Small handfuls of grass no longer than a couple of inches are safe and healthy enough for your hens, however, anything longer than that is likely to cause problems, making them ill and in extreme cases causing death.
Chickens can only digest grass if it's young and it still bright green. Once it starts to fade, they lose interest. Physically, tall grass is an impediment to them, preventing them from going where they want.
Grass in the chicken run.
The obvious answer might seem to be grass, and if you have a big enough area, grass is ideal. Chickens can spend their day happily scratching around for bugs, and creating their own dustbaths in whatever shade they can find.
However, there is a simple figure to provide you with a solid starting point: 1/4 of a pound per fully grown chicken per day. This means each chicken will eat approximately 1.5 pounds of feed in a week. This amount will vary based on the age and size of your birds.
Outdoor area. As well as their chicken house, your chickens will need an outdoor area to roam in. This should have: Short grass - keep grass short, as long strands can become trapped in the chickens' digestive system.
Forages are high in vitamin A, B6, E and K; exposure to sunshine allows chickens to readily synthesise vitamin D in their skin whilst worms, insects and other invertebrates provide a source of B12. Proteins are needed to build muscles, organs and all other tissues.
Finding a Happy Medium
If you have a smaller property, live near potential predators, or tend to worry about the safety of free range chickens, it's a good idea to use a run — just be sure that they have enough space to stretch their legs and scratch around.
Many people start out with their chicken coop and run on grass, but as we chicken people know, grass will not last long around chickens. Wood chips help keep the run from getting muddy, especially since we have an open section with our pergola.
Amazingly, grass provides approximately one quarter of a chicken's daily nutrient requirements resulting in them eating less feed. Therefore, you will spend less money paying for feed. Grass is high in protein, carotenoids (beta carotene), iron and vitamin E, B6 and C, and a variety of other minerals.
Your chickens should have a constant supply of food throughout the day. Chickens will eat when they need it and should go to bed with a full crop as they need lots of food to produce eggs. A fully grown chicken will typically eat about 120 grams of layers pellets a day.
Grass is an important feed crop for your chickens and provides nutrients that are good for them and make eggs more nutritious and yolks richer in color. Also, once they spread the grass clippings, they make a great mulch layer that improves the soil quality in the chicken run and helps keep dust down in dry months.
Chickens may not feel comfortable leaving the coop to go outside for many reasons, including they're nervous about new surroundings, scared from a predator attack, or they're cold, sick, or injured. Some chickens who don't want to leave the coop may be getting picked on by chickens in the run.
(Chickens love to rest off the ground inside their coop; it's reminiscent of their days as wild birds in ages past.) It's also imperative that your birds have access to quality feed and fresh water.
Yep – your chickens can definitely eat bananas!
Bananas are a lovely treat for your flock and a great way to make use of the overripe ones. However, they are high in sugar, so moderation is key.
If your chickens free range, they'll find weeds for themselves as they forage for edible grasses, bugs and seeds. They know instinctively which to eat and which to leave alone, and they know how much to eat to get the nutrients they need.
They slurp grass like spaghetti. Yes, you read that right! Wild chickens lay only approximately 10 to 15 eggs a year during breeding season.
Why you will love a concrete coop floor. Most chicken keepers who have concrete love their concrete. Concrete is a very safe flooring choice as it keeps burrowing predators out. After the initial installation, concrete is low maintenance, does not rot like wood floors, and can take plenty of abuse without consequence.
Wood shavings are an ideal material for your coop flooring. They give off a pleasant smell throughout your garden when kept inside. When pine shavings are scattered around the outside of the coop, they absorb moisture to prevent bacteria from growing and causing illnesses in your flock.
Ground cover within the coop can be anything from wood chips, straw and grass to bare ground. Organic materials tend to break down quickly and plain sand is a popular choice for its durability. Whatever you choose, make sure the chickens may easily scratch and dig.
An uncrowded chicken coop with enough floor space to move around, light from windows and food and water is what you need if you want to keep the chickens in all day. The recommended coop size is to have 2-3 square feet indoors per chicken.
Part-time free range chickens spend most of the day out of the coop, exploring the world however they come home at the end of the day to a safe warm coop. There is any “right” or “wrong” way to do this, but we recommend allowing your chickens the live the free range life on a part-time basis.