What can I plant in the place of grass that won't get destroyed by chickens? My yard has pretty weak grass and dry sandy soil, so the chickens have turned everything in their enclosure to loose dirt. I'm moving them to a larger area and I'd like to plant grass or something similar that is hardy enough not to get fucked up. The area is about 1500 sq feet.
trees qualify as plants AFAIK
>>2114435
I don't think trees are gonna work as a replacement for grass.
you have to rotate the areas they have access to so they can destroy one while another recovers
>>2114461
This. There is nothing you can plant as a ground cover that will survive chickens. Even if they don't care to eat it, they will scratch it out in their search for bugs and seeds and dust bathing. Love the picture of the the lazy chickens in their craters, BTW.
>>2114476
Florida. It probably rains frequently enough, but the dirt still seems pretty lifeless and loose. Grass doesn't even grow well in the parts of the lawn they don't terrorize. I really don't know shit about lawn or plant
>>2114461
>>2114472
Shit, you're right. I don't really have the space to rotate areas, but maybe I can lay wire fence on the ground to prevent them from actually digging in certain areas while stuff grows.
Pic related, if it helps any.
>>2114498
>the dirt still seems pretty lifeless and loose
That's because it's mostly sand, anon. If you want grass to grow, you need to bring in topsoil or amend the sand with biomass. What most people do in your situation is haul in topsoil and then lay down sod.
And not let the chickens on it.
We have confined chickens and their run looks like the surface of the moon. We let them out to get their greens and then pen them back up. One thing we did to provide them with greens in their pen is built a rectangular wooden frame out of 2x4s on edge. Bought three two-by-fours that were eight feet long. Cut one of the boards into three lengths of 32". Build frame that is 8' long and about 35" wide. Use the third piece of 32" board in the middle.
Then we bought a roll of fine wire mesh and stretched it over the frame, stapling it place. Buy a small bag of mixed cover crop seeds, go to bulk section of grocery store and buy some wheat berries and any other whole grain that seems like a good idea. Plant them under the mesh frame. Greens grow up through the mesh but the plant and the roots are protected from being destroyed by the chickens. We call it their salad bar. It's pretty much the hens' first stop in the morning when they bail out of the coop. Go see what is poking up through the mesh of the salad bar.
pic related
Not ours, just one I found by searching chicken salad bar mesh.
Our doesn't have the corner bracing. Not necessary, IMHO, especially if you aren't going to move it around.
Before you build your frame, buy the mesh. The width of the roll of mesh should dictate the width of your frame.
Don't use "chicken wire" (that flimsy hexagonal stuff)... it isn't strong enough and chickens can get their toes snagged in it. Buy fine mesh. Galvanized is best, so it doesn't rust away. You can use treated 2x4s and it will last longer.
>>2114539
This is fucking brilliant.
>>2114472
>Love the picture of the the lazy chickens in their craters, BTW.
I know right? They look like dug-in soldiers.
>>2114434
Rotate their areas is literally the only solution. Also, try not to have so many chickens just fuckin about.
They don't need a lot of space since they are just retarded chickens. Given them more space is basically saying "please destroy my entire yard kthx"
>>2114498
also you live in florida.
Grass isn't a thing there.
>>2114434
Grow a veggie garden. Fence off 2 enclosures, chicken coop in the middle. Rotate the chickens and the veggie garden every year. Chicken manure makes some of the best fertilizer. Just till it into the soil, plant your veggies in the spring. In the fall, after harvesting everything you want, put the chickens on the other side and let them destroy your former garden and till the the manure into the soil of their old enclosure to prep it for spring planting.
Best part of this plan?
1. No weeding
2. Best fertilizer
3. Amazing fucking veggies with very little effort
>>2114434
Yeah, you can't grow grass here in Florida unless you bring in topsoil.
I don't have chickens now. If I did, I would keep them in a coop and let them out daily to graze. They will turn your yard into a sandy mess if you let them run free all the time.
We don't even grow grass in south Florida. It's some kind of weed.
My brothers solution to this was a mobile chicken enclosure . The chickens had a ton of grassy area to cover but they would be in their coop all night and early morning, it tended to kill all the grass of and leave the ground bare but he built enclosure on wheels.
Basically it is a meshed cage with a door and a chicken coop inside attached to the cage, the cage is on wheels.
Every so often he will wheel the enclosure to another part of the garden when it current grassy area looks dire.
Wish I had pics.
>>2114810
They don't need a lot of space, but if you keep them in the same small space all the time, they get parasites or feces-related illnesses. You don't NEED a big area, per se, but if you don't give a big area, you have to move them around to fresh, clean areas.
