Lawn Maintenance crew put fertilizer on our lawn, what to do?

[KerriChick]

Our yard guys snuck some fertilizer on our lawn this morning and left before I noticed-and I have no idea what it was! We are long term renters and are allowed to have chickens-the maintenance crew is provided by our management company. I usually let the chickens on the lawn to forage a few hours during the day. Should I try to water the lawn until it is dissolved, or wait longer? We have a pen for them and I can keep them off of that area with movable fencing if needed as long as need be. They will be upset about not having any grass snacks, tho!

 

[parvani]

Yes, water the lawn. Fertilizer should always be watered in very thoroughly, as it can burn the grass if it gets damp enough to dissolve it but not wet enough to dilute it.

The maintenance guys may have used a fertilizer with Round-Up and pesticides in it. You definitely don't want your chickens chomping on that!

If it was just Round Up, you can let your chickens back onto the lawn three days after the fertilizer is all dissolved and watered in.

However, if they used any pesticide, I'd be very cautious about letting the chickens graze again any time soon. Your chickens have been keeping the lawn bug-free... But any bugs that are left could now poison your chickens.

The bottom line is, you need to know what was put onto the lawn. Ask your landlord to help you.

 

[KerriChick]

It was Scott's Turf Builder. Better than Round-Up, but how bad is it long term? Can I let them out after it is absorbed? My husband is feeling like he won since he has been petitioning for them to stay off the patio/lawn for a while due to poop issues, and it looks like we'll have to make a new area for them to stay in for at least a while.

We have some additional drama right now as the neighbor is taking out huge redwood trees on our fence line today nearish the coop today and the chickens are pretty shattered, plus I can’t get to them easily as there are branches still falling(they covered the pen and are taking care to avoid it, but all the chainsaw noise must be terrifying to their poor tiny brains). Our entire yard is covered in sawdust(the trees were 80-130 feet tall!).

 

[OhZark Biddies]

Yes, water the lawn. Fertilizer should always be watered in very thoroughly, as it can burn the grass if it gets damp enough to dissolve it but not wet enough to dilute it.

The maintenance guys may have used a fertilizer with Round-Up and pesticides in it. You definitely don't want your chickens chomping on that!

If it was just Round Up, you can let your chickens back onto the lawn three days after the fertilizer is all dissolved and watered in.

However, if they used any pesticide, I'd be very cautious about letting the chickens graze again any time soon. Your chickens have been keeping the lawn bug-free... But any bugs that are left could now poison your chickens.

The bottom line is, you need to know what was put onto the lawn. Ask your landlord to help you.

fertilizer with round up???

Since round up kills grass, this seems like a really bad idea for a lawn crew to use

 

[aart]

Keep them confined until it's rained or watered in real well....a week.

 

[OhZark Biddies]

It was Scott's Turf Builder. Better than Round-Up, but how bad is it long term? Can I let them out after it is absorbed? My husband is feeling like he won since he has been petitioning for them to stay off the patio/lawn for a while due to poop issues, and it looks like we'll have to make a new area for them to stay in for at least a while.

We have some additional drama right now as the neighbor is taking out huge redwood trees on our fence line today nearish the coop today and the chickens are pretty shattered, plus I can’t get to them easily as there are branches still falling(they covered the pen and are taking care to avoid it, but all the chainsaw noise must be terrifying to their poor tiny brains). Our entire yard is covered in sawdust(the trees were 80-130 feet tall!).

I think if you water it in good a couple/few days in a row, and leave the birds off of it for a week or so, and don’t eat the eggs for a couple weeks just to be sure, it’ll be okay.

some past discussions on the topic can be found here:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threadloom/search?keywords=Weed+and+feed&tab=0

 

[KerriChick]

Thanks! I just found a few old discussions and saw that info, just wanted to be sure for this specific brand. We will leave them off a couple weeks, just got a feed order in so they will have to live off of feed, scraps, and whatever they can dig up in our mulch on that side of the yard for a bit lol. They will act like they are dying, tho.

 

[3KillerBs]

but all the chainsaw noise must be terrifying to their poor tiny brains).

They might be less stressed than you think. Mine put up with a lot of construction noise and running trenchers through a gravel drive only 15 feet from their coop and pen.

Chipotle decided to perch up where she could see them and supervise.

 

[KerriChick]

Yeah, they managed to lay eggs in spite of it all today. I"m a bit sad that we're losing the shade and the animal habitat-we have 3 kinds of owls in the neighborhood. THey left a couple big ones and we have some on this property as well as scattered around the area so it should be ok. Before/after photos of the coop and tree-it was about 80-100 ft. People planted them as landscaping trees in the 60s-70s when they built this neighborhood and they didn't take into account that they can get up to 200 feet tall and need a lot of space for roots and growth-sadly they get diseased if you let them get too big as we are a bit far in from the coast and it is ever drier here these days.

Before/After for reference, best photo I could find for before...don't mind the ankle biters.

 

[3KillerBs]

People planted them as landscaping trees in the 60s-70s when they built this neighborhood and they didn't take into account that they can get up to 200 feet tall and need a lot of space for roots and growth-

*nods*

I've seen that with pine trees.

People plant a cute, little "Christmas tree" 10 or 15 feet from the house and in a couple decades it's a 60-foot missile aimed at the roof come the right storm.