Recommendations for safe weed-killers nearby to coops & runs, please.

I use roundup “fast action total weed killer”
Never had a problem with any of my animals.

I’m sure it’s fine unless you spray your hens with it.
Maybe keep them closed in for an extra 2 or 3 hours after you spray to let it dry.

I live in New Zealand, & all Roundup products have been banned here ..... I don't know why.
 
You can cover a weed patch with black plastic, and have it cook and die in the sunshine over several weeks. Or, cover it all with newspaper (no colored/ glossy pages!) and then deep wood chip mulch, and the weeds will die. Or, very deep piles of wood chips, with the same results, usually.
Avoiding herbicides is best if at all possible.
How about a controlled burnoff?
Mary
 
I like the idea of setting up a pen around the weeds. If that isn't workable for you I wouldn't use anything more chemical than boiling water around my birds.

You may need to repeat it a number of times but if there isn't any photosynthesis eventually the roots will give out.

I would so not use Round-Up for anything!

Thanks. I could give that a try .... I'll be boiling the kettle a lot, as it's quite a large area. I can't pen around this area because its a large mound of around 5 feet high, covered in an awful weed vine that grows really quickly & spreads everywhere. It's already growing up the mesh walls of one of the runs, & I'm having to break it off near the ground. If I pull it up it sometimes goes for several feet before I reach the actual root of it. So I don't let my chickens or my dogs into that area, because they could very easily become entangled in the long vines, or even get strangled by them. I live in New Zealand, & all Roundup products have been banned here .... I don't know why.
 
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You can cover a weed patch with black plastic, and have it cook and die in the sunshine over several weeks. Or, cover it all with newspaper (no colored/ glossy pages!) and then deep wood chip mulch, and the weeds will die. Or, very deep piles of wood chips, with the same results, usually.
Avoiding herbicides is best if at all possible.
How about a controlled burnoff?
Mary
Hi Mary. Good idea about covering it with black plastic, because it's summer here in New Zealand where I live. We've had some very hot days here recently, but windy too. Wood chip mulch is expensive here, & the area is a large mound covered in a vigorous weed vine which I imagine would just grow through the mulch. I've heard of covering weeds with old carpet, but unfortunately I don't have any of that, so I will talk to my husband about the black plastic. Thank you. We are not allowed to have burnoffs, except on farms.
 
Pull those vines up and throw them in the run. The chickens will love them and make quick work of them. Then it will be easier to smother the roots with the newspaper or cardboard and mulch. The roots will die and the rest will enrich the soil as it decomposes.

Far better than the damage of herbicides! ...for your chickens, for you and for the planet.
 

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