# Will the yard grow grass/ greenery?



## jstringerrn75 (Oct 24, 2015)

Good Morning. I was just outside with my chickens (in the rain again!) and I noticed that grass was growing outside of our pen, but it was brown as could be inside the enclosure.

We put our 10 girls in a 250sq. ft. Enclosure in the fall. I was hoping it would be enough room for them to forage in come springtime, but now I'm not so sure. Does anyone think grass will grow inside the fencing?

Thanks again!


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## zamora (May 26, 2015)

I am by no means a chicken expert but personally I think you will have to rotate your turnouts in order to keep grass/forage growing for your birds. I know we practiced pasture rotation for our horses because if you leave them on one pasture too long, it gets overgrazed and I imagine it's the same with chickens. We are currently fencing in a second run for ours so we can practice rotation as well.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

What Z said. Unless you do a rotation like they do with cattle and horses you won't see any nice green stuff growing where they forage.


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## nannypattyrn (Aug 23, 2015)

I concur! There is not one blade of grass in our enclosure, which may not be quite as big as yours for 12-18 birds at any given time. You will need to rotate or have a bigger area fenced off.


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## chickenqueen (Jan 9, 2016)

Your chickens will pluck every blade of grass as it comes up but some weeds might still grow there.I have a nursery for the babies they stay in for 2-3 months,I didn't do chicks last year so it was empty but no grass has grown back-just weeds and a tomato plant(I gave the tomatoes to chicks in previous year).You'll have to rotate areas and don't let them eat everything and then move them-nothing will be left to grow back.


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

My whole yard is beach sand. 

If you want to grow some grass for chickens make some frames and nail hardware cloth to one side and the grass will grow thru the wire, but the chickens can't ruin the grass. I wish I had the energy to do that now. But it goes on the to-do list.


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## jstringerrn75 (Oct 24, 2015)

Hmm, thanks Seminole, I might try that. I may do second enclosure, also. My hubby is always asking what we are going to do with the "South 40." (We only have an acre of land, so it's a joke.) He hates to mow, so he probably won't mind beating in some more stakes.


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

We're only on an acre too. In NY we were on 2, but one was all woods and we didn't need it at the time.


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## WeeLittleChicken (Aug 31, 2012)

If you want grass to grow in a fenced in area you have to have at least 27 square feet per bird according to the French's method of raising heritage meat birds. This also means you need birds who will range on their own... I know a lot of breeds these days like to sit close to the coop! Otherwise it's much easier to build a rotation pasture! The easiest way to do that is to build a coop with four attaching pastures around it and a door to each pasture from the coop. Then you just open a different door when they start eating one down too much. We did OK with ours until winter never came.. and they ate the grass that wasn't growing and wasn't under snow.... to nothing. Now we have to reseed everything again... siiigh. Good thing is chickens love weeds and they're sure cheap to grow!


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## jstringerrn75 (Oct 24, 2015)

Yes, weeds are the best- if it's green, it's grass


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