- Jul 12, 2011
- 5
- 1
- 7
I'm hoping to start keeping chickens soon, and am interested in using a rotating pasture system to try and maintain the ground as best as possible.
I'm thinking of using four paddocks and a run, rotating the paddocks approximately every week, to give about 20 days recovery between feasting. The run would be large enough to use instead of a paddock when all four are simultaneously in need of recovery, and I thought that I might restrict the chickens to the run for a few hours each morning to lessen the onslaught and also so they could begin to fill up on feed rather than grass.
If such an arrangement is sensible and possible, I've no idea of the scale of paddocks that I would need to provide to keep them grassy. I appreciate that it is very much dependent upon climate, vegetation, breed, and so on - but I would appreciate just a rough idea to see if such an arrangement is even possible in the space I have.
Let's suppose a flock of 5 standard chickens, in the UK (so temperate, somewhat rainy weather), on a regular lawn with the chickens spending 9 hours a day in one of the four paddocks. Any guesstimates on the minimum size I would need to make each paddock to stand even a chance of keeping them green?
Thanks!
Matt
I'm thinking of using four paddocks and a run, rotating the paddocks approximately every week, to give about 20 days recovery between feasting. The run would be large enough to use instead of a paddock when all four are simultaneously in need of recovery, and I thought that I might restrict the chickens to the run for a few hours each morning to lessen the onslaught and also so they could begin to fill up on feed rather than grass.
If such an arrangement is sensible and possible, I've no idea of the scale of paddocks that I would need to provide to keep them grassy. I appreciate that it is very much dependent upon climate, vegetation, breed, and so on - but I would appreciate just a rough idea to see if such an arrangement is even possible in the space I have.
Let's suppose a flock of 5 standard chickens, in the UK (so temperate, somewhat rainy weather), on a regular lawn with the chickens spending 9 hours a day in one of the four paddocks. Any guesstimates on the minimum size I would need to make each paddock to stand even a chance of keeping them green?
Thanks!
Matt
