New hens not going into Eglu Go Up

[bakerh74]

I have only had my Chickens since October and they have a barked area where the run is. When at home we let them free range on the grass. Does anybody have any lawn care tips. I know its winter and no ones grass looks great but thinking towards spring where we usually feed and weed our lawn, which I am presuming is a no no with chickens!! I also assume put seed down will just get eaten by the chickens. Is the answer just to leave the lawn alone and let the chickens demolish it or does anyone have any top tips?

 

Mrs B

Owner of Pepsi and Shirley (The Whametts)

[Ain't Nobody Here]

I had a new lawn laid last April and haven't let the girls on it since . They occasionally get onto it and have a lovely time but you can quickly see the damage they do by scratching . The pecking & eating isn't a problem and if they limited it to that, I'd let them on it in a flash.

 

I know some people do let their hens onto their lawns but I suspect you need a big lawn to get away with it (mine's tiny!)

[Lewis]

Ours are on the lawn all the time, although it is big enough for them

 

The top half where they usually are the most, looks worse but I think thats also because the bottom is mossy, so when they scratch, the scratch the moss and the grass stays there, and the moss holds it all together well

I'd think have an area where they can be all the time and cordon that off, so the rest looks ok, or rotate it so they don't damage the whole of one part

[sjp]

I'd steer clear of feed and weed myself mind I've not used it for 4 or 5 years as I use the grass clipping as a mulch on my spuds

as for letting the ckickens on the lawn mine have done less damage than me to it but they have free access to all the garden at the moment that'll change next month when i start to pot up my historical spuds that I grow at home

[chelsea]

The only solution I can think will work is to keep the hens off the lawn all winter whilst the grass is not growing.

 

Our lawn area is so small it never recovers from the constant pecking and scratching and come October it is a bare mud patch so we re turf every spring.

 

If you can you could possibly fence off the lawn, or parts of the lawn and "rotate" free ranging?!

[chickencam]

It depends if your chooks are lawn scratchers or not. Mine are quite well behaved and just move along it like a police forensic team when I first let them out pecking away merrily

 

Our lawn has suffered more this winter than most, we only let them on it for about an hour a day at this time of year, but with 7 hens rather than the 4 we had this time last year it has definately suffered. We are considering some returfing in the spring, if it shows no sign of quick regrowth once the weather warms up.

[docsquid]

It depends if your chooks are lawn scratchers or not. Mine are quite well behaved and just move along it like a police forensic team when I first let them out pecking away merrily

 

What a wonderful description!

 

So far our lawn has stayed intact, although quite short, thanks to the attentions of the chickens. However, we will have to fence off part of the garden soon to keep them off the vegetable patch and allow us to clean up the mess they've made of the compost heap. I suspect this might make the damage more concentrated.

 

Also I want two more chooks....!

[legend21]

my lawn has been stripped bare, when WIR is built getting the lawn turfed so like ANH they wont be getting on it.

 

I know Rye grass is harder wearing

 

J

[C&T]

Ours are currently banned from the grass, and at the weekend, and after they have laid, are fenced into the veg patch (with water and food) to help dig it over etc.

 

This has given the grass some respite - although soon it will be time to start sowing, so they won't be allowed in the veg patch either... Hopefully the weather will turn soon and the grass will start growing again - a whole lot easier then!

[Slim]

This year has been very hard on the grass it is the worst it has ever looked! I need to wait until spring now to acess the damage!

[mabelandflosmum]

Weed and feed is now a no-no for me , you will have to lower your expectations of a weed free lawn, I think this is made up for by the sight of happy chickens pecking on it!

My 2 have never scratched up the lawn, they keep it short, they have a lot of borders to scratch in though. They do leave rather a lot of poo on the grass but I zap this with the hosepipe- free fertiliser!

[shoura]

Since I've had my chooks I've discovered that my lawn is mainly moss! Taht's what they scratch up so I'm hoping the grass will actually benefit! Otherwise I may re-turf it in sections using the Omlet netting to keep them off the new bits....