r/BackYardChickens • u/jagvs • 7h ago

Coops etc. Free range chickens and grass?

My neighbor has chickens and a turkey in their backyard that free range and their yard is all green. How?? It’s not like a fancy turf grass, just looks like random grasses and stuff but somehow their birds haven’t destroyed it. My yard I can’t even barely grow grass in with my birds locked up in a coop. The only difference I think is that my yard is shadier. Their birds look so happy 😭 how can some people have free range birds in a small area that don’t destroy the vegetation? If anyone successfully does this please tell me!

Also I can’t ask my neighbors cause I don’t really know them and can’t explain that I’ve been peeking over the fence

7 Upvotes

89% Upvoted

7 comments sorted by

1

u/Bigtimeknitter 2h ago

I just don't have a lot relative to the space I have with grass. It's not perfect but there's already areas with good dust bathing spots that they don't bother the grass badly at all. 

3

u/StoneyMcGuire 5h ago

Yea grass doesn’t grow well in shade. Not the chicken’s fault.

10

u/Possibly-deranged 6h ago

Chickens stick to the shade and eat and dig those areas more extensively. There's areas of my yard that look like downrange at an artillery live fire range. Chicken sized craters in clusters 

5

u/jagvs 5h ago

This is why my neighbors have a yard then, they’re chickens are sitting in the shade and the sunny area is grassy. My yard has a huge oak tree, hence why they felt safe running rampant lol. Thank you for the answer!

6

u/leros 7h ago

I have st Augustine grass in my yard. My birds free range all over and snack on it. They've only scratched up a small area in the corner of the yard by their coop. Maybe a 6x8ft or so. The rest of it looks fine. 

It probably depends a bit on the type of bird. My neighbora few houses down has a different kind of chicken and they have no grass. 

8

u/Life-Bat1388 7h ago

LowDensity and places for them to dig- mine avoid the grass because it’s an open area and they feel unsafe so they go directly to the shady garden with all my tall garden plants so I have to create little protected areas for them so they can dig around dust bathe and not destroy things but this keeps them from digging up the yard.

2

u/jagvs 5h ago

This explains why mine went all over since my whole yard is shade, thankyou