Growing grass in chicken area

[SouthernNYer]

I have been battling my chickens destroying the grass for a while now. I have tried sectioning off and growing only to have them tear it up rather quickly. I have read about using hardware cloth and building a raised area for the grass to grow through but some have said they worried about the chickens’ feet getting cut. I was looking for a solution that was easy to install in my chicken tunnels. I found these 1 ft interlocking plastic squares that are raised about a half inch. They are really meant for on a patio near a pool or shower area. I seeded the ground with the hopes that the grass would grow through the holes and it seems to be working! After about a week the grass is growing and the chickens s are eating it. I also posted my test area

 

[paintedChix]

That looks pretty awesome.

If you want to do one with larger holes for greens to go thru, there are a lot of plastic coated wires these days. You could also plant outside your "chunnels" - plants good for the chickens that they can snack on when they grow through the wire. You could also plant fruit bush/shrub/tree or vine that will drop fruit directly into the chunnel or in thier run. Beans, cucumbers, peas, squash, sweet potatoes & Zuchinni will work, too. Depending on where you live, most of those could still be planted this summer. If in the run, protect the plants till they've gotten established.

Check out these threads-

Thread 'Plants In The Chicken Run! A Mini Forest For Chickens!' https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...icken-run-a-mini-forest-for-chickens.1540569/

Thread 'Chicken Food Tower' https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/chicken-food-tower.1480872/

There are more, just use your Google search or the search right on BYC.

YouTubes -

Parkrose Permaculture (OR ?) - 150 videos - Chickens

& Sean with Edible Acres (NY) - 151 in this Playlist, but he has another chicken list, too... - Chickens

are good ones to check out. I'm sure there are others - but they both actively utilize growing w/ thier chickens.