Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat

Poultry and Pets => The Hen House => Topic started by: dostle on May 14, 2011, 08:06

Title: newbie
Post by: dostle on May 14, 2011, 08:06

hi

am new at keeping chickens, coop built, home for the chickens is built but i want to know if i let the chickens out of the coop, which was may plan, will they scratch up all my grass ? i am thinking of getting 3 chickens

cheers

Darren

Title: Re: newbie
Post by: Fisherman on May 14, 2011, 08:21

Depends on how big your grassed area is. If its a small area then they almost certainly will. If its a large area then no although they do have favourite areas. Flower borders and veg patches are their favourites. :(

Title: Re: newbie
Post by: Sassy on May 14, 2011, 08:34

Be warned they can dig for England!! But they're worth it! :)

Title: Re: newbie
Post by: bantam novice on May 14, 2011, 08:40

Hello Darren and welcome to the forum  :)

I am not really an expert; however I would agree with Fisherman here.  

Chickens love to scratch and we move ours around from patch to patch of grass so that it gives time for the grass to recover.  Having said that we are lucky to have a fairly large grass area to use.  

If you type floor for runs into the search box in the top right hand corner you can find out about the different things you can use on the floor of your run

We are also intending to let our hens range on the vegetable plot over winter (once all the veg are in) and that way they will get rid of any slugs and bugs for next year.

Be prepared to get addicted.   You may find, like most of us, that you want to increase your flock. :D

Good luck and keep us posted  :)

Title: Re: newbie
Post by: dostle on May 14, 2011, 14:37

i am rethinking my strategy at the moment and am leaning towards fencing off a part of the garden for them to have and letting them out once i have built some mesh covers for the veg plots !

thanks for the replies

Title: Re: newbie
Post by: MrsTruper on May 14, 2011, 18:15

Yes, quite possibly.   From my experience they like to scratch the ground to bits (whatever it is made from!) and they are great at working out how to get in/under devices you have made to protect plants!

Title: Re: newbie
Post by: terri on May 14, 2011, 20:05

mine have ate loads and dug up even more of my garden and iv only had them a week today
i will be making a large walk in run for them :happy:

Title: Re: newbie
Post by: joyfull on May 14, 2011, 21:16

you could get chickens with feathered feet - these do less damage when they scratch the ground.