Chickens for Ground Clearance

[Mortblanc]

You can not restrict chickens to a small plot with density enough to clear the ground without feeding them a standard daily ration.

I have 8 birds and they can clear 100 s/f in about two weeks, but they can not live on what they find in that 100s/f.

Neither do they "till" the ground. They will just pull up all the grass and trample it down to bare dirt and sallow some dust bath holes.

and if you are using a movable tractor over a good sized plot you will find that the ground recovers within a few months of being cleared.

I would not consider my chickens an efficient terraforming crew.

Hogs are another matter. Put up an electric fence and shove a couple of feeder pigs in there for the spring/summer. By killing time next fall you will have cleared, tilled ground and a winter supply of pork.