WHAT TO PLANT IN CHICKEN RUN

[RIVERA69R]

I want to plant a ground cover in my chicken run before my chickens are old enough to be put in there i was thinking of just some grass seeds or even buying a bag of wild bird food to plant to grow a variety of ground cover for them to tear up any suggestions?

 

[katrinag]

Whatever you plant they will rip it up in a heart beat.

 

[Hoot]

Unless you plant concrete, It's not going to last.

Hoot

 

[RIVERA69R]

Yeah i know it wont last just want it for there inital introduction into their new home to give them something to do

 

[nightshade]

If you want it to last plant it in grass boxes, made out of 1x6's or 1x4's covered in hardware cloth. As it grows they can eat what comes up through the wire, but they can't scratch in it or pull it out. So it makes it kinda hard for them to kill. And you can just reseed it by tossing seed through the wire or if you want to can pick the frames up and move them to a new section of your run and start them over. Leaving where they were sitting for your new babies to completely enjoy.

I would use a pasture grass mix, it is a little more hard to wear and tear then regular grass.

 

[RIVERA69R]

Quote:
That sounds like a neat idea have you tried it?

 

[lightbread48]

A guy that I work with told me to do the same thing. I havent done it myself yet, but he says it works great.

 

[CARS]

I have a 30 something foot X 45 foot outdoor run for up to 50 chickens and plant grass every spring (to replace the damage) and a few comfrey plants in a 3 foot circle fence that they can get to the leaves but not the roots.

To keep everything living I turn sprinklers on a couple times a week and if things get chewed down too far I keep them in their coop. Grass only needs a few days to grow and then they can go back out and chew it off again.

Cattlemen call it pasture management. I call it I hate a bare chicken run!

 

[Renee]

I planted rye grass and radishes for my chickens last year when they were little, and it took over a month for them to destroy it. Now it takes them one day.

I seem to remember a thread that listed the best things to sow for chickens... I can't think of the title, though.

The grass box/circle idea is pure genius. I built a three-panel wire fence to cordon off a section of their run, but the grass never really gets well enough established to stand the scratching. Thanks for the tip!

 

[Omran]

Nothing nothing and nothing