Grass in Run!

[Teppler]

I have a 30 X 20 run for my 4 girls, I hear on here how chickens will ruin grass in a run. The grass in my run has to be mowed every week. Is 4 birds not enough to keep the grass down? I had 5 but lost one and grass still grew when I had 5.

 

[Chezzy]

Mmm , interesting, I'm in the middle of building a new run for my 2 girls, lavender and bluebell, my hubby wants them on clippings as he said they would ruin grass, but after reading your post, I just might put them on grass .?

 

[Teppler]

The only thing I can think of is we have had more than average rainfall here in North Central Texas during the normally dry hot summer.

 

[yyz0yyz0]

I think it is because your run is so large compared to the number of girls you have. My run survived with grass the first summer with 7 pullets but the winter took care of what had survived the summer with the hens. Now my run is just dirt with nothing having a chance to grow.

 

[thomasboyle]

You probably have enough square footage of run to avoid strip mining the grass. Last year my fenced in chicken yard was 30x30, and my 18 chickens began to make quick work of it. This year I re-planted the area, and enlarged the run to 60x60, and they have not made a noticeable dent in the lawn. I don't know if there is a sq foot rule for this, as where you live, amount of rain you get etc all comes into play, but you clearly have enough room. If you want them to keep the lawn mowed by the animals, I think you need a goat!