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chickencam

who cleaned their Eglu today?

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Got back from a night flight this morning and decided to give the eglus and run a thorough clean out.

 

Since I put the runs on slabs, it is so much easier to clean out the runs. I moved them both off, and shoveled the aubiose into a wheel barrow. Replaced the wood on the outside to keep the fresh aubiose in too!

 

I have a hen party in the morning, what's the betting the girls mess up the area before 10.30am?? :roll::wink:

 

Lovely day, cool but bright.

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I should have done more outside today..........but I was out there all week putting the last of the finishing touches to the eglu area and garden :D :D :D

 

so I spent today admiring my work and retrieving a determined chook from the newly laid (but fenced off) lawn............there's always one :roll::roll: wouldn't have minded so much but I bought extra rolls of turf to lay in the veg patch just for the girlies :roll::roll:

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Well I was busy cleaning my hens out today too...I s"Ooops, word censored!"ed out all of their woodchip and washed down the paving slabs. Louse powdered the hens and then changed my trousers and coat as they'd manage to louse powder me too. :roll::oops: Plus I took apart the eglu and gave it a good scrub and made the nestbox nice by filling it up with lots of shredded paper and wood shavings and then put it all back together and filled the run with lots of nice chipped bark.

 

Also did their water and mixed up some more food for them-phew, very busy!

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Our girlies were mud bathing too, white chickens and wet soil make for very dirty girls :lol: Didn't help that Dippy also fell into the pond when she was already dirty, you have never seen a chicken move so fast, they have never done this before but it is quite shallow with plenty of plants to get hold off so I think they would only drown if they were weak anyway. We have thought about some kind of barrier of netting but I think that would actually make things worse for escaping :?

 

We also turned the eglu and run around by 180 degrees to give them some fresh ground and the bark is deeper at the other end because the garden slopes away and the run is level, this caused some confusion when they went home for their corn and bed :lol:

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It's been like summer here for the last two days and more of the same expected tomorrow. Scrubbed the Eglu down yesterday (I've only had it 5 days but you know how it is with new toys :roll: ) and today moved it and the girls to a new part of the lawn. I wish had Hemcore over here - the smell of the pine shavings makes me feel :vom:

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Nope - I cleared out the old bark and replaced it with new barely four weeks ago, when we had a nice dry sunny (but cold) weekend. I'm tempted to try hemcore in the summer, but the soiled bark makes a great mulch for the asparagus and fruit beds on our allotment!

 

Instead I tidied the garden, moved the chicken netting so it's around my salad beds (instead of around the eglu, where they can flap up onto the run and escape!), and sowed lots of seeds: leeks, welsh onions, celeriac, broad beans and early carrots (the latter under mini-cloches made out of Coke bottles). Then I sat in the sun watching the girls have a good explore of the garden - but mostly they stood around basking and grooming :)

 

Today (Sunday) we're going to a local stables to pick up manure for the allotment, and I may well scrub out the eglu this morning once it warms up a bit. I also need to prune the dead wood from the clematis and tie in the new growth. No rest for the wicked!

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Sore reminder that I need to do mine today, thanks!

 

Eyren, how do you make mini cloches out of coke bottles - I'm intrigued and intending to put my carrots and parsnips in today. Also, would the soiled bark chippins be OK for my very small veg patch with cabbage, lambs lettuce, carrots and pasnips? Sounds like a good idea rather than filling up my already almost full composter. Great idea!

 

Kris

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Eyren, how do you make mini cloches out of coke bottles - I'm intrigued and intending to put my carrots and parsnips in today.

 

I use the 2litre bottles - anything else is too small to be useful. I throw away the lid and label and wash the bottle out, then I cut the bottom off using a pair of kitchen scissors - there's a handy line to follow, to help you keep it straight! If using these mini cloches you need to sow your carrots and parsnips in little patches rather than conventional rows - you can use one to make circles on the ground and sow as you go. For parsnips you probably need to have the bottles touching and count on maybe one parsnip per cloche after thinning - I'm aiming for baby carrots so I won't need to thin as much.

 

Also, I've pinned some netting down over the bottles so they don't blow over/away if we get any more blustery spring weather!

 

Also, would the soiled bark chippins be OK for my very small veg patch with cabbage, lambs lettuce, carrots and pasnips? Sounds like a good idea rather than filling up my already almost full composter. Great idea!

 

Kris

 

It is probably OK around the cabbages, which are pretty stout plants, but it might be a bit co"Ooops, word censored!" for lambs lettuce! Also, whilst not so handy this time of year, in winter you can use it to cover any ground not in use, and then dig it in in spring. Keeps the weeds down and opens up your soil - just check the pH and add lime if it's too acidic.

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Both Eglus are scrubbed and shining like new :D I have decided to put away the red Eglu as the girls all sleep together in the green one. It will be saved until we get a bigger garden :roll: and I can then get some big girls :D

 

OH bagged up the wood chips out of the run :shock: and scrubbed the paving slabs for me :shock: (I wonder what he is after :?:wink::lol: ). the girls like the hemcore, I think the run needs another half a bag of hemcore in it :roll:

 

A bit cold here today so I wore a pair of wooly gloves inside my marigolds :)

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