4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[Jewels]

Hi,

I've had my two girls since mid August. They have their cube and run which is on a purpose built area with mud underneath and bark chippings on the top and I free range them during the day (for a few hours) when I am home, and from 11am on Fridays and the weekend, my grass is now rapidly disappearing, is this the experience of other hen owners? I do have boarders with shrubs etc in which they also go on with no problems. Will my grass totally disappear if I don't limit their time on it and I will be left with mud or will it grow back?

 

I am thinking of not letting them free range as often or for as long as I do now, but when I keep them in their run they pace up and down and I end up feeling guilty and letting them out.

 

I did not think I would loose all my grass as some of the photos in the gallery show beautiful grass with not a bald patch in sight, where am I going wrong? Help please. Thanks

 

[kez]

Hi Jewels

 

We've had our since the beginning of October. About a month a go we moved them onto the patio. They free-range every day for a few hours. Our whole lawn is now a mud pit!

 

Chickens and lawns really don't mix

[moochoo]

Don't fret too much it'll grow back in the Spring. I lost mine comletely last year and the same now. It does grow back when the temperatures improve.

[chelsea]

 

Chickens and lawns really don't mix

 

they do......just not in the winter!

 

Its best to partition off your lawn a bit or allow no free ranging on your grass at all if you want to protect your lawn (we've learnt from past experience ). Because in the winter the grass cannot cope with the constant munching and it turns into a mud patch.

 

Spring/summer is fine as our lawn grows like anything.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Our lawn (if you can call it that ) has shrunk by about 10 inches along each edge . I'm hoping it will grow back .

[Jewels]

Thanks everyone, was beginning to think I was going to lose my grass altogether and whilst I am certainly no Alan Titchmarsh I kinda wanted to keep my garden looking semi decent as well as keep chickens. Will keep them off it for longer periods during winter then.

 

[The good lifers]

Our lawn is the same, so they are on loosely laid slabs with easibed and a little "pit". I took away one of the slabs in the middle and dug a hole, I then filled it with easibed, it's like a sunken bath!!They also have a branch over the top. I got the idea from when I volunteered at the animal sancutury, the badgers had a similar design!!On the bright side I am enjoying not having to mow the lawn, their free ranging is just enough to keep it mown!! They have managed to scratch stones all over though, so I have been through 12 mower blades We love them though!!

[Jules.]

Last winter my 2 hens had the run of the bottom of the garden. I had my eglu & eglu run there, & used the Omlet netting to keep them off the grass. The whole of the bottom of the garden was trashed, but it didn't matter as that's where my walk-in run is now. It's also very shaded there, so nothing much grows.

 

This year I am only letting my girls out on the "lawn" when the weather is dry. I don't have the heart to keep them shut up in their run all winter although it is big enough for them at 9x6 feet.

 

Have a look at my flickr photos for pictures of my garden taken in November. Even now as I look out the grass is still there and looking ok