Solving Omlet Smart Auto Door Timing Issues with Alexa Routines

[Janey4]

My ex battery hens will be joining me at the end of Aug and will be living in the run/coop when there isnt anyone at home, but will be out as much as possible when someone is.

 

Now im not that fussed about my back garden, as it it quite wild anyway and the hens will be free to roam but are they going to turn my grass into a sea of mud?!......or is that a myth that people are using to put me off!!?

 

Thanks

[chucknette]

Hi

 

My chickens did at first turn my grass into more mud than grass but they were only pulling out the moss.

 

I now have a thick green healthy lawn which I never had before chickens.

Their little deposits and gardening have done wonders for it

 

You could limit them on the grass in winter if its a problem and keep them in there own area.

 

We also dont need to mow the lawn so much.

 

I bought my OH a lovely big lawn mower and hes hardly had to use it.

 

Best wishes

[Ain't Nobody Here]

My grass isn't much to write home about anyway, but I find they spend more time in the flowerbeds (kicking all the soil & stones onto the lawn ).

[Egluntyne]

I wouldn't rule it out, but you can limit the area that they range on, and swap it around every do often to minimise damage.

[chelsea]

grass will definitely suffer especially over the autumn/winter when it grows less but they still eat it, it would be better to partition it/fence it off if you really want to preserve it.

 

other plants arent touched in my garden, im lucky.

[dancing cloud]

My ex-batts just love the flower beds, and kicking all the dead leaves and twigs onto the lawn. They have scratched up a lot of the ground cover plants, but all of the bigger shrubs are unscathed and will probably thrive now they have room to breathe I haven't notice any damage to the lawn yet, but I've only had them 7 weeks, so there's plenty of time yet for destroying the world. The only things they have completely destroyed were my two tubs of lovely geraniums, and they ate those in one night Cheeky little monsters still go back and look in the empty tubs to see if the buffet's been restocked!

 

I bought the Omlet netting and netted off the veg bed to stop them scoffing all the lettuces (grown for them!), so you may want to consider investing in that and keeping them in or out of certain areas.

 

The main issue is that you are so thrilled to see the ex-batts getting out and about, that you don't actually care if they do harm. You just love them anyway

[prettychic]

My ladies would destroy the grass in 2 days if they were kepted in the run. I have the 25metre nnetting so my ladies can sratch anywhere they like without making obvious damage

[Rachel33pink]

We have had our chooks for about 6 weeks and I had planned to move their run about, but they wrecked the run within the 5 days we had to keep them in it so I left it where it is and top up with chipped bark.

 

They can free range whenever I am in and love to kick the flower bed all over the lawn as well as pooing everywhere! They have also discovered a huge hole in the fence and Lavender is obviously of the opinion that the grass is always greener... so now I need to fix that problem. However we haven't needed to mow in 6 weeks!!

[Jules.]

They will if you let them

here is my garden last month, after owning chickens for 15 months

 

 

& here it is in February

 

 

The hens were restricted to the bottom of the garden all winter with the Omlet netting, so that area got completely trashed, but it doesn't matter because my walk-in run is there now.

They will eat young tender plants, & do alot of digging in flower borders- and I still have grass!

At the mo the nettting is along the edge of the patio so the girls have full access to the grass, but I do sometimes net off the bottom 3rd of the garden for them if the poo gets too much!

They do get to free range for part of each day.

[Hen Watch]

Spring/Summer not really a problem. Either move the run every so often and grass bounces back greener, or decide on one spot and let them trash just the grass in the run.

 

Same as Jules, I have mine behind Omlet netting in their own bit of garden. This year I also have not had to mow their bit of grass as they eat it but it's still there. I just move my run either side now and have 2 bald patches on the go.

 

In Winter when grass does not grow, the hens will eat it and it will look unsightly for a bit. But after this photo was taken last winter, this area is all now lovely grass again and no reseeding needed.

 

Or you could make them a lovely permanent bark run (see Omlet guide).

[Stevie]

Mine is faring quite well all things considered! They do like scratching soil onto paths and stones onto the lawn,but its easy fixed!

[The Brown Clan]

MIne help me with the weeding !!!

[Gallina]

I would answer Yes, if your garden is small and neat, but No if your garden is large and a bit on the wild side.

 

Nearly everyone with a small garden has decided that a permanent site for the run is the best option.

[daisymay]

I must have super chickens as mine wreck the grass within hours. They have a 30ft x 20ft area that is theirs and they had no grass at all within 4 weeks. I have moved their fencing gradually but they are so destructive I can't give them free reign around my garden! They do come out for a couple of hours a day but I now keep them in their fenced area for most of the time.

 

Why are mine so destructive???

[Janey4]

Thanks for your answers and photos!

 

Have decided the hens will have an area where they can be most of the time and when we are around to keep and eye on them they can free range in the rest of the garden.

 

The area where they are going to be is quite big and part goes round the side of the 'cow shed' which is under the tree and looks like an adventure play-ground!!

[TAJ]

They do what you let them do - mine have an area of soil to dig in and so they just eat the grass - if they just had grass they would try and dig it up. Omlet netting is brilliant at letting them roam only where you want them to.

 

Tracy