Kit Posted November 17, 2009 Share Posted November 17, 2009 [ I do have a secret though, if you click on the web link in my signature you will see that my garden is a wee bit bigger than average. Mostin Love your web and love the chicken song too. I have to agree 3 hens and a nice big lawn allows you to still have grass! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helen1962 Posted November 17, 2009 Share Posted November 17, 2009 Hi All My hens didn't cause any damage to the lawn until the very heavy rains started. The part of the lawn where it meets the patio beneath the archway is under three inches of water. In fact it comes upto the part of the hens legs where their knees are meant to be so in fact they have to paddle quite deep to get to the main grden. This area is almost bereft of grass because of the way they scratch about. I am hoping that when the weather gets a bit drier it may recover. My hens free range most of the time only being confined to the patio area when the weather is too bad or when I can't watch them. I unfortunately only have an 80ft by 30ft garden which is quite small. Mind you I only have three hens Hilda Winnie and Ruby. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mostin Posted November 18, 2009 Share Posted November 18, 2009 OMG your garden is massive i can only dream of having a garden like that for my chickies... your chickies are very lucky girlies That is truly "Hen Heaven" fabulous pictures. Love your web and love the chicken song too. I have to agree 3 hens and a nice big lawn allows you to still have grass! Thank you for all your kind comments, we did buy the house for the garden, certainly not for the house and it's decorating . The website is courtesy of by OH, he loves playing with stuff like that. I forgot to say, that with all that room, they still stay in the WIR on wet days, as nothing trashes a lawn faster than chooky feet on wet days . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickencam Posted November 18, 2009 Share Posted November 18, 2009 We have got 7 hens and a small garden 35ft ish. We have put planks up against the borders to keep the soil in place, we have quite a bit of soil too, with shrubs and fruit trees. The lawn is in very good condition and we hardly have to mow it. We had one area under a tree where they would scratch, so we took the tree out and made that area into another flower bed. We only have them out for 2-3 hours a day and don't tend to let them out when it is very wet. They head to the lawn first clucking excitedly, have a nibble then move onto the borders. i think part of the answer is to have plenty of soil space. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
no1smiles2000 Posted November 19, 2009 Share Posted November 19, 2009 well my grass & whole garden has turned to bog!lol I will take some piccies at the weekend to pic your brains as we need to replan the garden & where to keep the chickens etc so they are less destructive! My grass was in reasonable condition untill all the recent rain, but the worse prob is the mud the kick out of there run & onto the path, which then gets walked in the house! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jools Posted November 19, 2009 Share Posted November 19, 2009 I moved my bantams from their two grassed areas onto woodchip at the weekend. I've found that if I keep them off the ground over winter when it's at its wettest and when the grass stops growing, it recovers perfectly come spring, lasting all the way into autumn. And being on woodchip instead of standing around knee deep in water is better for them at the moment too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
