Once the chicken tractor grew too small for the girls, I enclosed a run in electric fence. But once they tore that up (it took, oh, about 3 days), I wasn't happy that they didn't have access to "pasture." So I pulled one corner of the electric fence into the run to put a section of run outside the fence. I raked in seed for some yummy pasture, in this case winter rye (since it took me until Fall to figure this out).
The girls couldn't wait for the seed to turn to pasture, and, since they knew the electric fence wasn't on, they helped themselves to every seed they could reach.
Once the "pasture" grew up, I pulled the fence corner back out to include the area in the run, and let the girls at it. They nibbled the grass for about 10 minutes. Then it was all about scratching around and ripping it out. Sigh ...
When I first turned the girls loose in this run area last spring, the whole area was heaped, a couple feet deep, in last year's roughly chopped leaves. They pooped and scratched and pooped and scratched all summer, and made the most gorgeous compost I've ever seen. Come fall, I wanted to harvest it, so I raked it over to one corner, and moved the fence inside that corner. I've been accessing the compost pile as I tuck my garden beds in for the winter.
(In case you're wondering why I'm telling you this, it's actually so I'll remember next Spring when they once again escape the indoor winter coop.)
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