Grazing Frame Failures - Need Suggestions

[Sefirothe]

Is there any specific reason you have to keep the ground level inside the frame the same as outside the frame?

If not, treat it like a raised bed and fill with some soil/chicken compost to 2-3 inches from the top of your side boards where the hardware cloth is. Then plant your grass seed.

 

[Sally PB]

But yeah, I was surprised that first year how fast the chickens would scratch and kick up debris on the grazing frame. In my chicken yard, I certainly needed more height on the frame.

Could you put an outer rim on the frame to deflect scratchings? Then the hardware cloth level of the frame could be lower to accommodate lower growing fodder.

I have one of my feed bowls sitting inside a rubbermaid container for just this reason, and it keeps about 98% of the debris out of the bowl.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

Could you put an outer rim on the frame to deflect scratchings? Then the hardware cloth level of the frame could be lower to accommodate lower growing fodder.

I have one of my feed bowls sitting inside a rubbermaid container for just this reason, and it keeps about 98% of the debris out of the bowl.

Do your chickens jump in to eat, or just lean over the edge?

 

[Sally PB]

Do your chickens jump in to eat, or just lean over the edge?

They just lean over the edge. I have a brick in the rubbermaid container to help keep it from getting tipped, just in case they perch on the edge.

 

[gtaus]

Is there any specific reason you have to keep the ground level inside the frame the same as outside the frame?

If not, treat it like a raised bed and fill with some soil/chicken compost to 2-3 inches from the top of your side boards where the hardware cloth is. Then plant your grass seed.

I do have extra dirt and compost filling up most of the first 2X4 frame. I just need something better than the grass seed I have planted the last two years. Something that will continue to grow all summer long even if it does not rain much.

Well, if I found something that grows good with watering, I could probably run a garden hose out there every once in a while, to spray the down the grass in the grazing frame.

 

[gtaus]

Could you put an outer rim on the frame to deflect scratchings?

I had not considered that. I just raised the frame itself by adding another 2X4 or 2X6 frame underneath it. After I clean off the screen and shovel out the compost around the grazing frame back down to ground level, it should be good for the summer. Chickens can kick up lots of debris, but at 7-8 inches above ground level, not too much will get on the screen.

 

[gtaus]

Do your chickens jump in to eat, or just lean over the edge?

My chickens jump up on top of the screen and eat any grass blades sticking above the wire. The hardware cloth is on top of the wood frame. The idea is let the grass grow and root into the soil good, leaving only the top part of the blade sticking through the wire. The chickens can nibble on the green blades sticking above the wire, but they cannot pull it out, or dig it out.

Of course, that chicken run started out as a beautiful grass lawn. It only took a few months for the chickens to eat all the grass and pull or dig everything up leaving nothing but bare dirt.

I really would like to make the grazing frame idea work, but I'm just not having much success with either my setup or my choice of seeds. There is not much I want to change with my setup, so I am hoping to find some grass or grain seeds that will thrive in the grazing frame.

 

[chicken dinner]

I am amazed by the grazing frame concept, so I am trying it out on my hillside coop. Just started mine about 5 or 6 weeks ago, so not an old pro at it.

I built my grazing frame on a steep hillside, so the wire (2"X4" fence) is at an angle. I throw fresh picked greens on top of it for feed, the chickens worked it off so fast, that I added a board to help keep the green feed up there.

So build a frame that is sloped like a roof, maybe keep a lawn rake, or broom handy for sweeping off the hardware cloth.

Do some digging, gardening, and get some sod, grass or weeds to add to your frame. Bunches of rooted grass grow so much faster than seeds.

My grazing frame has a bit of everything starting to grow in it. Salmon berries were already growing there, then I added some comfrey roots. I have several types of wild grass root balls. I also added the cleanings from my brooder to the greens bed, it had lots of the "Ultimate Scratch" seeds, which are now growing.

Good luck!