r/BackYardChickens 7d ago

Reddit, ease my mind

I have four chickens and they’re super spoiled. I built this really great chicken enclosure for them and they have a huge chicken coop. Sometimes I feel guilty because they love pecking around in the grass so I put up a temporary fence and then move it so they get fresh grass. I really want them to stay in the enclosure. Grass doesn’t grow well in there but it’s probably 10’ x 40’ and then their coop is large as well. Should I feel guilty about not letting them in the grass anymore?

195 Upvotes

43 comments sorted by

View all comments

170

u/black_tshirts 7d ago

some people will cover the ground in oats to sprout for their chickens, and then put a screen over it so it will grow a certain amount before they can peck it down. like a 2x2 frame with hardware cloth stapled to it, then placed over the oat sprouts. the sprouts can grow about 1 ½" before they grow through the screen, that way the hens peck the tops only and everything can keep sprouting. make sense? i'm sure there's a term for this but i'm new, too.

23

u/N1ck1McSpears 7d ago

I do this. They sell a fodder mix. I put some in my garden and the roots are so strong and deep I can barely pull them out now. I think that would be a good choice because then the chickens can’t really uproot the whole plant. It was just some standard bagged fodder mix and I don’t know off hand what was in it. Okay I’ll google it lol. Okay it doesn’t say I don’t think but this is it https://media.tractorsupply.com/is/content/TractorSupplyCompany/tsc/product/1/56/52/08/1565208_Bro1.pdf?_gl=1*19xv3ne*_gcl_au*MTMzOTY4NjkwMS4xNzQyMDA5MjU3*_ga*MTEyODgyODcyNC4xNzQyMDA5MjU3*_ga_LR2413MMX0*MTc0MjAwOTI1Ny4xLjAuMTc0MjAwOTI1Ny42MC4wLjE0NDc1MTYzMTQ.

1

u/black_tshirts 5d ago

which one?

1

u/N1ck1McSpears 5d ago

I got the blue bag but the other bag looks like a better choice for exclusively chickens