Grass Life Expectancy in Run

[WoodlandWoman]

At the very least, you could plan on having one main section right off the coop, that's covered in sand. It dries well and is easy to rake clean if you need to. This keeps you from having a wet, muddy, poopy, stinky run.

You can have other sections that you rotate the chickens into for foraging. If they are stripping them too fast, just don't let them into those sections for the entire day. It's okay to just let them forage for a few hours at the end of the day. That will keep them from destroying all the plants, while you figure out how much foraging area you need or want to provide.

I would add additional plants for food, too. A little added gardening effort can provide much more food value in the same space. A huge kale or collard plant will provide more food than a little bit of grass in the same space. They love chard, too. Plus beet or turnip tops. Grapes can grow vertically and they will eat them as they drop or jump for them, if they aren't too high. Many vegetables can be grown vertically, too. They love all kinds of berries. Legumes like alfalfa and clover will provide more protein. They wouldn't say no to some tomatoes, cherry or other types. You could block any area off that you need to, until things get established. You might even want to give them a nice leaf pile to scratch in. Mine spend hours foraging under the leaf litter along the fence lines. A board or flat rock can collect insects, worms or larva underneath it, too. They soon learn to come running when you flip it over.

Over time, I just plant a little of this and a little of that. When they really like something, I plant more of it.

 

[kingdr85]

Why dont you try sand instead of Grass - A lot of people here swear that sand is the best type of floor for a run.

 

[pontoosuc]

There is a post somewhere here in byc that shows a raised grass bed inside the chicken run. The soil is covered with the
1/2" x 1/2" wiire "cloth" which allows the chickens to eat the grass without scratching up the roots. Makes for a quicker grow back
cycle. It looked really interesting. Sorry that I didn't keep the link.

I think that your idea of rotation is a good one. Perhaps you could start with a large run then partition them off.

And I agree with the other poster. You probably want the run high enough for you to at least stand up in for many reasons:
cleaning, tossing treats, hanging out in etc.

 

[patandchickens]

I second WoodlandWoman's suggestion -- make a "sacrifice paddock" main run, that you know will go to dirt (you can put in sand or roadbase or whatever else you like for mud-prevention), then have grass areas that you can rotate them into *conditions permitting*.

The advantage of this over having a bunch of grass runs to rotate through is that you can very easily restrict their 'grass time' to only what the grass can withstand at various times of year. It is best to err on the side of less rather than more grazing/scratching, btw, because the more severely the grass gets eaten/scratched back, the less well it is able to recover and the less future chicken traffic it can withstand.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[MyKidLuvsGreenEgz]

Quote:
This and Pontoosuc's posting: X2

 

[Buugette]

Quote:
Here's one with a picture... https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=441303&p=1