Timing is important when we use the hens to debug our garden, too. We let them in for two days, because if left longer, they start eating vegetables. Using a small dolly as a portable axle, one person can move a pen in less than 30 seconds. The chickens simply walk along inside to new ground. We graze cattle ahead of the chickens if the grass is more than 6 inches tall.
Tall grass mats down, making it difficult for the birds to scratch their droppings into the soil.
Long blades are also harder for the birds to eat. Forage grows back with renewed vigor following the broilers. A typical paddock rotation would have broilers in April, cattle in May, hay in June and cattle in July and again in fall. Broiler areas rest a year before the pens return. This controls pathogens and parasites and eliminates overloading the soil with nitrates.