Grass in the run area **(PICS)**

[Chicken Boo]

Quote:
I came across this idea by accident. I had my 3' x 3' sifter for my compost up side down in the coop and seeded under it. As the grass grew through the wire, the chickens picked at it but it still continued to grow and they continued to have grass on the days I could not let them out. I need to start that up again.

As for the artificial grass - NPR did a story on that subject and its use on atheletic fields. (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93364750) It seems that the stuff is actually a heat trap. They measured the temperature on a kid's playing field and it was 160 degrees Farenheit. The cities that have installed it to save money on upkeep are considering pulling the stuff back up. Besides, why would you not use space that could be used for plants, producing oxygen and cleaner air? Our open spaces are being paved over at a tremendous rate.

 

[LittleChickenRacingTeam]

I have 8 bantams in a run that is roughly 100 sq ft. I use a combination of overseeding in the spring & fall & deep injection of an organic natural fertilizer once a month. We've had a lot of rain this year, which I think helped keep my run totally covered in grass except for a small area in one corner that the chooks dust bathe in. The grass grew so well it is mainly trampled, & the key to this is establishing a deep thick root system that the birds cannot dig/destroy.

 

[dixygirl]

LittleChickenRacingTeam I think you accidentally gave us an important key. 4 Bantams equal 1 regular chicken. So the 8 bantams you have = about 2 chickens in your100 square ft run.

If you ONLY have 2 chickens on 100 sq ft you do have a chance to keep some grass. So I guess the important key is to not over burden the land with chickens. Your setup is like 50sq ft per regular sized chicken. If people with 10 or 20 regular chickens did that they would have to have runs about 1000 square feet large. That's like a 30 foot x 35 foot run at least needed for 20 chickens in order to keep some grass.

Good luck

 

[sianara]

I do something similiar to what walkswithdog suggested on page 4. I built "grass boxes" (picture something similiar to a sand box 3" high and 2'x3' in size, with no bottom and a hardware cloth hinged top). Each of my 3 chicken yards and 1 duck yard has a different size.

Basically, at the beginning of spring, I put some new loam/dirt in the box, sprinkle on the cheap quick-growing grass seed (heavily), till it a little and water it about every other day (soaking thoroughly). They're always in a very sunny spot and stationary.

In about a week the grass is sprouting through the top. The girls can eat the grass and not destroy it by scratching it all up. When most of the grass is gone, I open the top, let them scratch the rest to death and start all over again

. Of course, you don't have to open it up and let them scratch it all but I enjoy watching them when they do it, and I've noticed they prefer the young light green grass blades instead of the "old" blades.

I probably repeat the process bi-weekly throughout the summer. It is a little work but I think it's well worth it. It's so funny to see them race out into the yard the morning that the grass just so happens to start poking through the wire. It's like the night before they discussed that it would be ready tomorrow and each and everyone of them is determined to get her fair share before the others!

Next year, I'm going to build a few larger, longer ones so I don't have to re-seed as often. The same philosophy could be done with grass seed inside during the winter months as well but I haven't done it myself yet.