How Long?

[3KillerBs]

About how long would it take for half a dozen hens to reduce 100sq.ft. of reasonably lush growth to bare dirt?

I'm trying to figure out if I have enough space to rotate through several runs over enough time that the first one was grown and lush again by the time the last one was bare.

I've always been impressed by the pasture rotation concept and am wondering if I can make it work in small scale in a town-lot backyard.

 

[patandchickens]

Depends on what you mean by reasonably lush and what kind of vegetation (what species, and whether it's tall old stuff or young growing stuff), but as a ballpark I'd say 2-8 weeks.

(e.t.a. - btw you do not EVER want to let things go to bare dirt in a rotational scheme, that will put a major long-term dent in the grass' ability to regenerate. Take the animals out BEFORE serious damage has occurred!)

Unless you have quite a lot of area at your disposal and are very careful about your rotation, you should expect the interval to decrease as time goes by (i.e. at the end of the summer, or next year, you won't be able to keep them in a given paddock for as long before damaging it permanently) and you are likely to gradually spiral down towards a situation where you have to sacrifice one paddock in order to seriously rest/renovate/reseed/grow-in the others to get back to where you can do more rotations. Really well-managed rotational grazing doesn't do this, but really well-managed rotational grazing may not be highly practical for most backyard setups either. I'm not at all saying don't do it, I'm just saying, don't expect it to be all beer and skittles

One thing to consider would be a main "sacrifice pen" that the coop door opens directly out onto, which would be gravelled and intended for permanent use, with satellite paddocks (pens) around that, to be used individually as grass permits. Once one paddock gets to needing a rest, you move them to the next if there *is* another in very good condition, otherwise you keep them in the main sacrifice pen until a paddock reaches the point where it is once again ready for chicken use.

If you do this, you really only need predator-proof fencing around the perimeter of the whole assembly; fences separating paddocks only need to be chickenproof, although this may mean having tops on them.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[~*Sweet Cheeks*~]

Pat has great advice about having the 3 pens.

12 birds can eat an amazing amount of grass/weeds in one day. Being that your area is only 100 sq ft - 10' x 10' - I would think it would only take them a week to clear all the grass.

It's not just the eating either - they scratch, peck and dig for bugs and worms.

When I first let my ten 8 wk olds out in their 12' x 18' run, it only took them a week to clear all vegatation.

I have three little banties in a dog house turned tractor with a run that's 3' x 8' in the front yard on lawn that I move every morning and it just amazes me what they can do in one day. It's not just the eating but the scratching and pooping. I wouldn't let them stay in one spot any longer than that because it would take time to recover.

Good luck with yours.

 

[3KillerBs]

Thank you.

I guess, in my newbie ignorance, I was combining two questions into one.

If I can get the chickens and set up the pens as I hope to I'll have 3, or possibly 4 -- not counting the permanent-access run I was planning. I had assumed that I would have to replant them each time the chickens were done -- partially because they would destroy it and partially to take advantage of my climate by growing different plants in my near year-round growing season since the warm season plants die or go dormant in fall while the cool-season plants die or go dormant in late spring.

And I was also wondering how long it would take them to clean up a finished section of garden and get it thoroughly denuded of weeds and ready to plant so I got tangled up.

 

[MIKE555444]

I'm interested to see how this works for you

I have been experimenting with15 chickens in a large 750 sf run which gives me 50 s/f per bird. They have done little damage so far after about 8 wks. I hoping I won't need a rotation but I may be wrong. Here is my run

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
The problem with doing this is that it takes a long time -- really a year or more, but *minimally* six months or so -- for newly seeded grasses to really get going. If you put animals out on them sooner, even if the grass looks nice and tall and mature, it will not hold up well at all, and they will decimate it extra-quickly.

And I was also wondering how long it would take them to clean up a finished section of garden and get it thoroughly denuded of weeds and ready to plant so I got tangled up.

Perversely, it can take an awfully long time for chickens to TRULY clear a section of garden of grass and weeds. This is not a contradiction to the previous part of my reply -- the problem is, the amount of vegetation that has to be left behind (in terms of healthy roots and the energy reserves therein) to sustain pasture-type regrowth for grazing is a lot more than the amount that has to be left behind to cause havoc in a garden. It takes hardly any grass or thistle or whatever at ALL to really go to town, quite rapidly, in a garden bed.

The answer will depend a lot on your particular weeds and your particular soil and climate, but I can tell you that here, on clayey but pretty decent soil, I left my chicken tractor (4x7 with 3 hens in it) in one place for I think 5 weeks or so and they had long since run it totally to absolute bare packed dirt. I thought I'd killed the spot. A few months later, the rectangle was slightly greener than the rest of the turf

but otherwise the grass came back just *fine*. Which is good in a lawn but not so good if you were meaning to garden there!

So, you will have to see how it works for your particular property, and certainly chickens will do SOME good in clearing ground, but I would not hold my breath for it to work as well as Andy Lee's "Chicken Tractor" book makes it sound...

GOod luck, have fun,

Pat​

 

[3KillerBs]

I hear you about grass in the garden.

I've always sworn that if I ever cared enough about my lawn to worry about how the grass looked I'd just till it up, plant vegetables in it, and would instantly have the nicest stand of grass in the neighborhood.

Thinking I would have to reseed every time they went through, I was was envisioning not just grass, but things like kale, swiss chard, mangle beets, collards, turnips, and some of the stuff they sell as green manures and game bird forage.

If/when I get to have the chickens I'll have to try it and see what happens, I suppose.