IKR? Talk about a brain fart!300 x 300 = 90000. ~ 2 acres
I think it's because of lack of sunlight. That alone will cause grass to die without the help of chickens.
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IKR? Talk about a brain fart!300 x 300 = 90000. ~ 2 acres
Don't drop trees. Either expand the run in the sunnier area or start adding wood chips to the dirt area.However, these provide share during the hot summer months here in Virginia, so I don't know that I would want to fell any of them...
Lose the corn. You are diluting the protein content of the layer feed which is already on the low side. I would personally switch them over to a complete feed like chick starter, Flock Raiser or All Flock or something similar with 18-20% protein content and put out oyster shell in separate containers for the active layers.feeders full at all times (layer blend + cracked corn)
I live in farming country. I just let my chickens forage where they choose. The hay farmer that surrounds my tiny plot doesn't care so they have several hundred acres to forage. The area where I spread their scratch grain is pretty much grass free but that brown spot grows in very fast as I keep moving where I concentrate the scratch.My original run was 60' x 30' and my 10 hens destroyed all the grass in short order. It was nice and thick too.
I expanded the run to about 300' x 300' and to my surprise, they ate all that new grass too in short order.
So how large does the run need to be in order for the hens not to be able to keep up with eating all the grass?
1/4 acre per hen? 1 acre!!!?
Thanks
That's good to know about feeding the duck feed to the chickens, too! I was wondering, but afraid, because I wasn't sure if the chickens could handle the extra niacin. I've been feeding the chickens the Free Range formula, and they love that, but it's more expensive than the duck feed... not by much, but over a short period, it adds up to an extra bag of feed between the two. Would also be space saving, because I wouldn't have to keep separate areas for the two types of feed.I live in farming country. I just let my chickens forage where they choose. The hay farmer that surrounds my tiny plot doesn't care so they have several hundred acres to forage. The area where I spread their scratch grain is pretty much grass free but that brown spot grows in very fast as I keep moving where I concentrate the scratch.
I raise chickens and ducks. They are all layers. They all get "Duck Feed" because my ducks need extra Niacin and my chickens are thriving on it. All of my "girls" lay almost one egg a day year round being fed Duck pellets. My ducks (25 ducks/5drakes) have an enclosed pasture that is 25,000 sq. ft. Ducks can make a mud hole 10ft. in diameter eith only 1 tablespoon of water. They are master mud makers.