How much land to avoid bare ground

[RoniF762]

There may not be a "scientific" answer to this question. But here it is. I have 10 chickens, 9 hens and a rooster. They are currently in a 6x12 (72 sq ft) chicken tractor that I move almost daily. If I don't move it at least every 1-2 days, they scratch the ground bare. I'd like to "free range" them, but they will still need to be enclosed and covered due to hawk pressure. I want to know how much area 10 chickens would need for the grass to be able to stay ahead of them and to avoid a bare pen. Basically mixed grass pasture, bermuda, fescue, etc. Northwest Arkansas, zone 6 . Thanks!

 

[SamLockwood]

My 30+ birds pretty much killed the back lawn as they were shy about leaving the area immediately around the coop for several months. Most of it has grown back, though it's more weeds, wildflowers, and clover now (which I don't mind as I don't really care about having a lawn).

Now that they use most of the 5 acres I have fenced in for them they're easier on the "lawn." (which is about a third of the fenced in acreage).

 

[aart]

There may not be a "scientific" answer to this question. But here it is. I have 10 chickens, 9 hens and a rooster. They are currently in a 6x12 (72 sq ft) chicken tractor that I move almost daily. If I don't move it at least every 1-2 days, they scratch the ground bare. I'd like to "free range" them, but they will still need to be enclosed and covered due to hawk pressure. I want to know how much area 10 chickens would need for the grass to be able to stay ahead of them and to avoid a bare pen. Basically mixed grass pasture, bermuda, fescue, etc. Northwest Arkansas, zone 6 . Thanks!

You're correct, there is no pat answer....too many variables.
Probably way more than you could cover for hawk protection.

 

[NatJ]

I want to know how much area 10 chickens would need for the grass to be able to stay ahead of them and to avoid a bare pen. Basically mixed grass pasture, bermuda, fescue, etc. Northwest Arkansas, zone 6.

It depends a lot on how fast the plants regrow, which is affected by things like temperature and amount of water.

A specific example that worked for me:
I once had about that many chickens in 1/4 acre fenced area in northern Virginia. The grass was already well established, and there were some areas of mulch underneath trees. The chickens killed a bit of grass here and there, but they mostly grazed the grass and did their scratching and dustbathing in the mulched shady areas, so most of the grass stayed in good shape.

The area closest to the coop usually ends up bare, because that is the first place they start eating and scratching every morning, the last place they have a bite before going in at night, and the place they walk over the most. This seems to be almost universal, no matter how large the rest of the space is. You might take that into consideration when planning where the coop should go.

 

[Shadrach]

I'd like to "free range" them, but they will still need to be enclosed and covered due to hawk pressure.

One can't really do both. They are either free range, or they are enclosed. Having a large enclosure doesn't make them free range.
If you started at one quarter of an acre per bird you might be in the right ball court. A lot depends on what grows where on the land and the breed of the birds. Some are more dilligent foragers than others.
In some areas of the world chickens are used to clear growing plots of weeds and pests. They really are very good at it.
If one wanted to give chickens forage oppertunities then a tractor as you have is one way, the other is to divide the area used for chicken keeping into two or more plots and rotate them.

 

[drdoct]

I understand what you're trying to do. I had 100% free range chickens until a couple of strays cut my flock by half. What we did was take an area where their coop is which is in the shade. Then we made about half an acre electric fenced in for them. Most of it is shaded and in the trees. But there is a good area where they can go out in the field and get good sunlight and grass as well. The grass in the grassy area isn't used as much as the covered tree area and so I actually have to mow that area. Haven't lost one due to hawks since there isn't an easy place for them to hunt with all the trees for the chickens to hide under. Maybe if they have a good shade place, they'll not tear up the grass as much? It's hard to say though because they're good at destroying anything living.

That's for 18 chickens. I wish I could free range them, but don't like losing them to some careless dog owner.

 

[Folly's place]

Chickens were jungle animals, and prefer foraging under trees and shrubs, not on open ground. It's usually safer for them, there are more bugs and worms, and places to make dirt baths. Everyone is right on above!
Mary

 

[Ridgerunner]

Basically mixed grass pasture, bermuda, fescue, etc. Northwest Arkansas, zone 6 .

A few years ago, I had an area a bit over 3,000 square feet inside electric netting outside of Prairie Grove so roughly the same climate. In the winter my flock was one rooster and six to 8 hens. In the summer that grew to over 50 chickens, mostly juveniles growing to butcher age. I know, that is hard to compare to a flock of 10 chickens.

In the winter the vegetation died down but they would forage a bit on the brown stuff. But obviously they did not eat much. In the spring I'd keep them locked in a run for about a week when the grass started sprouting so it could get a bit of growth on it. Then I turned them loose. The green stuff stayed ahead of them the rest of the year.

There was a problem though. They selectively eat what they want. That means they eat down the good stuff and the bad stuff grows and threatens to shade out the good stuff. So I had to mow it four of five times a year to knock down the bad stuff.

I had pear, plum, mulberry, and pecan trees growing in that area. They would lay in the shade of those trees some and use those areas for dust baths so there were a few bare spots. As mentioned above, some areas near the coop got pretty bare too. But the majority of it stayed green all summer. The more it rained the greener if stayed and the faster it grew. In some of our late July-August summers I was known to water that area.

It was not covered. Over six or seven years like that I lost one chicken to a hawk and one to an owl, that is all. I saw a lot of hawks up there and occasionally an eagle. Some people lose a lot more than that to birds of prey. I have no idea what kind of luck you would have.

 

[SandyRiverChick]

Rotation is key for me. With 5 wooded acres and 1 acre of lawn, landscaping, I keep them (12) completely off the 1/2 acre with my garden and sitting area on the River. I have fencing "panels" that I made from horizontal old fence boards and fence wire. Very easy to put up and take down my separation fences, once/year. I let them do what they will with the other 1/2 of "groomed," acre during winter only. At all times they can roam the woods if they want (they prefer groomed area to the woods for the most part.) Like others have said, there are certain things that they've killed once during that time of year and it's never come back, no matter how long I keep them off. But most everything else like moss, grass, woodland brush does grow back.

 

[stanfosd]

In my area (Ohio), in the winter months, I have a setup where my chickens have about 80 sq.ft. per chicken. There is no damage done to the grass/vegetation that I can tell other than beneath a pine tree where the chickens tend to congregate and relax at times. I appreciate them clearing any vegetation out of this are, though, so we will call that a feature.

In the summer months, I have an area that is over 300 sq.ft. per bird, and again never notice any issues.