Trish Posted April 21, 2005 Share Posted April 21, 2005 Mine have been on Bark since they arrived. So far we push a rake into the run and rake over the bark whenever it looks like the surface of the moon, i.e. most days, it's a two minute job. Then once a month (ish) we lift the Eglu off the patch and s"Ooops, word censored!" up about two bags worth of whats there, put garden lime down and add two new bags of chippings. If it rains a lot and gets boggy we put straw in the run and this seems to help keep things dryer. I suspect in summer it will be less often as the wet bark seems to just disappear into the ground Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ketty Posted April 22, 2005 Share Posted April 22, 2005 Emma, I am feeling guilty too. I am going to let the girls out, but not as much as I have been. I think bark sounds like a good idea. And by the sounds of things sounds quite easy to maintain... And at least the girls can enjoy scratching at this whilst in their run. Does anyone else out there keep their chickens in the run the majority of the time...? Garden lime under the bark... What does this do?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SarahJo Posted April 23, 2005 Share Posted April 23, 2005 Does anyone else out there keep their chickens in the run the majority of the time...? Ketty, mine are in a purpose built run all the time, very occasionally getting a free range in the garden. We have just re-turfed some parts of the lawn, and spare bits were given to the girls to peck .. even then they were popping their heads through the fence to get the new turf . We don't feel bad as they have more area to roam than an omlet run .. but even this is ample for 2 chooks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Frugal Posted April 23, 2005 Share Posted April 23, 2005 Same here and they're both as happy as they were (well, almost) when they were free ranging and the best thing is we've got the garden back to looking like a garden again instead of a farmyard . They can come out and free range for a while every day in the summer but they're fine in their custom built run. You can see photos of it in the gardens gallery in my album. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sammi J Posted April 23, 2005 Share Posted April 23, 2005 Kate- Your garden looks fantastic! Ketty- My chooks are in the eglu run from the moment they let themselves out to time either me or hubby let them out into their bigger area, in the week that's about 8:30am and at the weekend it's more like 10am!?! They never get to go into our main garden. they have an area next to the walk in covered rabbit pen, the eglu is on wood chippings, there is an area of soil that they can scratch about in that goes round to the back of the shed which they love to do! And the rest of the area has path slabs down (it use to be were hubby's veg patch and greenhouse lived He loves me that much ) They seem happy enough and alot better off than some animals in the world. I'm sure however long your chickens spend in the eglu run they are still happy and loved. We use garden lime on the area under the eglu and run once a month, it help to break down the poo and stops the build up of any nasties, it will not hurt the chooks so they can be kept on that area straight after you have dug it into the ground. Sammi -x- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Frugal Posted April 23, 2005 Share Posted April 23, 2005 Thanks Sammi, my old mate . It's looking better now the grass is growing! Shame it's a bit patchy though . Now where am I going to fit all these veggies that I've got growing in the greenhouse........... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buffie Posted April 28, 2005 Share Posted April 28, 2005 Then once a month (ish) we lift the Eglu off the patch and s"Ooops, word censored!" up about two bags worth of whats there, put garden lime down and add two new bags of chippings. Hi Trish How much lime are you using and thanks all for answering my query about length of time to change bark. We have the girls on bark and I let them out upto 3 hours a day. They are happy and love getting lots of attention. I feel they have restriction but they are loved and cared for really well, not left to fend for themselves and without nice treats. If our girls could talk they'd be saying we very happy chicks!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trish Posted April 28, 2005 Share Posted April 28, 2005 I put a couple of handfulls over the area of the run, the fork it in a bit. Seems to work but don't mind being corrected Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sammi J Posted April 28, 2005 Share Posted April 28, 2005 Yes I do the same as trish. Just a thin layer of lime over whole area where eglu and run live, I rake all the wood chipping to one side first and after lime has been dug into ground put new chipping in run area and old chipping around run area after hose down. Seems to be working so far, just changed from bark to wood chip and it's SO much better. Sammi -x- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buffie Posted April 28, 2005 Share Posted April 