'pasture' for chickens

[canesisters]

When a small backyard flock free-ranged in my yard, they didn't do a lot of damage to my bluegrass and white clover lawn.

I didn't appreciate them destroying the hosta and they scratched up the flower beds. (One may have poisoned herself on the rhubarb - died the same day as the first attack on those plants .)

Moving a small pen around the backyard didn't work. Within a couple of hours they would damage part of the lawn within that confined space. I think that chickens will always dig holes to dust bathe but will have favorite spots.

Pasture grasses are likely to have much stronger roots than lawngrass.

Steve

Oh gosh!!! Scratching rhubarb off the seed list!

 

[ducks4you]

Manure just improves over time. I would let your birds scratch up the soil and eat their fill. You can close them up in their coop and harvest kmanure from their run.
MY only concern is that the "pasture" will be eaten down, unless you are able to fence off portions of it and rotate the pastures, like we do with larger livestock.
When I had a flock of 12 the ate everything growing in their 12' x 30' run. I would periodically till it up and shovel and move it out for gardening.
THEN, they loved picking through what was left looking for worms and bugs.

 

[canesisters]

I plan to rotate them back and forth & I expect that they will likely eat it down to pretty much nothing before the next one is ready. That's why I hope to be able to reseed?
Here's a little sketch. The coop & a little hoop-house porch are about 8x16. By closing off the end of the 'porch' with a panel of wire, I can slide the panel to one side or the other to allow them into 1 or the other 'pasture'. Both pastures will have gates into a smaller area that they will always have access to where their feeder is and where I can close them in if needed. All together the entire yard is probably a 50' x 100' or so.

 

[flowerbug]

check your local grain elevators and agricultural oriented stores for cover crop blends that they sell by the pound. around here it is a mix of cowpeas, buckwheat, clovers, alfalfa, turnips, radishes, you can usually get peas fairly cheap too. check the label for weed seed content as you don't want a lot of that to contend with.

as a post-script the other thing to consider is not letting them graze it down to bare dirt but to stop things from getting so bare by rotating them to another more free range spot or to confine them for a few weeks to let both smaller spots recover.

and wooded probably means these areas get more shade than a full sun field for a cover crop would expect to get better growth. so add yet more time in between grazing... hmm... can you funnel them to another area like a big garden you can break into more sections?

 

[Branching Out]

I have never raised chickens, but I was thinking of you Debbie when I looked up how to grow purslane, which matures in about 60 days. Wild Garden Seed's description specifically mentions chickens, and says the following:
Portulaca oleracea sativa
Not the matting weed wildling, but big garden varieties that are upright and large-leafed. These do not become invasive, although they will self-sow and perform well if tended. Used by tradition as an esteemed vegetable, and for soup in the southwest. We use it raw for its juicy and lemony flavor as a summer salad item. Highest vegetable source for omega-3 fatty acids, well-documented for beneficial cardiovascular and cholesterol controlling effects. Chickens grazing on purslane produce high omega-3 eggs. The species has no freeze tolerance, but excels in the hottest weather. Seeds per packet: 1,500

At Wild Garden Seed they grow them as transplants.