neil Posted November 8, 2004 Share Posted November 8, 2004 Hi We love our chickens and its great having eggs,but my lawn is looking a little sad. We have had the chicks about six weeks now,they go out in the garden almost every day,and love it but they are raking up the lawn. Can anyone help or is it like this for everyone. Love to hear from you. All the best Neil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Frugal Posted November 8, 2004 Share Posted November 8, 2004 Hi Neil, Sounds like you're in the same boat as us. They don't mean it, but they've turned our lawn into a bit of a quagmire! If it's any consolation, my hens stayed for a week at my mother-in-laws when we went on holiday and she thought they'd ruined her lawn because it had big bald patches and looked dreadful. Within a week, the grass had grown back perfectly and was greener than before thanks to the.....ummm......"fertilizer"! Our lawn always looks bad this time of year but despite the muddy patches, it's green and fresh again by mid-Spring. Personally, I think the eggs more than make up for the state of the lawn so we don't mind at all! Hope it all grows back in Spring! Good luck, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lesley Posted November 8, 2004 Share Posted November 8, 2004 Our two started off on a patch of bare land and we moved them about every couple of days, leaving lots of bare areas. We made a large run for them and moved them into that while we finished landscaping the rest of the area. That run is now bare in places which we have covered in bark, and the rest is either veg which are fenced off or new laid turf which we were going to open up for the girls to free range on when it had rooted well. The only problem is the new lawn looks so nice and the chicken run looks...well....um...messy - I don't know if I will be able to let them out into the whole area now! Lesley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 8, 2004 Share Posted November 8, 2004 Fact 1: chickens eat (need) grass. Fact 2: chickens scratch. Chickens don't care where they scratch or if you've put seed down for them or not. They scratch. Lawn, fallow plots, newly seeded beds (ooh GOODY!) or old, overgrown weedy earth. They don't care, they scratch. Like pigs but not quite such large areas. If you want hens you have to either provide something for them to scratch in like chopped bark or you have to watch them trash your garden. I go for the latter, they're worth it! Mary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jo M Posted November 9, 2004 Share Posted November 9, 2004 Nothing really new to add to this thread, just wanted to let you know that although I have lots of eglu-run shaped patches in my lawn the marks do disappear quickly. The grass grows back even quicker after I've moved the run, and you can't even see where the run was a couple of months ago. I'm lucky in that I have a really big garden so the damage they do is fairly spread about so doesn't show but when I'm at work they stay in the run so it does show. The only place they've really destroyed is one spot under an old apple tree - seems to be their favourite and they've dug a huge hole where they sit and have their dust (mud) bath. I guess that's just what chickens do. I think the eggs are worth it though and I can sit for hours and watch the chickens do what they do! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SarahJo Posted November 9, 2004 Share Posted November 9, 2004 Hmm ... ditto, is all I can say. My Ginger and Pepper, live in a fenced off area beneath the conifers at the bottom of the garden - which is larger than the area of the run. They stay in this area in the mornings and then have a scratch around the whole garden in the afternoons. The grass is really wet at the moment .. though I still do a "poo throw" off the lawn into the beds every few days. You could maybe try adapting your garden to do this ... every other few days allowed out does no harm, lets the grass recover too. If I do this I also give the girls shredded lettuce to peck and keep them happy. . Sarah. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen Posted November 9, 2004 Share Posted November 9, 2004 Our chickens, Diane and Millie, don't seem to bother with the lawn much except to eat the grass. The area under the eglu and run does go rather bald, but soon recovers when we move it. They prefer to scratch in the flower beds - which at this time of year is not a problem, or in the veggie plots. We are also going to make a large run at the end of the garden underneath a willow tree just for the chickens, which should provide masses of scratching space. Since we lost Hazel a few weeks ago, I can't leave the chickens in the garden without being there myself - our garden, despite being in London, is very large and has lots of hiding places. So in order for them to get some good running around time, I am doing loads of gardening! Will soon run out of things to do - never happened before! Karen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Posted November 9, 2004 Share Posted November 9, 2004 Hi My girls have totally wrecked the back garden; it looks like something out of a war movie . And do I care - not at all. they are well worth it! Richard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen Posted November 10, 2004 Share Posted November 10, 2004 Forgot to mention that although my feathered girls have not wrecked our lawn, my teenage daughter, ably accompanied by 100 or so of her friends, performed a spectacular job on it three weeks ago, reducing large patches of it to a mudbath. The chickens are a doddle compared to the 14year old. Karen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glowingsheep Posted November 13, 2004 Share Posted November 13, 2004 Our grass has always been poor and what with the wet weather + clay soil, worm casts, chickens eating it (minimal scratching though - they prefer the bark/soil under the bushes) and us trampling on it moving the eglu around every 2-3 days, it ain't looking pretty. We are hoping to see the legendary chicken-dropping effect kick-in some time. However... Stupid question time - reading Biscuits' "poo throw" remark made me wonder whether people generally tend to remove droppings from the grass or just leave them and/or rake them down? We tend to scoop most of them up for the compost, working on the assumptions that our small lawn would accumulate too many and become an obstacle course(!) and that we're not going to get them all in any case. Is this a good plan do you think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SarahJo Posted November 13, 2004 Share Posted November 13, 2004 David AKA Glowing sheep .. the "poo throw" is required to avoid tramping "poo" through the house, and also in the summer my kids play in the garden .. and yes we did detect a "chicken poo odour" sometimes coming from them - especially if they had been rolling about the lawn!!! . I suppose its habit also, as we always cleared up after the dog, maybe I am a die hard S... shoveller haha. . Sarah Ginger belonging to Ben Pepper belonging to Joe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glowingsheep Posted November 13, 2004 Share Posted November 13, 2004 David AKA Glowing sheep ... glowingsheep... yeah I'm gonna sort out an avatar, that might explain it! I suppose its habit also, as we always cleared up after the dog, maybe I am a die hard S... shoveller haha. . I wouldn't worry - my parents used to drive round the Isle of Man with an old tin bath in the boot of the car and Mum, coal shovel in hand, ready to leap out at the sight of any good horse s*** for the roses!