Which chickens will tear up my yard?

[Knoxxie]

This might sound strange, but when I moved into my home 3 years ago the yard was completely overgrown and the weeds were about 3 ft tall, since then I've been battling Bermuda grass and other weeds. I built a chicken tractor that I can move around my yard and I do have some chickens but they don't seem interested in scratching up the grass yet maybe it's because they're young still only about 3 months old. I'd really like to utilize them in this way of creating a bare patch with the chicken tractor and then moving it and laying down grass seed. Currently I have one Brahma one Easter egger, a couple bantams and 4 olive egger chicks ( the reason in the odd numbers is five of my seven chickens were or suspected Cockerel which I can't have in my neighborhood)
So my question is is which ones will tear up my yard because I want some lol

 

[SHbeach25]

Basically all of mine tear my yard up. And for what it’s worth my 4 olive Eggers are apart of the crew that wreak havoc.

 

[Altairsky]

3 months is still young, give them time

 

[Mrs. K]

Well they will dig it up, but they won't dig it up right. They will have big deep holes in one place, and hardly scratch in another.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

Well they will dig it up, but they won't dig it up right. They will have big deep holes in one place, and hardly scratch in another.

+1,000,000

Chickens are definitely assistant gardeners, especially in the fertilizing department, but they are pretty terrible at understanding and following your wishes in other areas.

But it is pretty impressive how well they will mow things down, once they set their minds to it. You can try tossing some of their regular feed (or treats, if you must, but not many) into areas that you would like them to concentrate upon.

 

[Knoxxie]

+1,000,000

Chickens are definitely assistant gardeners, especially in the fertilizing department, but they are pretty terrible at understanding and following your wishes in other areas.

But it is pretty impressive how well they will mow things down, once they set their minds to it. You can try tossing some of their regular feed (or treats, if you must, but not many) into areas that you would like them to concentrate upon.

Well I wanted friendly, docile, quiet breeds, and I understand that not every chicken will be like it's breed they all have separate personalities but I was just wondering if there was a specific breed that are really good at tearing up yards? Or if it's just that they're too young they don't seem to scratch the grass at all they peck at it

 

[Evadig]

Well I wanted friendly, docile, quiet breeds, and I understand that not every chicken will be like it's breed they all have separate personalities but I was just wondering if there was a specific breed that are really good at tearing up yards? Or if it's just that they're too young they don't seem to scratch the grass at all they peck at it

I think they need to be a bit older . Mine were not too interested in uprooting the yard until they were around six-nine months. Now they do so happily.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

Well I wanted friendly, docile, quiet breeds, and I understand that not every chicken will be like it's breed they all have separate personalities but I was just wondering if there was a specific breed that are really good at tearing up yards? Or if it's just that they're too young they don't seem to scratch the grass at all they peck at it

I’m pretty sure that all breeds will enthusiastically take this on once they’re old enough. It is very much in their nature. Maaaaybe if you had acquired 6-8 month old chickens that had been confined to a coop or barren run their entire lives, they might not know what to do and need remedial instruction. (There was a post here maybe a month ago by someone in this situation.)

Edit to add: try tossing a small handful of feed where you want them to start, making sure that you see them. This might help prime the pump a bit.

 

[SkyAJK]

Your chickens are still young, chickens are expert digging up everything.

All my chickens dig up my garden, bantam takes longer to show damage, my Wyandotte are gentle diggers, but they do it nevertheless. My other breeds are just as bad or worse.

Regardless of how much, if I let all 13 out all day together in my lawn, there will not be any lawn left in no time. I only have them all out a few hours a day and I need to block here and there for my lawn to regrow.

So no hurry, your chickens will love to help out with the garden!

Edit to say: Watch out for the impact crop issue.
Some of my chickens did have this when they eat overgrown grasses.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Does your chicken tractor have a wire floor or is it open to the ground? If it has a floor made of, say, hardware cloth, they are not going to be very efficient at scraching up your grass through that. However, if it is bottomless and you toss a handful of scratch in there every morning and afternoon, they will go to town scatching and digging to get the cracked corn and other goodies. Toss some dried mealworms in there for good measure and they will tear that grass and stuff up like nobody's business!