the best. If they strip it, you can then do the DL/grazing frames. If you put your general location in your profile it will help folks to give appropriate advice. If you are in the southern half of the country, it still may not be too late to plant it. Contact your county agricultural extension agent for climate specific recommendations.

 

[BYChickenAl]

I tried the free-range on my property and it worked great until unknown predators started thinning my flock. What was a grassy pen is now totally torn up and it didn't take them long to get it into this condition. I'll be rotating my 24'x36' pen to a different location in the spring. My posts and fencing are easily moved by 2 people. I'll reseed the current pen and probably try to rotate back to it when the grass comes back in.

 

[Hokum Coco]

Grass becomes extinct in my run. I move it every year. I do dump in the clippings from my bagger off my lawn tractor. The decomposing grass attracts worms and bugs that my chickens look after. The following year my tomatoes take over where the chickens and bugs left off.

 

[lazy gardener]

Grass becomes extinct in my run. I move it every year. I do dump in the clippings from my bagger off my lawn tractor. The decomposing grass attracts worms and bugs that my chickens look after. The following year my tomatoes take over where the chickens and bugs left off.

What do you use for a run... that you can move it every year. I like that you are able to garden on the previous year's run. Wonderful way to manage your land and keep it from building too much Phosphorus and Nitrogen. Kudos.

 

[Hokum Coco]

What do you use for a run...

I use 5'x8'+- wire panels that are held together with these (the larger the better). These panels were used as reinforcement in cement the squares are about 4" and the wire is about the size of a lead pencil.

 

[Ridgerunner]

It comes down to chicken density, climate, and time of the year. In Britain your climate is probably an asset, you should not have those hot dry summers that can cook grass and turn it brown by July in some years. Not sure how green your grass will stay in the winter.

I have about 350 square feet in my main run that stays brown year around. I also have about 4200 square feet inside permanent electric netting that provides a lot of green in season. Right now I have 10 chickens but in the summer I may get up to 50, though many of those are chicks growing to butcher size. They don’t eat as much as laying hens.

Right now the grass is not growing and won’t until probably March. When it starts growing I’ll keep the chickens in the main run for a week or so to give the grass a chance to get started. They are really good at picking anything green as it sprouts but once it gets established the green can stay ahead of them. They only like certain plants when they have a choice so some of that stuff they don’t like takes over. I have to mow it three or four times a year to keep the bad stuff from crowding out the good.

Not all of that area stays green. There are some bare spots near the coop and main run where they tend to hang out and dust bathe. It gets some shade there too. But in general they have green stuff until it gets so dry and hot that it cools and quits growing. I occasionally water it to keep the grass growing longer.

I don’t know how big your area is or how many chickens you will have. If that area is truly large relative to the number of chickens it does not have to be a dream. Rotating pastures might work for you, give them time to recover. Grazing frames can help. Some people plant certain seeds, clover is a great addition for forage, but your native grasses will probably work as long as they are grasses they eat. Trial and error may be your friend.

I don’t have a good overall photo but this photo shows what my area looked like this past June. Besides, who can resist a broody and her chicks? I don’t know if I’d already had to mow it or not, but I probably had.

 

[aart]

Hearing the chorus of Dream On by Aerosmith.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Since you mentioned 2 runs you might be able to keep some grass going (having 100% grass is a dream though, unless you just have a massive amount of room per bird).



Look, grass! Well the right side is completely devoid of grass now and has leaf litter and wood chips. The left side still has about 50% grass. I manage how much time they get on the left in order to keep the grass going. As it's winter right now I've been doing supervised free ranging trips rather than letting them into the left side. By spring I anticipate about 70% of the grass will have regrown, and then the chickens get access to it again.