What kind of grass to grow?

[linda85]

We have a very small flock of four hens in our backyard. Their grassy area has pretty much just died, and am wondering what to put down. I want something safe for them, not seed that's chemically engineered, since they'll probably just eat the seed too.
What's a good thing to grow. I would like for them to be able to eat the green grass again soon since they really liked it.

Thanks

 

[sunnydee]

I really don't think you will be able to grow grass from seed with the chickens in it. They will just gobble all the seeds down in a matter of minutes. Is there a way you can pen off another area for their run while the other has a chance to grow?

I plan to move my run this spring so grass will grow back in their old area. My run is put together with screws so it will be fairly easy to take apart and put off the the other side of their coop.

 

[digitS']

I would like to know what size of a pen would be required to actually have something growing and edible inside. You know, 1 chicken/1,000 square foot

. . . okay, maybe 1 chicken/100 square foot, 1 chicken/50 square feet . . .

Anyway, after having pens and seeing other chicken-keepers' pens, I went for a "sunporch" on the coop I have now. During times when there's actually some lawn to be seen, rather than all this snow

, the birds get out most every day. They do eat a lot of grass.

I've tried to watch closely - there's a lot of clover in my backyard. But, it is the grass that they are eating most often. The hens seem to prefer it to everything else growing out there - weeds

, clover, herbs, etc.

The lawn is a mix of bluegrass and fescue along with the clover. Something some folks do is to buy annual rye seed (large seed that looks like wheat) and grow it in a tub in the henyard. They cover the tub with hardware cloth so the birds can't dig it up but as the rye grows thru the wire mesh, they can eat it.

Steve

 

[Wildsky]

I planted some grass last year on a patch that was bare....... I got to see the little green shoots coming out - then it was gone.

I am going to try again next spring, I will lay some plastic fencing stuff on top so the chickens can't SCRATCH, they might still eat it all but we'll see.

 

[linda85]

Thanks everyone. I am going to use that tub idea and also trying to fence off an area from the girls to have a chance to grow some grass again.

 

[dirtfishing1]

Try your local farm store and see if they have clover seed. it goes fast and spreads fast, the seeds are very very tiny and the chickens LOVE clover. A small bag will seed a good size area.

Dirt

 

[alpinefarm]

I noticed EasyChicken has a diverse grass seed mix listed.