lawn mowers and chickens....

[The Harvest Moon Chicken]

I'm not sure if this post should be here but, here goes.

I live in Southern Calif. And we have gardeners that come to our house maybe every other week, all they do is mow the lawn. But i don't know what i should do once the chickens are out there, i don't think they should be out while they are mowing the lawn, it seems much to noisy, and i would think they would be terrified. SO should i bring them into the house (garage maybe) for the little time that the lawn is being mowed? any other suggestions? Does anybody else have this problem.

Another So. Cal. type problem: here we have sprinklers in the ground that go off every night, or morning, I'm not sure when, i just know its pretty late or pretty early, anyway, this wouldn't be bad for the chickens would it, if they minded the water they could just go in the coop right?

okay thank you!

 

[fowlweatherfriends]

Hi, Different situation, but similar.
Our chicks and baby ducks are housed inside till older. We still need to vacuum. What we did was close the door to "their" room and vacuum outside the door. Then we opened the door and continued running vacuum into the room slowly so they could get used to the noise. We eventually went into the room and can now vacuum fully around them without panic.

I think a similar concept may work for you if you have a place to move them away from the direct noise.
Best wishes

PS: Yes, I would imagine the chickens would get used to the timing of the sprinklers and head into the coop if they don't enjoy them. I found that my adult chickens are creatures of habit and like a routine

 

[CarriBrown]

My adult chickens don't mind the lawn mower at all. I'm sure if they were out free ranging, they would freak out, but they don't seem to mind from in the run.
They should be OK with the sprinklers as long as they have a place to stay dry when they are on. They'll either get into the habit of waiting or maybe learn the noise of the sprinklers coming out of the ground (like my dogs... the noise starts and the dogs bolt!).

 

[suburbanhomesteader]

I've only had my chickens 3 weeks, but have mowed twice. I don't point the discharge shoot directly at the coop on the closest pass, but accidentally did on the next couple of passes. The birds went ape (hmmm....THERE'S a mental image! LOL!) but not in a bad way; they were snapping up the clippings as fast as they were discharged! There aren't any rocks in my yard, so I wasn't worried about zinging one of them.

 

[bhadrika]

We put off vacuuming until we couldn't take it anymore, so just went right in to vacuum -- they got really quiet watching it, but didn't freak out.

Be careful of the grass clippings -- I heard that they can only eat tiny bits. When grazing, they nip of small bits (repeatedly, until the grass is all gone), but if they have a longer piece from a mower, they're liable to swallow it whole, and it can get into an indigestible tangle in the crop. If you have a mulching mower or whatever, which repeatedly chops up the clippings, it should be fine.

Bhadrika

 

[DuckLady]

Our problem here is that the chickens and ducks follow the tractor when hubby is mowing. The cut grass is yummy and cutting it exposes all sorts of bugs and stuff. I would just ask the gardeners to make sure gates stay locked and not to run over anything resembling a feather duster.

 

[birdlady58]

Mine love the grass clippings from my mulching blade. Also, I don't know if it is important or not, but my lawn is never fertilized! I am not sure if that would harm them or not, but be careful.

 

[The Harvest Moon Chicken]

Thank you!
So keeping the chickens outside SHOULD be okay, i think i'll bring them in the first couple of times so they can hear it first (its pretty loud even inside the house...) and i'll move them outside as i get sick of bringing them in and out, just kidding of course, once they get more used to it.
BTW, they are mowing right now...

 

[bayouchica]

OMG, anytime I even get near the lawn mower the chickens come a runnin' ! LOL ! Mine free range and are with me anytime,anywhere that mower is going. Easy lunch

About the sprinklers, we have some water misters along our garden fence & during the summer the chickens love hanging out by them to cool off.

They should be alright, Miriam