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Marky D

Will chickens ruin my grass

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Dear all, I am a closet chicken fan and desperately want some of my own, I am seriously considering getting an eglu (just got to persuade my wife), our main concern is the damage caused to the garden as we have a 3 year old who loves to play out. We dont have a huge garden but one big enough to accomodate an eglu and a 3 year old but concerend the hens will strip the garden off all the grass.......any advice would be gratefully received. :roll:

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They do find grass tasty.

 

I would say go for it, they make wonderful child friendly pets and I have not regretted it at all.

 

In summer I move the eglu round the garden, grass recovers, grows back even greener and all is OK. Either fence off what you don't want them to eat, or, fence them in their own little section of garden. Omlet sells good flexible fencing.

 

In winter, I have them in one spot with their own bit of grass to eat. They can seem a little more destructive in winter but that is only because the grass doesn't grow in winter. So mine have their own area.

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Hello and welcome to the forum.

 

 

Yes.....I;m afraid hens do like grass.

 

You can keep them confined with Omlet netting as Henwatch says, or you can protect the plants with it.

 

 

My grass coped well when I had just 4 hens...in fact it improved as they did a wonderful job of de-thatching and fertilising it......but it couldn't cope when I got 4 more.

 

They are wonderful pets to keep....you won't regret getting some!

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Our garden isn't very large (15x10 meters). We have given our 2 chickens an area that's approx 3x3 meters where they can free range (separated by chicken netting). They have stripped this area of all grass and there are craters where ever there is loose soil. We let them out for an average 3-4 hrs a day and they seem very happy. Once or twice a week we let them into the whole garden for 30 mins so they can eat the grass. We also have a young child who loves playing outside and losing a small area of garden seems a good comprimise.

 

I don't think chickens need a great deal of space. Where ever we place the chicken netting in the garden they will spend most of their time pacing up and down at the closest point to the back door.

 

Good luck convincing your wife!

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I have three and grass is doing OK - they freerange quite a bit - restricted by Omlet netting. I find if a give them a good patch of earth as well as grass they will dig/scratch at the earth and just peck and eat on the grass.

 

The do keep it tightly grazed, so I am pleased that the grass has started growing over the last week in the warmer weather. We moved the run on to a patio when it was very wet, but still let them out to freerange on the grass OK - you just need to keep on top of it and ensure they have an area which is easier to dig up than the lawn - I have 'flower beds' netted off for flowers and 'chicken beds' full of sandy soil for them to grub around in with no flowers.

 

Tracy

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Welcome to the forum MarkyD :D . I have 3 hens in a pretty small garden - they haven't made much impression on the lawn in 6 months as they prefer scratching about in the flowerbeds (which end up all over the lawn :roll: ).

 

I would agree with the netting option (I don't use it but only because my grass is already rubbish - they can't make it any worse :roll: ).

 

Show your wife some pictures of fluffy chickens and pretty multi-coloured eggs - she'll soon be won over. Here's a couple to start you off :wink: :

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Thanks all for the quick replies, i was expecting (and hoping) for positive comments like you gave and just maybe it will be the decisive factor in persuading my wife to have a little faith and give me the nod. I'm sure she'll love having them as much as me and my little girl. Just on a similar topic, at my little ones nursery today they had some chicken eggs in an incubator and some had hatched (one was pecking his little way out as i stood and watched), it must be fate.......dont you think!?!?!?!

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I'm afraid, as I only had a small lawn, it didn't stand a chance. But I reckon the trade off was definitely worth it. My girls give me much more enjoyment than my lawn ever did, and once they'd stripped it, it was the perfect place for a permanent run so it went from

this,,,,,

 

Picture111.jpg

 

to this...

 

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and finally to this...

 

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Please don't let me put you off. Getting chickens has been the best thing I've done for years! :D

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We have 4 girls in a fenced off run. The quality of the grass was poor, but now it is just soil! We too have young children, but we feel it is good for the children to have room and the chickens to have their own space. Our garden is only 8x8m!! But we do have a park at teh end of the road!

At the moment my girls are fond of digging! They are digging quiet a deep hole! My youngest dug a deep hole at the allotment last year trying to find America, maybe the chickens have the same idea!

