Solitary chicken - need advice

[Muffy]

I am considering making a permanent site for the hens since it's making too much of a mess of the lawn to keep them there.

I have an are round the side of the house which I have just moved a shed from, which is bare soil.

I have some spare patio paving stones and I'm wondering if I should use those to make the base and put woodchips on top of that, or whether I should just lay the woodchip on top of the soil. Or I could do half and half.

I thought the woodchips are likely to get more soggy placed directly on soil and it may gradually get deeper as it gets scratched up.

 

Any advice or experience to share?

[Yolky]

I don't think that I would put woodchip under the stones, they would eventually go slimy and may smell. I think I have read that some have put sand underneath.

[xScrunchee]

I don't think that the plan was to put woodchips underneath the slabs, just whether to use slabs with woodchips on top or woodchips straight on top of the soil.

 

I would go for a slabbed base myself just so that it is easy to clean.

I put a layer of Aubiose/Hemcore on top as it is fairly cheap and super absorbant

[Muffy]

Thanks.

 

I did mean woodchip on top of the stones

 

What is aubiose or hemcore?

[Yolky]

lol I am such a div sometimes.

[Egluntyne]

What is aubiose or hemcore?

 

Read about them here:

 

**Aubiose**

 

**Hemcore**

[Ain't Nobody Here]

I have a permanent run on soil with Hemcore (brilliant stuff ). I like that they can scratch about in the soil when they're confined to the run.

 

It would be easier to keep clean on slabs, but I don't find it too much work keeping on top of our run.

[chooklady]

We have just started to build our run this weekend and after reading loads of stuff on here this is what we are doing. W e are making a concrete skirt a foot wide which has gravel boards around the outside. The concrete is a lot wider on the left as the cube will sit here eventually.

 

 

 

We are leaving the earth as it is in the middle with woodchip or hemcore if I can find some in the middle. The run itself is going to be 12" x 6" and 6" tall with double doors at the front. The cube will eventually sit on the outside at the end nearest the shed to maximise the inside space and give me easy access from the shed to clean out the cube, to start with though it will be on the inside. There is also going to be a kind of cat-flap style small door that the chickens can get through but not the dog.

[SAB]

looking good!

[Yolky]

Looks great. I am going to show this to my husband tonight.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

That looks like it's going to be fab . Regular photo updates would be great .

[Olly]

gosh someone is handy! I wish I could do things like that.

 

Can I also add, what a gorgeous dog!

[Seagazer]

Great photos

[Egluntyne]

Looking good!

 

Great dog.

[alison]

Oh to have a resident handyman!

 

 

Looks good!