They ate all of my lawn! What to plant?

[LindaLoo2]

There's no more grass, just dirt and rocks... and more rocks after every rain.
I'm going to section-off the yard and need some kind of seed to plant to hold the soil in place but also something they would like to eat (or not eat!) as I rotate them. Any suggestions?
Would they like crown vetch or mustard?
I'm in North Central Texas and the summers are brutal. What can take the heat and the chickens and thrive?

 

[azygous]

Whatever you plant will need to be protected for a good long while until it puts down deep roots and gets established or else the chickens will just dig it right up again.

It sounds like your climate may be similar to mine. It's sem-arid here, and the thing that does very well and the chickens love and can't hurt is bunch grasses. I get the dryland pasture mix from the local feed store, sow the seed in fall, and let the winter snow and rain seat it into the soil. By spring it's sprouting and will usually be pretty well started by the time the searing summer heat rolls around. It will still need watering through the first summer, but after that, it will be drought resistant, going dormant in dry periods, greening up when it rains.

The best thing about bunch grasses is the roots go very deep into the soil by the second year, and it's impossible for chickens to destroy it as they do European sod. Chickens love the tender new green shoots in spring, and mine graze on the bunch grass all summer. I've yet to lose any to busy, scratching feet.