Please help me understand...chickens and grass

[azygous]

Permit me to make a horticultural recommendation. There are different kinds of grasses. There are the European grasses that were imported and planted across out country a couple centuries ago for grazing purposes and for ornamental lawns such as the English had. And boy, did those ever catch on!

Then there are native grasses they call "bunch grass", because it grows in clumps instead of a mat like sod grass. Sod grass has a very shallow root system while bunch grasses grow straight down and anchor deeply into the soil. Guess which ones will survive chickens?

I'm lucky to have native bunch grasses growing wild all around my place, and I supplement it with seedings of drought resistant pastureland (dryland pasture mix) mixes of commercial bunch grasses. It takes awhile for them to get established, but once they do, your chickens won't be able to kill those roots. My chickens eat the grass down to the ground, but they can't kill it by scratching and digging it up, and it comes back.

You can probably find the grass seed in most feed stores, especially in fall when cattle ranchers are re-seeding pastures. Or order it on the internet.

 

[dan26552]

Permit me to make a horticultural recommendation. There are different kinds of grasses. There are the European grasses that were imported and planted across out country a couple centuries ago for grazing purposes and for ornamental lawns such as the English had. And boy, did those ever catch on!

Then there are native grasses they call "bunch grass", because it grows in clumps instead of a mat like sod grass. Sod grass has a very shallow root system while bunch grasses grow straight down and anchor deeply into the soil. Guess which ones will survive chickens?

I'm lucky to have native bunch grasses growing wild all around my place, and I supplement it with seedings of drought resistant pastureland (dryland pasture mix) mixes of commercial bunch grasses. It takes awhile for them to get established, but once they do, your chickens won't be able to kill those roots. My chickens eat the grass down to the ground, but they can't kill it by scratching and digging it up, and it comes back.

You can probably find the grass seed in most feed stores, especially in fall when cattle ranchers are re-seeding pastures. Or order it on the internet.

Thats true!

 

[crzychkn]

OMG you're awesome! Thank you! Not only do i LOVE learning new things, but especially incredibly useful things! I was going to spend however long necessary researching grasses and making some calls if need be to find out what you so magnificently just shared! Oh thank you! I am going to go read as much as i can get my hands on before it is time to buy and seed! I am beyond thrilled about this! Thank you HUGE! Thank you, Everyone! I would still be confused and despondent if it weren't for y'all!

 

[azygous]

You're very welcome. Glad to help.

Where are you located? Does it snow in winter where you are? In those places where it snows throughout the winter, it's very helpful to plant your seed in the fall right before the first snow. That way, the snow seats the seed into the soil all winter, and in the spring, it's ready to germinate. This way, the seed gets established before the searing heat of summer. It's more likely to survive its first year that way.

This is a secret I learned upon moving to cow country some twenty years ago. You may still need to water the new grass through the first summer, but after that, it will survive neatly on occasional rain. Of course, if you're lucky enough to live in east Texas, you'll have that thick lush expanse of grass for you and the chickens in no time flat!

 

[aart]

You might want to fence them OUT of the area where you want to grow grass. It will take a couple of months to get a good stand of grass going. but, by doing so, you might be able to get 3 areas covered in good sod by next fall. Be sure you choose a seed mix designed for "high traffic".

x3

.....and you might need to fence the out of your gardens too, especially in the spring.