Chicken bald back

[waders]

Hi everyone,

Need a little advice about moving my girls to a more permanent site.

I don't have a very big garden and at the moment they are in the middle of the lawn so I can see them from the living room! I'm going to move them to the side as it's getting a bit muddy and soggy and I would like some lawn in the summer! I have bought an extension to the run and measured the area they are going. I don't know whether to put them on some paving slabs with Hemcore on top or just put the Hemcore on top of the grass where they will be going. If I use the slabs then those pesky 4 legged critters won't be able to come up from underneath although I don't have that problem at the moment. But will the girls be able to scratch? I know they enjoy that and as they will be in the run from when they get up until I get home at 3.30 (which I feel really guilty about) I want them to be happy. How deep will I need to make the Hemcore if I put them on slabs? Advice please

[CatsCube]

The slabs are a good idea. if oyu put a skirt round the base of the run and a nice depth of hemcore in the base they will be happy scratching on that. Plus is means when you clean the run out you can hose the paving down nice and clean and then replace the hemcore, rather than having to dug the soil over every once in a while and liming it etc.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Catscube is right in what she says but I would just add that I've got mine on hemcore on soil and I like the fact that they can scratch through the hemcore to the soil to get bugs and beasties. Mine are confined while I'm at work too so I feel happier that they've got something interesting to scratch in.

 

It is harder work to clean out but I'm only doing it every couple of months at the moment and in the summer I'll probably be able to just add more hemcore rather than digging it over.

 

It's down to personal choice in the end .

[CatsCube]

At the moment mine are on brickweave with woodchip on, I do have the woop chip to a depth of about 4inches, and TBH after a couple of days and some rain its quite like soil in consistancy, and they never scratch it through as far as to find the bricks underneath.

 

If you do have them on paving you would definatly want to have a good depth of base material and a skirt to keep it all contained.

[waders]

Thanks everyone for all the advice.

I like the idea of being able to wash it down (catscube) but I also like the idea of them being able to get at the beasties in the soil too (Ain't "Ooops, word censored!"ody Here).

As you have all said - it's all down to personal preference in the end so I think I might move them onto the soil and see how they get on and save for the slabs (having already spent up on extension). I have bought the edging strips they are selling at Omlet, we looked at the hurdles in B&Q but the stuff I liked was so expensive even if it looked nice!

 

I think it's great that I can come on line, ask questions and get advice. You're a great bunch

 

Lisa

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Good idea. You may find the slabs work better in the winter when the weather's yucky but you can try the soil out till you can get slabs and change it later in the year if you want.

 

A tip for the soil is to add garden lime - it helps improve the soil quality when you dig it over (it's safe for the chooks).

[Olly]

I have mine on soil, and to be honest I only dig it over every couple of months - this time of year the hemcore is just vanishing, but in the summer I rake it out and chuck some more in. I had them in one spot from Feb - October last year and I only remember moving the Eglu and digging it about twice.

 

I prefer mine to be able to get at the earth, even if it does now look like the bottom of a First World War trench!