A month ago, I divided a turf into twelve seed trays for the chickens. This was to try to give the girls a supply of grass, a tray per day. The turfs were half price and were not in very good condition, I think they been rolled up for too long. They have kept growing for a month but were now looking really wet and boggy and much more sparse. I realized that as well as not being in the best condition, I hadn’t put any drainage in the trays and after a lot of rain they became water logged. I decided to start again with a new turf and do the job properly. The new turf is much greener and healthier looking. This time I put a layer of gravel in the bottom of the seed trays. I then put in a layer of sand which was left over from the chicken run and topped with a layer of lawn top soil. I cut the turfs and pressed them well down then watered them. This time I will leave them for a couple of weeks before giving them to the girls, to give them time to take root. I managed to fill thirteen trays and a small pot to get them started. I did throw the off cuts in to the chicken run for them but they keep flipping them over. When I emptied the old turfs out on to the veg plot, I could see how water logged they were and that hadn’t taken root. This gave the chickens lots of fun though, as they were full of worms which I tossed in to the run. The chickens had a great time hoovering them all up.
Thirteen trays of grass
One of the reasons that I really want to make this work is that we have no grass in our garden, which means there are no grass cuttings for the chickens. We have a cottage style garden with a veg plot in front of the chicken enclosure and a small thyme lawn by our patio. I chose to plant a thyme lawn as the lawn is too small to mow and I like the fact that it is low maintenance, only needing a light snip with shears if it gets too leggy. Also in early summer it has a mass of pink and purple flowers which the bees love. In autumn the foliage is slightly purple, it’s also ever green and doesn’t brown during dry weather.
Thyme lawn and patio
Thyme lawn and the chicken enclosure at the top of the garden behind the runner beans
I am much more hopeful that this time I will be able to keep the chickens in grass throughout the summer months.
Click here to see the history of my flock.
Your chickens really don’t know how lucky they are! All mine used to get was a handfull of mealworms or mixed corn each day and sometimes some leftovers or dandelions thrown in.
Most people that keep animals which eat grass take their animals somewhere with grass. You’re the first person I’ve known to bring the grass to the animals! It probably wouldn’t work so well if you were keeping cows I guess…
I know my chickens are really spoilt but I can’t help it. I want to do the best I can for them because they can’t come out in to the rest of the garden.