urban chick Posted July 4, 2008 Share Posted July 4, 2008 Interested in having and eglu and chooks and letting them free range when we are in the garden. Just wondering how much poo there would be as a result???!!!! Our garden is 100ft long and 40 ft wide, with shrub borders and mostly lawn. We have 3 young children who love playing on the lawn. If we had chicken would playing on the lawn be a problem for the children>?? Please help..... confused.com! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yolky Posted July 4, 2008 Share Posted July 4, 2008 I have a garden about as long/wide as yours. I don't have my chickens yet but from what I have read they do poo alot. So I have ordered the netting with the eglu so I can cordon off some of the garden for them to free range in, this way I can make sure the poo stays in one place and my three kids don't go skidding in it lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Couperwife Posted July 4, 2008 Share Posted July 4, 2008 Hi, I would suggest that you fence off a bit of garden for the children (or the chooks ) they do poo quite a lot, and always in the places that you dont expect it if you have a chook area, that they can use then you dont get worried when they start to eat the lovely flowers that you have (if you have any ) hope this helps cathy x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deejmum Posted July 4, 2008 Share Posted July 4, 2008 Mine free range all day and they do poo a lot but it is quite easy to remove or hose into the ground if its soft -ish . Much easier to cope with than dog poo in my opinion, and less smelly, and I do have both! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jomaxsmith Posted July 4, 2008 Share Posted July 4, 2008 We have a large lawn but found that the chickens would poo in the most inconvenient and unexpected places and are almost completely invisible. This and the fact that my two boys often dash straight into the garden with no shoes on means that we've restricted the chickens' freeranging time during the summer. A lawn related problem I hadn't expected is that the hens scratch about in the borders and kick loads of stones onto the lawn. This makes mowing noisy/potentially dangerous and also means there are stones on the lawn for unwary feet. Jo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urban chick Posted July 6, 2008 Author Share Posted July 6, 2008 thanks everyone for the advice....chicken netting it is then! We really want chickens but I dont want to ruin the experience of playing in the garden for the children. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted July 6, 2008 Share Posted July 6, 2008 Netting is a good idea. Chicken poo and footballs are not a good combination. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hils78 Posted July 6, 2008 Share Posted July 6, 2008 Non-hybrids (pure breeds) such as Pekin Bantams poo is soooo small compared to your frequent egg layers. It was quite a shock how much poo was produced by 3 ex-bats 24 hours that I had here recently! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lapinou Posted July 6, 2008 Share Posted July 6, 2008 We have three small children and three chickens in a garden that is approx 30x30ft, so not massive. I'd rather have space for the children to play even if it's pooey, so we've decided not to fence off space for the chickens/children and also, we love the idea of the children and chickens just 'being' alongside eachother. We don't do any poo picking or hosing (no outdoor tap!) but DD1 and DD2 let me know when there's a curry poo been done or a poo on the patio and I go out with a watering can full of water and rinse it off. There doesn't seem to be too much poo around the garden - the chickens seem to poo mostly at night in the eglu. I've read that some poo mostly at night and some mostly in the day. I figure children growing up on farmyards don't have all the poo tidied up for them each day and manage to survive Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chelsea Posted July 6, 2008 Share Posted July 6, 2008 they do poo a lot IMO. My girls do it mostly outside the back kitchen door as I think they secretly like sniggering to themselves when we step in it! Easy to control though - hosepipe blasting or in the summer wait for it to go hard and sweep it away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mutrix Farmers Posted July 6, 2008 Share Posted July 6, 2008 Hi, I would suggest that you fence off a bit of garden for the children (or the chooks ) they do poo quite a lot, and always in the places that you dont expect it if you have a chook area, that they can use then you dont get worried when they start to eat the lovely flowers that you have (if you have any ) I agree with Couperwife! The amount of poo took me by surprise, and it isn't helped by the chickens treading on it and squashing it into the grass (much easier to poo-pick if they don't!!!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hen Watch Posted July 6, 2008 Share Posted July 6, 2008 They do poo a fair bit. And of course the more chooks you have = more poo. My lot free ranged the whole garden last Summer and the kids ended up with it on their shoes sometimes. Since chickens are mainly vegetarian (apart from the odd frog ) the poo isn't too bad if you do step in it. That said, hubbie put his foot down last Winter as they were eating his veg patch. So we invested in the 23m Omlet netting and in Winter they had the left hand side of the garden, and now Summer they have the right hand side. Must say I miss the chooks tapping at the back door to be let in but on the flip side the children can play without the chooks trying to trip them up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajm200 Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 We've got a big garden, a toddler and 5 chickens. At first we let the chickens free-range all the time but my DH quickly decided to fence off an area for them because no matter how vigilant we were DS always found some poo to walk, crawl or roll in.. he'd also crawl around in the chicken run the minute our backs were turned. The fence keeps the play area clean and keeps our son out of the chicken run/eglu which would be is home from home if he could get to it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
