4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[Peter Poultry]

Hello, my first post here.

We have 3 bantams in an eglu and have just had an offer accepted on a new house, only problem being the garden. the garden has a large area of mature plants surrounding a large bit of decking no grass.

currently our chickens and their eglu is on top of soil/ grass with a thick layer of chipped bark.

wondered if anyone had any advice on what to do in terms of surface, my initial thoughts are to put a thick membrane on top of the decking beneath the eglu with chipped bark again (thicker layer), but would this be a problem? are there any other options I could consider.

thanks in advance

p

[Steve.]

I would have thought that the decking would go rotten if it was covered in anyway.

[Stevie]

Although decking is chemically treated to prevent rot-it needs to be able to dry out and it wont be able to if covered.You may want to consider another location for the chooks.

[toastedblue]

my walk in run is on a spare bit of decking I recycled after ripping the rest of it up, and what a mistake that was...

it's a nghtmare to clean, the poop loves the grooves, and when it rains it stays wet for days

as soon as the summer (ha!) is over, and I find the time, I'll be putting a concrete base down

[Yolky]

could you slab the decking?

[Peter Poultry]

could you slab the decking?

 

yeah, theres nothing to stop me putting any other surface on top of th edecking.

my concerns are the same as mentioned above really- rot. Moisture would get trapped between the decking and any plastic membrane i would put down, slabs maybe an idea.

or maybe i should consider removing some of the plants in the flower beds and putting the run there, problem solved i guess, but need to take some measurements

[Peter Poultry]

by the way, Im more concerned about the chickens rather than the decking, just wondered if plastic membrane under bark is ok for them, cant see any reason why- maybe this would be a breeding ground for pests- moisturre + bark cipping, chicken poo= eurgh.

talking myself out of it

[Egluntyne]

I'm not sure it is a good idea. It would prevent natural absorption into the ground of yukkable substances.