A chicken pasture? What is that you are probably asking. Its an area which the chickens can have access to fresh vegetation but are not able to tear it up. Their natural tendency to scratch usually means the land they are kept on, if left there for an extended period of time, becomes bare dirt. Unless you have a large plot of land to move the chickens around you can expect to have bare dirt around the chicken coop. Unless you try a chicken pasture that is.

Our chicken pasture is a simple set of 2×4’s screwed together into a large square with a wire screen stapled across the top. The grass is able to grow through the top, the chickens walk across the screen without catching their toes and eat the exposed grass. It works well.

What about the poop on top?- you ask. The rain washes it to the ground, or we take the hose over to spray it off. No big deal. The grass, so far, shows no signs of nitrogen burn from all the manure fertilizer. In fact, it seems to grow faster and greener as the weeks go on.

A great thing about the chicken pasture is how much cleaner it is. No walking in the mud, or poop.  The grass uses the fertilizer and creates a healthy environment for the ground, bugs, and chickens. Everyone is happy.