28, 2005 Oh where do you get those from? Sounds a good idea , what do you find the digfference is? Bx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fowlbird Posted May 2, 2005 Share Posted May 2, 2005 at the moment we're using shredded eucalyptus tree. Anyone heard that it's harmful for the girls? We're hoping that smell of eucalyptus will mask the smell of chook cos there's been a fox in the neighbour's garden. Apparently it was showing more interest in our compost bin than the girls who are nearer the house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna 1 Posted May 3, 2005 Share Posted May 3, 2005 We've been conducting a little experiment over the past two weeks regarding our (very small) patch of lawn, which was quickly decimated by Milly and Molly . The MOTH decided to re-seed part of the lawn, and covered it with that green plastic netting you get from the garden centre to stop the girls from eating the seed. His original idea was to create a kind of 'cage' for the lawn so the girls couldn't get to it, but they didn't seem to realise that and walked all over his carefully laid netting. The thing is though, that even though they are still pecking the lawn, they can't scratch at it through the netting, and they can't seem to clip the grass through it either, which they were doing before. So the experiment does seem to have worked - we have a lawn again, because the seed has grown, but the girls can still free range. I know the idea of netting on a lawn doesn't sound very attractive, but because it's green you can't really see it. Maybe worth a try for small gardens who don't have space for a separate chicken area? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SarahJo Posted May 3, 2005 Share Posted May 3, 2005 WOW ... fab experiment ... Graham laid new turf, and the chooks have "strimmed" a perfect line next to their gate where they can get their heads through ... Snowy is the master (mistress) at this. . Anyway ...hens were the least of worries ... me with the flymow yesterday was worse , what is it with MEN and their TURF Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katie Posted May 5, 2005 Share Posted May 5, 2005 we keep the eglu house on the flags and the run on grass and just move it up and down the flags every week; this stops the grass dying underneath the eglu. the hens don't seem to bother with grass, except for eating it, they seem to prefer to play and scratch in the borders and go amongst the trees and shrubs as we have alot of knooks and crannys in our garden, even though it's a v. small garden! the only place they've ruined is where all the bluebells and tulips are, they like to sit on them - resulting in one big dustbath! at least it's only in one bit though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sammi J Posted May 6, 2005 Share Posted May 6, 2005 Oh where do you get those from?Sounds a good idea , what do you find the digfference is? Bx Hi buffie. I have been getting the wood chipping from a friend of my dad's but I think I've seen it in garden centres. The big difference I have noticed since using the wood chip instead of bark is the wood chip don't seem to be soaking up the rain etc, It runs over it and sinks through to the ground and it's so much easier to sweep up or rake and put back in the run after the girls have kicked it all about. I have put a big thick layer of it all over the run floor and also all over the area outside the run to (bit like the picture in the main omlet site). The wood bark got mushed in to the ground and went all 'yuckie' but I'm very please with the chipping, no mess so far. Sammi -x- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buffie Posted May 6, 2005 Share Posted May 6, 2005 Thanks for that Sammi. We have clay soil so wonder if rain running into that will make a muddy mire for the girls . I will look out for chips and give it a go. B X Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fowlbird Posted May 8, 2005 Share Posted May 8, 2005 the girls ate all our lower lawn over the winter which, in a way, was A Good Thing because now mr fowlbird has had to dig it all over, fence it off and reseed it so we now have beautiful new grass there which the girls cannot touch until it's well established. I do tend to moan at them for the damage they've done in the garden but my hostas are better this year than ever before - no slugs - and on the whole most things recover. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fowlbird Posted July 11, 2005 Share Posted July 11, 2005 mr fowl took the fence away from the beautiful new lawn and the first thing the girls did was to dig a large hole for a double size dust bath Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lesley Posted July 11, 2005 Share Posted July 11, 2005 Oh dear! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fowlbird Posted July 22, 2005 Share Posted July 22, 2005 there are now TWO holes.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lesley Posted July 23, 2005 Share Posted July 23, 2005 Is Mr.Fowlbird still speaking to you? Will you save your girls from the pot? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
