How many chickens do I have room for?

[wiltonflock]

I am wanting to expand my chicken run so my girls have lots of room but the hubby is happy that they are not tearing up the whole yard! I got a 30' x 30' area he said that I can fence right now I have 4 girls but want to add some more this year. How many do you think I can add without them turning the whole thing to dirt? I want them to be able to eat bugs and have grass to roam in so I don't want to add so many that it looks like my smaller run that hasn't a living thing in it anymore. I may add up to six more but will not go past that. Thanks for the help!

 

[keirys]

We have the same issue my chickens have torn up the yard you can always make a grazing frame or a salad bar there is a thread about it.

 

[farmin4fun]

Hey there,

If you don't want your chickens to turn their yard to dirt I wouldn't add many more. I have 20 chickens and they turned their 30'x40' run to dirt in about 2 months. Last spring, just prior to setting up the fence, it was lush grass. I will say that it was a very dry last summer and that might have sped up the process though.

I honestly don't know if you can completely avoid killing the grass. I free range mine several times a week on over 3 acres and even with that much space they have their "favorite" spots where they quickly end up killing the grass/flowers. Usually around bushes, trees, flower beds and of course the porch. LOL My best advice is to just try to contain them so they can only kill the grass where it's "okay" for them to do so. I imagine if you let them free range once every week or maybe every other week the grass outside the run would probably survive.

Best of luck to you. Sorry I didn't have any "good" news for you. =(

 

[wiltonflock]

Well it is good to know what to expect I guess. The grazing frame from the previous poster also looks like a really good idea. I think I will do what both of you have suggested and see what happens!

 

[donrae]

Since you have such a nice sized run, you can also cross fence it and alternate which side they are on. Look up rotational grazing for cattle, it's the same idea. You could split that into two or even three areas, depending on the rest of your set up, and alternate access, giving one section time to recover.