PoultryTalk.com

Hi guys it's been awhile!

Just wondering if you have any veiws on me re-turfing my chicken run. It's roughly 15 meters sq with a big tree and 6 ex batts in there. My chickens are currently at my nans while I decide what to do with there coop so if I do re-turf i can give the grass plenty of time to settle in. Just looked to bare to leave them like that.
It's currently just bare soil so I was thinking about re-turfing all of it or at least half of it. I was thinking about making a frame that would sit about 2" above the top of the grass and running 1x1 cm wire over the top so they can eat it when it grows through but can't kill it off by pulling it out by the roots.

If I went in the direction of the frame then I think i would only be turfling half of the coop and maybe putting wood chippings down in the other half with their sand tyre.

Any opinions and Ideas welcome!
Kind Regards,
Mike

Good luck! Its a nightmare, i think if you do the frame like you said then they will still get there beaks thru and pretty much destroy the grass. The only thing we have found to work is to keep moving the run so the ground and rest and grass re-grow. But other people may have other ideas, its a constant struggle! We also use conifer cuttings in our large runs to cover floor and soak up rain in winter.
Hope you find a solution.
Angie

With such a large area I would divide it in half. With only 6 chickens it would mean you could move them from one pen to the other before the grass gets too damaged and allow the grass to recover. But remember that with winter coming the grass will take a while to grow back so perhaps a smaller area which has chippings in would be a good idea for winter. They would only need somewhere to dig a few holes.

Hay guys thanks for the responses!

I was thinking of deviding my run in two like you say Meg but I like my chickens to have loads of room I'm to soft with them haha

I can't move the run unfortunaly DnA as I converted my shed into a coop for them and built the framework for the run off that. I was considering getting a smaller all in one run and coop though so I can let grass grown in their main run whist moving them around in the smaller one.

I did a smaller verison of what I'm thinking of doing a month or so ago but only raised the frame an inch off the ground the grass lasted ages till the chickens dug around the frame I'll keep you all posted on how it goes if I do it! If anyone has more ideas they would be greatly appriciated!

Very late of me to jump in & say this, I've put mesh over the grass in runs for years now, with very good results. I tend to just put it flat on the ground & as you say Mike, let the grass grow up through. The chooks dont scratch the grass at all but they have permanent grazing, I do make sure they've somewhere else where they can have a good scratch around as well!! Its good in really wet weather too, the soil stays in good condition so there's no 'puddling' where birds have stomped on the same bit of mud making the top bit solid. sorry its late hope it helps.

I'm glad you did jump in, albeit late! I'm going to try that out in a patch in my run. What a good idea! Thank you.

you learn something new every day what a great idea