How high can a chicken jump?

[Omletina Kyckling]

I have quite a small garden now and it's on a slope and my girlies and boy have wrecked it, as I knew they would. The holes they dig are a real pain and the grass doesn't stand much of a chance from their scratching so I've decided to fight back!!! Ii don't know if it will work, but it's worth a try. I've bought some lawn mesh, which you lay down over your existing grass and the idea is that the grass grows up through it and knits into it. It's used to stop dogs digging holes and to protect the ground if you are parking on it etc. I saw they sold it in Homebase (previously been looking online, but the postage was a big factor) and they have a 15% off everything today so went and bought some. I've put it down and let the girlies and boy out so I'll just see what happens with it.

Here are some photos of the rabble on it....

 

[Ain't Nobody Here]

It'll be really interesting to see if it works . Don't see why not and if so, it will become the next Omlet must-have .

[Plum]

I can see they are scratching their heads

 

Will be interested to see what happens.

[scarlettohara]

That looks great, where did you get it from ?

[Omletina Kyckling]

That looks great, where did you get it from ?

 

I bought it from Homebase, but lots of people sell it online if you need a larger quantity. It was marked as £21.99 for a 5x1m roll, but one was marked at £15.99 so she did all 4 rolls for that then I got the 15% discount because it was a discount day. If you need more, then it may be cheaper to buy online from specialist companies, but for me the postage would have been so much that this was my best option.

[mollyripkim]

Having spent all day gardening and setting up a lovely new rockery we were despairing of the state of our grass. Hubby thinks it's a really good idea so am going to try it. With a dachshund who loves to dig holes which the girls then expand for dust bathing it should be the answer. Guessing its better to do sooner before the grass starts to grow fast.

Thanks for a brilliant idea

[Omletina Kyckling]

Having spent all day gardening and setting up a lovely new rockery we were despairing of the state of our grass. Hubby thinks it's a really good idea so am going to try it. With a dachshund who loves to dig holes which the girls then expand for dust bathing it should be the answer. Guessing its better to do sooner before the grass starts to grow fast.

Thanks for a brilliant idea

 

It says one the websites for people selling it that spring is the best time so that's why I've started now....I have some bulbs coming up in the grass and it's flattened them a bit but they may fight their way through, I hope!

[mollyripkim]

Hopefully your bulbs will come through. We've been on the internet since posting and think Homebase comes out best too. I lot of it is for cars, I know my girls make a mess but not that much! You'll have to post some photos when the grass grows through.

[The Dogmother]

Does anyone have a link to this on Homebase's site? All my searches come up with are fruit mesh/nets

 

the end of my grass is a tad mullered and fast becoming muddy, this might help.

[Omletina Kyckling]

It doesn't seem to be on their website, I couldn't find it at the weekend.....

I've been in my bin, and pulled out the packaging - It's described as "Grass Protection Mesh" 5m x 1m. The barcode on the pack is 5 050595 325908.

Hope that helps......

[Omletina Kyckling]

There are lots of online companies who do it but in larger quantities....however, if a few people who lived near each other needed some, it might be the cheapest way to buy it?

[The Dogmother]

Thanks Diane, I'll have a look. I tried using their search to no avail.

 

ETA... nope, no good. I'll try in store tomorrow evening.

[Jools]

Any of the plant support mesh type stuff works well, like this one. I would recommend keeping the chooks off until the grass has grown through if you possibly can, to at least give it a bit of a head start. Otherwise you might just end up with mud (wet or baked) covered with mesh!

[lillybettybabs]

Is this the mesh you leave down permanently and let the grass intertwine to give the roots proctection?

[The Dogmother]

Yes, that's it.

[Jools]

I've used it for both, permanently for "thin" areas to stop them being scratted to death and temporarily for newly laid turf to stop inquisitive claws and beaks ripping it up before it's had a chance to establish. The things we do for our chickens!

[lillybettybabs]

Would it stop Fran digging to Aus i wonder.

[Omletina Kyckling]

I plan to leave this stuff down permantly so that the grass grows through it and the roots intertwine with it. My garden is quite small, so it's not a huge outlay to cover the whole thing. I think if I had a big garden, like I used to have I'd concentrate on the outer boundaries as these seemed to be the favourite digging areas!

[lillybettybabs]

How is your grass looking now it's started to grow, I'm considering getting some mesh just interested how

yours is doing.

[mollyripkim]

Thought I would just add in that following Omletina's post we did our whole grass area as well and then threw down several bags of compost to even things out. The grass is just beginning to shoot through so what was a brown muddy area looks promising and has a lovely green tinge. I'm sure the girls are eating the nice green shoots but we are on holiday in April so I might throw some seed down then. I'll post some pictures later on when its has grown says I hopefully.

Really interested to see how Omletina's is doing?

[Old Speckled Hen]

Omletina, your boy is very handsome. What is he?

[The Dogmother]

I am planning to do the same as mollyripkim; my grass is a lovely dark green, but the hens start holes and then the dogs make them bigger There are muddy patches caused by me trudging up and down in the bad weather; I am hoping that laying some mesh will help to keep it even an stop the mud being churned up.

[lillybettybabs]

We lost our grass due to worm casts belive it or not,

When the snow melted our lawn was covered with them them the dogs trampled them in.

[The Dogmother]

I can believe it - we'll both have to get going with the lawn mesh! I did a quick web search yesterday and found a company in Coventry that stocks it, will have a thorough look later today and let you know.

[scarlettohara]

We lost our grass due to worm casts belive it or not,

When the snow melted our lawn was covered with them them the dogs trampled them in.

 

They are a real pain - I rake mine off when dry.