Pilsbury
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How long can chickens be on grass?as a side topic from the sheep Tapeworm one rob has just mentioned that chickens are good for a while, then they ruin the grass.
My question is this
I plan to get some chickens next year in a smallish city garden, I have 10 1 meter square beds that I plan to use to grow crops in, one has my composter and rhubarb in at the moment, now my plan was to have a chook house and run that covers each of these beds and having 3 chooks in it but moving it over the beds in rotation as I harvest leaving the chickens to pick over and scratch up the slugs, weeds and left overs in, there will be hardstanding in the run as well with bark or similer but how often would i have to move them on? they will be fed as well obviously and i really want them to compleatly clean out the beds before getting them back into use, I dont mind having a couple of dedicated chook beds that I can grow all their favourites in so they can go on there when its all plump and juicy and they can free range when we are in the garden but with the fox problem around here they would be in the house and run the rest of the time.
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Rob R
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I think it is another of those 'it depends' answers unfortunately (the fowl experts may have more definitive answers) but 'free range' is 1 bird/10m2 , so if you go by that it's one bird. I'd think a couple of birds. When hungry crops are following the birds they'll be OK on there longer than others, etc.
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Jonnyboy
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1 per 10m2? I thought it was a lot less than that.
EDIT: A google says you're right but I also see an EU reg mentioned that states 4m2 per bird. 
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Pilsbury
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I think thats for free ranging, the coop and run im planning to keep them in will have approx 3sq meters of floor space hence the 3 chicken limit for me
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Rob R
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| Jonnyboy wrote: | 1 per 10m2? I thought it was a lot less than that.
EDIT: A google says you're right but I also see an EU reg mentioned that states 4m2 per bird. |
I think that's right, from memory it was 1000 birds/hectare or 600/acre or 400/acre for organic. Maybe the EU one is less stringent than the UK?
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colour it green
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defra defines it as 4m2 per bird
if you sell your eggs as FR they must have that at least too
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welsh veg grower
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To be honest if your not worried about if you can or cant say they are free ranging and the eggs are just for you 2-3 birds (well depends on their size of course) would be just fine in a 1m2 pen. They do a reasonable job of clearing most things I have used this method before now to clear a bed of weeds and stuff before planting on it.
Sounds like a good plan to me
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Pilsbury
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Im not worried about free range name just so long as they are happy, eggs are just going to be for personal and friends consumption.
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Jonnyboy
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I think you'll just need to try it and see. They will certainly foul up 1m2 fairly quickly so you will have to be religious about moving them regularly, and giving them the hard standing to use.
I would start with two decent layers, maybe ex batts and see how you get on.
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welshboy454
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They will still have a lot more room than a battery hen - maybe a mesh floor would help - they would peck through it and not scratch about so much.
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Chez
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A mesh floor probably would help - I always think it's a bit mean though, because they can't make dust-baths and what-not for themselves.
As jonnyboy says, you'll have to suck it and see. Or think about bantams - they have smaller feet and some kinds lay pretty well.
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Rob R
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Incidentally, I didn't refer to free range to mean the area they have access to (because I think that's a load of rubbish anyway- on a large scale it doesn't matter how much land they have, only a handful ever make the hike to the other end, and pigs are never kept free range- outdoor is a much better term, although is still open to interpretation) but as a guide for dividing the area (by 10). Sucking it seems the best option. 
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Ixy
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I would go bantams meself 
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Woodburner
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They won't be able to clear the ground if there is a mesh floor.
I've just moved an ark with 10 silkies of various ages off a no-dig bed 10ft x 4ft. They made pretty short work of it! I left them on it a couple of weeks and they made a really nice job of breaking up the ground, no real sign of 'pooeyness' though, just thought it was time they had something growing to eat again.
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Mary-Jane
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We have a chicken house and two runs. I rotate the chooks between the two runs roughly every three/four weeks. That keeps down the nasties and allows the grass to recover on each side.
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bodger
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Look out for damaged feet and toes if you have them on mesh. Its like seeing a wonderful cream cake and then breaking your nose because at the last second you find out that its behind plate glass. 
The size for what constitutes free range makes an absolute mockery of the ideaology of free range. Its an absolute minimum.
Large free range commercial set ups tend not to provide the best conditions for birds. In reality, the sheds are so big, with the food and water for the birds inside them, that many of the hens hardly ever venture outside and if so, not for long. Its not unusual to see the ground around the houses a soggy morass of mud, only for the surrounding grass to look as though its hardly been touched by the birds.
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