How to prevent the chickens from eating only grass?

[GimmeCake]

I'm going to fence off at least 10SF of room per chicken in the run (3.5SF inside, not including perch or extra levels). I'm trying to grow very thick grass to try and keep up with them, but is there another way to encourage them to eat their feed? Flock Block? Treats? What? I don't want the grass to go. I'm thinking about maybe another 2SF per chicken in the run. Will that help?

 

[SobbaChickens]

Unless you can move the run around your yard I don't think your grass will stand a chance at all.

 

[Cindy in PA]

There is no way. Mine have 350 Square feet for 12 of them & the grass lasted about 3 days.

 

[JackE]

10 sq ft per bird in the minimum. They will chew that down quick. I have a run area of 100X200' surrounded by electrified poultry net. 19 birds have been in there for over a year. I still have plenty of grass, have to go in there and cut it. Bottom line, allow for a much bigger area, or prepare for a moonscape.
Jack

 

[GimmeCake]

So would really thick grass work? Or can they eat that too?

 

[centrarchid]

Something to wrap your mind around. Anything less than 1/10 acre per bird I can see impacts of chickens on foliage. They cherry pick certain parts and species but as bird density increases they impact everything. Not all is through consumption, much through scratching to get insects and similar morsels.

 

[GimmeCake]

Woah, not everybody has 4356 SF per chicken.

 

[gryeyes]

Woah, not everybody has 4356 SF per chicken.

No, of course not. But if you want to grow crops of grass for chickens AND hope to keep a ground cover, that is truly the amount of space you would need.

I have fifty chickens (plus a few geese and turkeys and ducks) ranging freely on two-thirds of an acre. They stripped it of anything but trees and shrubs within two months. They even manage to keep the vinca (periwinkle) from spreading. The first sprig of green each spring is destroyed before it can barely begin processing chlorophyll.

I rely on commercial feed, kitchen scraps, plus greens and fruits I buy just for them. I also buy a bale of alfalfa for them to shred a couple of times a year.

 

[GimmeCake]

Anyway, if I DO feed them some treats, will it help prevent them from eating everything?

 

[centrarchid]

Anyway, if I DO feed them some treats, will it help prevent them from eating everything?

With your setup as described, no. Going chicken tractor route would allow foliage to recover.