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We got our two girls last June, we moved the eglu around the lawn throughout the summer and it survived OK but the rain this winter has caused more problems and the lawn now looks rather bare in places :( we have decided to build a walk in run to help the lawn, to protect from Mr Fox and to give them more freedom during the day - we certainly wouldn't be without our two now despite the garden not looking at its best :)

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I'm lucky in that we have plenty of space. I have however also a husband who is muttering darkly about the effect of the Chicky Girls on his lawn so this is a subject close to my heart. I have been moving the Eglu on a weekly basis. Each patch has grown back successfully so far although the recovery speed seems to depend substantially on the weather during the week it has the Eglu on it - bad week = slow recovery. There is no doubt I'm afraid that what is left behind when you move the Eglu is pretty devastated. My 3 are now free ranging for a couple of hours each evening and all day at weekends. They are however out in the run from about 7am till 6pm Monday - friday. I suggest you focus on the recovery point. The grass DOES come back (eventually) and the chickens are lovely. Especially now that they have condescended to lay eggs!

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I think when you have children you need a permanent site. Our 7 girls freeranged all the time until last weekend when we put them in a bigger more pemanent run. We have to LOs aged 3 and 1 and didn't want them playing in chicken poo. Come winter when the LOs aren't in the garden much then the chicken girls will be allowed their freedom again.

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The grass will survive in the summer months, but come the winter they damage it faster than it can repair itself.

 

As others have suggested, you can either keep them in a fenced off area or a permanent run in the winter to minimise the damage to your grass.

 

They're great fun though and very addictive. DD aged 4 loves them to bits, has helped me choose each and every one, collects the eggs, and is always pestering me to go in the run (she's not allowed by herself) to "hug a chicken".

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My girls are at the bottom of the garden, with the eglu & attached run, & some omlet netting to keep them down there as they free range 5 days out of 7. This has been my first winter & I have no grass now where the hens are kept, but tbh it is a shady part of the garden & only gets "sun" late in the afternoon, so nothing much would grow there anyway. I have spotted a couple of grass shoots sticking through recently, it is Canada grass which we planted there, & before we had the chooks it used to grow much quicker than the rest of our "lawn", but the chooks keep it down nicely.

I'm a big softy, & let the girls out into the main garden nearly all the time :oops:, and we still do have grass, & we've not had to have the mower out so far this year as the girls have done a great job keeping it cut for us :lol:

I have two boys aged 4 & 11 & I think they do more lawn damage than the chooks. Don't forget that if you let the hens free range they WILL EAT YOUR PLANTS!!!!!!! also, they stick their heads through the netting & eat about 20cm of grass that they aren't supposed to be able to reach.

 

Hens are a great child- friendly pet, & the eggcitement of collecting eggs never wears off.

 

I would love a permanent run. I'm working on hubby for that one :wink:

I'd also like a cube :wink::wink:

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MarkyD,

If you go to the Gallery and search for redhotchick, you can see my album.

I've taken a photo of my lawn today, after 7 weeks, it wasn't great to start with anyway. You can see where the Eglu is now. Where it was last week (I was away and it was quite rainy, if I was home I'd have moved it sooner given it was so muddy!) and at the bottom of the garden under the trees the grass is finer and is taking longer to recover. You can't see the first 4 weeks now.

I'm going to put the Eglu on the patio over the winter with some Aubiose in it, but I think it will be ok on the lawn for the summer.

I don't have children but you could use netting to separate an area for the chickens.

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My hybrids have totally destroyed my grass, as well as eating it they have scratched it all up by the roots, it is never going to come back :( They are soon to live in a large run with their own bit of garden. I will re-turf. I believe I have read that some breeds are less destructive in the garden, hybrids are VERY destructive, maybe someone knows which breeds you should go for.

 

Tessa

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I got my Eglu & chooks delivered yesterday morning by Omelet and they are on my lawn too.They spent the entire day pecking/scrabbling around in the lawn and once i put them to bed-i moved it a few paces along.

 

I swept their droppings off lawn and you could see they had been pulling the moss out of my lawn (great isnt it!),but their isnt any damage and it will recover quickly.

 

So this is what im gonna do-move it either daily or every other so no one area gets trashed.Its getting warmer now and the grass will start growing rapidly once again. :D

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I haven't got a very big garden so have decided to put Aubiose down in the run on top of the grass. In a few weeks time when it's time for a complete change - i'll move them along a bit and re-seed the patch where they've been. It should be well fertilized so should grow quickly in summer. In winter i'll leave themin one spot I think!

 

Louise

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I agree with the replies given.

 

In the summer your lawn should survive as its constantly growing. Late autumn into winter you will need to fence it off as the chooks will then destroy it and by spring you will just have a mud patch.

 

We returfed in September, we didnt fence off our lawn and we have just returfed again 2 weeks ago. :D

 

Dont let it put you off chooks though as its easily resolved.

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