How do you keep your run green?

[Silkie Princess]

Hi! I have a run that we built out of scratch in 2018. Surprise surprise the grass was gone in 2 weeks. Now I have another flock of birds because the first was slaughtered by a fox. But that's not the point. My question is how do you keep the run green? I tried grazing boxes but in my opinion, they didn't work. The grass is not accessible to the hens and the roosters keep pulling off their claws on the chicken wire. Does anybody have a method that works to keep the run grassy? We are planning on expanding the run by a few meters but are there other ways to do that? Thanks!

 

[DobieLover]

Hi! I have a run that we built out of scratch in 2018. Surprise surprise the grass was gone in 2 weeks. Now I have another flock of birds because the first was slaughtered by a fox. But that's not the point. My question is how do you keep the run green? I tried grazing boxes but in my opinion, they didn't work. The grass is not accessible to the hens and the roosters keep pulling off their claws on the chicken wire. Does anybody have a method that works to keep the run grassy? We are planning on expanding the run by a few meters but are there other ways to do that? Thanks!

The absolute only way you will have grass in the run is to have enough space. Maybe around 200 sq ft per bird might work.
I have about 500 sq ft per bird in an enclosed pen and I have to mow it weekly.

 

[3KillerBs]

Either you need to give the chickens vast spaces or you need to rotate pens frequently enough that they can't destroy the grass in any one pen.