>>2114434
get some cacti
>>2114856
my grandfather built exactly that for his chickens
>>2114810
When they have more space, they're MUCH less hazardous because they're not shitting in the same 2 sq feet their entire lives. Chickens are actually pretty smart. An animal's intelligence has no relevance to how much space they need, anyway. Hamsters, in the wild, run miles a night. Are they fucking retarded? Yes. But this doesn't mean you can avoid housing them properly and justify it with "durr it's not a dog, so of course it can live in a soup can"
I have a big enclosed property. Should I just let them walk around wherever they want?
>>2115003
>1500sqft
>they don't need much space
>2sq FEET IS HAZARDOUS
Like, do people not get there are more than extremes? 1500ft is roughly 39ftx39ft area. Even if he cuts that area in half that's still plenty of room for some god damn retarded fucking chickens.
>chickens are pretty smart!
Yeah ok. An animal that fights it's reflection is not smart. This includes dumb dogs or dumb cats. The point is all the space an animals requires is just enough so it can exercise and move around and not peck the fuck out of each other. It literally cannot comprehend it's surroundings. It doesn't give a fuck.
> not shitting in the same 2 sq feet their entire live
You have never owned chickens apparently. Chicken waste is incredibly easy to handle and most of their shelters, housing, and coops are designed specifically to handle dispersing and cleaning their shit.
>>2115010
How big? How many chickens? If it's more than two acres and you don't have a garden that you'll cry if they dig around in, then probably yes unless you have a LOT of birds. It'll save you fencing costs, and cleaning whatever they mess up free range is way better than shoveling out a patch of shit.
>>2115010
No, you should not. They will destroy a good portion of your yard.
It also makes them incredibly difficult to round up. The last thing you want to do is spend all day collecting you fuckin chickens at night to get them back to their coop or if there is a heavy storm heading your way. Chickens are not heavy creatures and will literally get blown away in a storm.
Also, not keeping them together increases their chances of being attacked by the many predators creeping about.
>>2115003
12ft x 12ft + coop is enough space for a dozen birds to dick around in.
1500sqft is excessive.
>>2115016
OP here, I was the one who posted that. The two square feet was a pretty obvious exaggeration referring to how factory farms keep them. I've also owned chickens for 11 years, thanks.
An animal's intelligence has little to do with how much space they need. "just enough to move around and not attack eachother" isn't enough for literally any animal. Even if you're sticking to that opinion, there's no pride in meeting only the absolute bare minimum of care required for your pets. If I didn't give a shit, they'd be living in their own feces and I wouldn't be here.
Also, "an animal that fights its reflection" would refer to anything that isn't self aware. Which is everything in the world except maybe 10 animals.
>>2115022
They have a 12x12 area currently. None of them are happy and they'll do whatever they can to escape. Aside from that, I think you guys are missing the part where my soil is fucking weak and they'll destroy it down to the bedrock if they're not in a large area.
>>2114856
>>2114926
Yeah, I thought about that, but it seems annoying to handle and predators could easily dig into the run.
>>2114834
>>2114812
Peninsula life is fucking shit. I'd think it only gets worse the farther south you went. They're totally fine when they're free range and barely do any damage to my yard, but predators are an issue.
>>2114534
>>2114539
I think this is what I'm gonna do, more or less. It seems pretty cheap and it doesn't look too horrendous either. Thanks, anon.
>>2114814
Sounds neat, but I'm not that dedicated. Maybe I could use their old area this year, since they've been shitting in it forever and the dirt is basically pre-tilled. Can too much shit make the area unplantable, though? There's a LOT of shit built up.
>>2115038
Nah. You're still going to have to till the ground before planting. Veggies need soft dirt. Also, your chickens shitting all over the place is vastly improving your soil quality.
>>2115038
>Can too much shit make the area unplantable, though?
It can, but it should be fine after the shit has rotted for a few months.
>>2115120
This. Otherwise it will burn the plants with excessive nitrogen. To be extra-safe, plant only vegetable that fruit above-ground the first year. The second year, you can plant root vegetables and be safe. I know what you mean about the shit build-up. If you can borrow/rent/hire a rototiller, that is best. But you could get a broadfork and turn it over yourself.
>>2115038
Best way to keep the predators out is to use a strand of electric fence down at the bottom of your chicken tractor. What kind of critters are you dealing with? Yotes? Coons?
>>2115010
You do realize that chickens can fly, right? Sure, they aren't peregrine falcons, who can soar through the air with majestic ease. But they do have wings and can fly over a fence.