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SarahJo Posted November 14, 2004 Share Posted November 14, 2004 Still don't get the "glowing sheep" bit!!!! - are you near sellafield!!!. Only kidding .... sarah. AKA Biscuits. (not because i have eaten too many either! . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glowingsheep Posted November 16, 2004 Share Posted November 16, 2004 No, but I used to be able to see Sellafield from the IOM. I only said it /might/ explain it! OK... FWIW it's just that there are a few luminous plastic sheep in our guest room that only become obvious to those staying once the light goes out and the glowing starts And I thought most here might choose a chicken related tag so... mmm... Biscuits... oh well! David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SarahJo Posted November 16, 2004 Share Posted November 16, 2004 Thanks for the explan'n!. We have Glowing stars and Dinosaurs in the kids room, so know where you are now coming from. . I really don't know where the biscuits thing came from.... ... or do I,haha Sarah Ginger and Pepper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glowingsheep Posted November 16, 2004 Share Posted November 16, 2004 Yup - you've got it! If your chucks were called Hob"Ooops, word censored!" and Gingernut then I'd be worried! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leanne Posted April 19, 2005 Share Posted April 19, 2005 my garden is roughly 100f x 35f wide, across the middle is a beech hedge, some 40 years old, which is about 6-8ft wide, with an arch in the middle to walk through to the lower half of the garden, when we decided to get the girls. we fenced along the other side of the hedge, theres a wrought iron gate in the archway, thus making two separate gardens. the dogs have the run of the upper garden, nearest the house, and the hens have the lower garden. in with the girls is my veggie patch and small greenhouse. now chicken-wired off from them, and we have 6 mature fruit trees in that half,(2 eating apples, 2 cooking apples, a pear and a cherry). i have another very small plastic greenhouse and a potato barrel on the patio, as well as lots and lots of herbs, and a few fruit canes in tubs (first year for those)all pots etc are raised up high so the dogs cant cock their legs on them! the dogs only go into the girls half when supervised! anyway, the point of this explanation is that the girls keep the grass down so well in their half that it only needed mowing a few times all last summer, whereas the grass in the dogs half needed it twice a week! the hen poop was raked up and added to the compost bins, and as we move the eglu once a week the grass soon recovers. it looked a bit rough all through winter but now its growing again, I can already see it improving. And I too think the girls are worth it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Frugal Posted April 19, 2005 Share Posted April 19, 2005 You need to swap the girls grass areas over so they can keep the whole lot mown for you!! A fortnight at a time on each side and you can sell the lawnmower ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leanne Posted April 20, 2005 Share Posted April 20, 2005 kate, in principle, sounds like it would work, but my dogs would have to escorted across the hen garden to the lower one, then i'd have to stand and whistle for a few mins while they pee'd, and then be escorted back! (i dont trust them with the girls unchaperoned) so a lot of my day would be wasted by escort duties(the dogs are in and out all day everyday) and I have too many new projects on the go to waste a moment! so even though i have to mow the dog garden it would probably add up to less time! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Frugal Posted April 20, 2005 Share Posted April 20, 2005 What a shame! A cunning plan foiled again !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motherhen Posted April 20, 2005 Share Posted April 20, 2005 Sounds like you need one of those robot mowers Leanne - then you will have longer to sit out in the evening sun, sipping wine and admiring your hens Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leanne Posted April 21, 2005 Share Posted April 21, 2005 my 19 yr old maybe? trouble is, he'll mow the grass at his girlfriends parents house (brownie points?) but never has the time here!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lesley Posted April 21, 2005 Share Posted April 21, 2005 Perhaps his girlfriend could come and mow yours to earn her Brownie points?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ketty Posted April 21, 2005 Share Posted April 21, 2005 I am beginning to worry about my lawn... I don't have a very big garden, and really don't want to lose the grass I have. I am going to keep them in the run more often now, and only let them out for short periods of time, as a treat. Of course I will try to do new things to keep them entertained. Like hanging fruit and veg from string etc. in their run. Also at the moment they are on bare earth. It WAS grass, but that has well and truly gone now! I think I will get some bark this weekend. Do you think it will be ok, to move the Eglu fortnightly alternatively, and rake over the bark...? This is new to me. Any tips would be much appreciated! I love my girls, and would love fot them to be out as much as possible. I'm strapped for cash at the moment though, and so I know I will not be getting a holiday any time soon. So would like a nice garden to relax and sunbathe in and enjoy. Not just a mud-pit... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emma Posted April 21, 2005 Share Posted April 21, 2005 Ketty, I am in the same position. I had originally wanted to keep the girls on the grass but even moving them around didn't work. My garden isn't huge and I think if I'd kept on keeping them on the grass I wouldn't have any garden left. SO I have resorted to keeping them in one place, which now looks almost bare of grass but intend buying some bark to lay down at the weekend. How often do people rake up and renew the barked area My husband grows veggies and soft fruits and I can't let the girls out of their eglu much, only about an hour a day if I stay out there with them to protect the produce. Am I being mean keeping them in the run so much They seem happy enough and are laying so....... advice please. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
