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ajm200

It was going so well

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I love watching the hens in the garden and have almost persuaded them to eat out of my hand. My little boy is smitten.. he runs at them squealing with delight and shouting 'ick' 'ick' 'ick' and talks to them through the patio door at regular intervals all day.. even my husband who hadn't been keen was starting to like them.. watching them while he drank his tea, going out of his way to visit the eglu whenever he was in the garden :D ..... THEN

 

he walked through one of their messier droppings, got it on the cuff of his jeans and managed to trail it across the carpet that he'd just washed...

 

He swore rather a lot... and asked me why I can't manage to clean up after them after telling him that people had reassured me that mess wouldn't be too bad. He's worried about our son getting covered in mess when he playig on the lawn

 

I clean up every day with a trowl or dustpan and brush but haven't found a good way of cleaning up the wet, sticky, yellow, parcels that they sometimes do on the lawn. How do you manage?

 

As a newbie, I've learnt loads from this forum and I'm sure someone out there has the answer that I need so that the girls can continue to use the lawn this summer

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I keep mine confined to an area around the eglu with netting we have a big garden so the chooks have plenty of room, wherever they are they will leave deposit, tell OH that chicken poo is great fertiliser but if you do confine them they will distroy the grass by scratching it up

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:D Had to laugh, your husband sounds like mine! He seems to be a bit of a poo magnet (dogs, birds - anything seems to attract itself to the bottom of his shoes). One time he was swearing so much and wiping his feet on some grass after treading in dog poo, he didn't look where he was wiping his feet - he was actually wiping more on from a different patch of poop! :lol: So I would also like to be prepared for any future battle and appreciate how to nip in quick (bit like Harvey Keitel)!

Regards, Kerry

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Feed them some bokashi - it reduces the size of the poop dramatically. When mine were on holiday with my mum and dad the other week, mum fed them bokashi in their porrige and reduced the size of poop dramatically. I normally just mix it in with their pellets in the grub. The Bokashi reduces the size and also seems to dry out the texture of the poo (sorry - too much detail there!) :oops:

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I have garden shoes! I can stand in all the poo I like and then leave the shoes by the back door! My OH thinks this is silly but then moans at me when I point out that he has trapsed chicken poo through the house!

 

Our garden looks like the Somme at the moment so poo picking is almost impossible, I'm hoping I'll be able to do that when the grass grows back!

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AJM200 - Like you, I favour the shovel method for scooping up the more solid poos. For the sloppy ones (that they always seem to save for the paving right by the back door), I use a sheet of newspaper to 'gather' it up and stick it straight in the compost bin. Pretty yukky :vom: , but effective! :)

 

D.

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:D:D:D Really laughing at some of the above posts! I'm 3 and a half weeks in with 2 chooks and an Eglu and a run and a previously ok lawn and a hubby that wasn't keen! :shock:

 

My lawn is also like the Somme in boggy patches and where the run has been every couple of days the grass is a bit brown, covered in discarded pellets and poo! :oops: Hey on the plus side the girls dig the moss out! I think when the weather is better it will be easy to rake up the poo and pop it into the compost bin with the used aubiose and other kitchen waste. I plan to hose the rest of the lawn and/or the poo when this weather gets a bit better.

 

Yesterday, OH went to a garden centre totally on his own volition and bought a composter plus 2 patio potato growing bag things, seed potatoes and organic compost! What a splendid chap! I even heard him making bok bok cluck noises to the girls yesterday and when I came in from work this evening he had been home for 10 mins and was letting the girls out for a quick free range before bed - with treats!!! :D Bless him. He has trodden in a bit of poo but I must admit didn't get any on his trousers. I think he is thinking of the eggs as a positive as well as he is well partial to an egg mayo sarnie, (not that my girls are laying yet).

 

I too have 'chicken shoes' that used to be my work shoes and in this weather they come in the back door, get scuffed on the back mat and left there! :oops: I've just ordered some lovely pink wellies from ebay for wet ventures around the run in the poo till we can either hose or rake! :D

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Shovels are for wimps - a rubber glove and a pink tubtrug for me!

 

I have bought some 99p for 24 disposable gloves from Morrisons. Great for picking out the poo in the aubiose and the harder deposits elsewhere!

 

Guess you can also get them from the petrol station for free as well! Just thought of that and rightly so as it cost me near on £60 to fill up today :shock::shock:

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AJM200 - Like you, I favour the shovel method for scooping up the more solid poos. For the sloppy ones (that they always seem to save for the paving right by the back door), I use a sheet of newspaper to 'gather' it up and stick it straight in the compost bin. Pretty yukky :vom: , but effective! :)

 

D.

 

Can you put paper in the compost bin? We only got ours yesterday still not sure re do's and dont's :)

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Oh yes :D . I empty the poo tray - 2 sheets of newspaper, mountains of poo and shredded paper straight in. (Keep reminding OH to "water" the compost bin but he never remembers :roll: .)

 

I wasn't sure about paper as well! Great :D Why do you have to water it (sorry to be dim - first time I've had a compost bin) :oops:

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