Poultry damaged land

[dw123]

Hia all,

got about an acre of land with 2 concrete buildings which we use for our large laying flock, the ground in which is dreadful where its been used for hens for a few year unrested.
With last winter being an exceptionally wet one it was pretty bad, but it's already started to look wet again in places and i want to hit before it gets bad again- last year it was borderline pure slurry knee deep to the hens (if they had knees! ) .

We plan to move the hens off asap and will do this for a year or more to rest the land, they're shut in at the moment as a bird flu precaution so the land has been being rested and rained on for a couple of weeks (we're just down the road from one of the first big outbreaks).
I plan to put pigs on it once its had a few more good rainings on to give it a good turning over. Then is there a good cover crop or something i can plant to feed the soil a bit and help it along a bit?

 

[Frodo]

Is the drainage poor? I would worry that if hens are making a mess the pigs will also, with little real benif

i have not had that much luck with cover crop on the range. The hens just destroy it, and unfortunately this is the wrong time of year.

sorry not to be more constructive, but more drainage is where I would start

 

[Generally01]

Hia all,

got about an acre of land with 2 concrete buildings which we use for our large laying flock, the ground in which is dreadful where its been used for hens for a few year unrested.
With last winter being an exceptionally wet one it was pretty bad, but it's already started to look wet again in places and i want to hit before it gets bad again- last year it was borderline pure slurry knee deep to the hens (if they had knees! ) .

We plan to move the hens off asap and will do this for a year or more to rest the land, they're shut in at the moment as a bird flu precaution so the land has been being rested and rained on for a couple of weeks (we're just down the road from one of the first big outbreaks).
I plan to put pigs on it once its had a few more good rainings on to give it a good turning over. Then is there a good cover crop or something i can plant to feed the soil a bit and help it along a bit?

Plant it with grass seeds and let it regain a grassy stage for a few years(however long it takes). after that put the birds back on and be careful about letting the grass disappear, maybe find a scheme where you can rotate them.

 

[Dry Rot]

Do a soil test? Probably needs a ton of lime!

 

[Exfarmer]

The soil should not need any feeding after being covered with a mass of chickens.
Fertility should be through the roof.
However I suspect flock density is far too high for the acre of ground you have got them on.
it would be a very good thing to let the ground rest for a year or two, to let parasite levels drop.
Then you should plant a grass ley and not restock too soon to allow It get established
perhaps @Great In Grass can help there

 

[caveman]

Probably cheaper in the long run to produce barn eggs and keep the hens shut up most of the time and accept a lower price.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

It's probably quite compacted from all the N from the chicken manure over time? Possibly run something like a swardlifter through it to give it some air, and grow a root crop (eg radish or turnips) with oats or similar, get some structure back into it.

Maybe sunflowers would get up quickly and be chicken-proof; if chooks have eaten everything that grows then rootmass is what you really need - build biology back in there? How feasible is it to exclude the birds from the area to provide rest?