Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Poultry and Pets => The Hen House => Topic started by: MrTwang on February 23, 2012, 23:47
-
Hi all, this weekend my wife and I are going on a course about chooks!
We know we want them and have the coop already in place but want to make sure we fully understand what we are letting ourselves in for!
Now back to the question.. Our back garden has a bit of moss in a certain area. Will the Chooks eat this and if so is it harmfull to them in any way?
To be honest from everything I have lernt on here I don't think I will hear much at the weekend that I haven't read on here already! This is a brilliant forum and full of great information.
Paul.
-
Whaaa thank yuuuuuu!
My hen has scratched up load of moss but doesn't eat it. I've gathered it ready to put on top of pot plants (a bit like they do in garden centres).
I've beeen assured hens won't eat slug pellets - not risking it anyway.... that was my concern when I started out.
-
Hi and welcome, agree with nerdle hens make brilliant moss removers,but hav'nt seen them eating any..Aden..
-
I'm afraid my *cough* lawn is more moss than grass after my chickens were finished with it :mad:
-
Mine would have to be different ::), they do actually pick at it & eat some but it doesn't seem to have done them any harm.
As Casey says, after the mainly damp winter we have had, 'ploughed field' describes better what is behind our house, rather than 'lawn'!
-
That's good news! I have been looking for an excuse to re-turf my lawn for a while now.. We have very fine fragile grass and I can't stand it. Compleatly wrong for our garden!
We want children as well as chickens so will have to come up with something.
Thanks,
Paul.
-
I seriously would not bother re-turfing if you're going to introduce chickens. I can pretty much guarantee that your lawn will look like the aftermath of Glastonbury festival a few weeks after introducing chickens!!!
-
I seriously would not bother re-turfing if you're going to introduce chickens. I can pretty much guarantee that your lawn will look like the aftermath of Glastonbury festival a few weeks after introducing chickens!!!
I definitely second that, when I put four ex bats in my orchard there was not a blade of grass or weeds after a few weeks :) :)
-
My husband did not want hens on his lawn but he got them but he was a changed man when upon gazing on of the bedroom window at his sward he saw that the patch that had had the hens on it was greener than the rest. They had raked out the moss and eaten the daisies and weeds out of it. He loved them after that but I had to keep filling in their divots with turfs cut from his least visited bits of lawn, hoping he wouldn't notice 8)
I bought a netting corale from Omlet so I could move them round the lawn
-
we've been moving ours around our grass areas since we had them back in June and they've done a brilliant job of scarifying the moss out and up until winter set in our grass was looking better than it has done for years.
Now they are restricted to a none grass area and have been for a month or so to let the grass recover - mainly because it got so wet and boggy
-
My hens graze the moss seed heads http://www.flickr.com/photos/wildcardinal/6178741826/ off the lawn edgings as soon as it grows back .
No ill effects so far. :)
-
I seriously would not bother re-turfing if you're going to introduce chickens. I can pretty much guarantee that your lawn will look like the aftermath of Glastonbury festival a few weeks after introducing chickens!!!
Ours looks like the Battle of the Somme with deep holes dug in it. It is their own area so I don't mind. We did turf it last year and it lasted right up to the start of winter which I thought was good going. They are happy scratting around and then enjoy an hour or so in the rest of the garden so they don't wreck our lawn. Won't bother returfing this year though. ::)
-
They scratch up loads of moss bless them. It doesn't compost though, well not in under 20 years :D, so I put it in the council bin. 'bout the only thing that does go in there :)
-
That's good news! I have been looking for an excuse to re-turf my lawn for a while now.. We have very fine fragile grass and I can't stand it. Compleatly wrong for our garden!
We want children as well as chickens so will have to come up with something.
Thanks,
Paul.
HoHoHo ...lawn, chickens and children HoHoHo
-
That's good news! I have been looking for an excuse to re-turf my lawn for a while now.. We have very fine fragile grass and I can't stand it. Compleatly wrong for our garden!
We want children as well as chickens so will have to come up with something.
Thanks,
Paul.
HoHoHo ...lawn, chickens and children HoHoHo
yes, I had a good laugh at that as well :D
-
That's good news! I have been looking for an excuse to re-turf my lawn for a while now.. We have very fine fragile grass and I can't stand it. Compleatly wrong for our garden!
We want children as well as chickens so will have to come up with something.
Thanks,
Paul.
HoHoHo ...lawn, chickens and children HoHoHo
yes, I had a good laugh at that as well :D
Yes, that has actually made me chuckle as well now!
In 1 hour I'm off on my chicken course with the Mrs! Then when I get home it's time to start building the run... Getting rather excited now!