2009 Omlet cube and run for sale

[Katyed]

Hi

 

We have now had chickens for over two years. They are in their run for some of the time and when we are home they are let out into an allcoated section of the garden. This section is slowly getting in a worse and worse state - it used to be grassed. Does anyone have any tips as to how to keep things looking good?

 

Obviously we appreciate its not going to win any flower shows as long as the hens are there but the grass has thinned out so much its just looks horrible and it can't be so much fun for the hens when its bare.

 

Thanks

 

Katy

[JS1]

Could you rotate their allocated bit of garden so that it gets a rest some of the time?

[Trougher]

I wouldn't have thought you would ever get the grass to grow back as long as the chickens are scratching about on it. I have some bare patches on my lawn, I am planning on digging down a bit and putting some plastic mesh, putting a layer of soil on top and seeding. The idea is that the chickens won't want to scratch as they will hit mesh. This used to work when my dog was into digging holes in the lawn. The problem with this is that presumably you want the chickens to be able to scratch around, so I would agree that rotating their free ranging area would be the only solution.

[Chortle Chook]

I have s"Ooops, word censored!"ped my lawn altogether and OH and I re-designed our typical Victorian terraced, 20m long, garden as one big WIR. It has a little path that winds its way from the patio at the top to the main gate at the bottom. It goes in a wiggle down the centre and either side of it I have divided up areas into sections with box hedging. Each section has a small tree to give it hight. There are 2 mini apples; a sorbus cashmiriana that has pretty white berries in autumn and pink flowers in early summer; a pear; a crab apple and a cherry tree - oh and a large bamboo too. Around the trees I have put chicken friendly plants such as lavender, santolina, rosemary, roses, aqueligia, hemarocalis lillies and mallow. The tall (7ft) wooden fences that border the garden are then used for extra colour and have Japenese quince, clematis viticella (as this type does not need to be cut right down to get flowers) and honeysuckle. There are also some fairly high pots around with miscanthus grasses and some spring bulbs. The chickens (none of which really fly) hop over the box hedging (which gives them plenty of exercise) and just love pecking about amongst the shrubs which I like to think reminds them of their jungle heritage. Their favourite bit in the summer is the bit under the apple trees where they get plenty of shade, and in the winter they like the bit by a large black bamboo which gives them wind shelter. They have free access to this all day long and so far, so good. Making this garden has been a lot of fun

[Chicken shack]

Cheeky chook lets have some pictures of your garden, it sounds great.

[Plum]

I was going to say that

 

My grassy slope gets a bit thin so I divide it with omlet netting and sew and regrow a section at a time in spring, doesn't take long

[Calamity Jane]

Oh Cheeky Chook, your garden sounds amazing. Yes please send piccies.

[poachedegg]

I want photos too!

[Chortle Chook]

Alas I don't have a digital camera but I'll see if I can borrow someone's and then work out how to post photos. The garden worked well through the summer and autumn and has even been OK in the winter but the time to really judge if it works, I think, will be the spring. Will the shoots of the herarocalis for instance get eaten off

[C&T]

Our grass survives fine during the Spring, Summer and Autumn. Winter it is a different matter... The grass just gets ruined as it is not growing. They are currently fenced off the grass, and only allowed on the Veg patch and patio. This does the veg no end of good (the chooks eat all the slugs and snails and their eggs - really noticed the difference last year!). I also tip some of the well rotted compost onto the veg garden, which they happily dig into the ground for me.

 

Once spring has sprung, and the grass has started to "ris", and by the time I want to start sowing seeds or planting out into the veg patch, the chooks are put back on the grass again - and kept out of the veg patch!

 

If there is one bit of grass they will not leave alone for some reason during summer etc, I lay a bit of plastic trellis down on the spot, until the grass has a chance to recover and the chooks have forgotten about that "special corner" - and moved onto the next one!!

[Katyed]

Thanks for all your comments. We have decided to add a couple of features to the garden to make it look a bit nicer. We haven't got time for a complete overhaul!

[squidsin]

Maybe just re-turf the skanky bits! That's what I am planning on doing when the weather picks up a bit!