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Groovychook

Frequency of moving the run

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Hello!

 

I'm planning a space in my garden to site the eagerly awaited cube - only 6 long weeks to go!

 

I've been trawling through the FAQ's to see if I could find any tips on how often you should reposition the run in order to protect your lawn. I'm now thinking that perhaps I should wave goodbye to one patch of grass and put some chippings down instead...

 

I want to get everything sorted so that as soon as the cube arrives, I can rush out and get some chooks!!

 

Has anybody got any suggestions?

 

:)

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I moved my cube and 4 girls every 2 days for the first week and very quickly decided that a permanent run was the way to go. Unless you have a lot of spare grass you will run out especially through winter. Mine have been in their run 2 weeks now and its much better, though have to concrete/slab the whole floor next week as tried aubiose on dirt/mud - its ok but not perfect and i think a hard surface with some kind of bedding on top will be better for cleaning management.

Good luck though, you wont regret it :D:lol:

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I move mine every 2-3 days and brush their poops out daily.I find this works well enough so that the grass isnt ever destroyed and recovers in only a few days.

 

I am going to give them a permanent site over winter though cos my lawn wouldnt recover.

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We keep ours on the grass and move it once a week and the grass hasn't been too bad although since we got the run extension we have less options for moving it :( The grass normally takes 2-3 weeks to recover and grows back better than it was before :D As we got our girls in February we haven't gone through a winter yet so perhaps that may change our minds :wink:

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I've got a different point of view... I now keep the eglu and run static, and allow them to completely trash the grass inside. once they've destroyed it completely, they turn it into a lovely fine mix, which is very easy to remove poos from. looks a bit horrible in the interim (I blast poos with the hose once a week) and probably only works if you (a) lime the grass from time to time to kill nasties and (b) have a run for them to go in beyond that - we have electric fencing, so they basically freerange from 8am til dusk.

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Hi Groovychook.

 

I would say just try a few options once the cube arrives. Over the time I've had mine I've changed what I do.

 

Last Spring/Summer - moved eglu along a few feet every few days, grass recovers quickly, goes lovely dark green.

 

Last Autumn/Winter - grass doesn't grow at all, gets eaten in days and doesn't grow back till Spring. So positioned in one spot, with Auboise in the run. They had their own fenced off area of lawn and within weeks they'd eaten that too.

 

This Spring/Summer - I moved them to the other side of the garden. The winter side grass has grown back (with no reseeding) and I am now a lazier chook keeper and I move the run once a month, to the left then to the right. So now I just accept I have 2 unattractive strips in my lawn which are alternated.

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I have my run on soil with hemcore. It works really well. I change the hemcore every 6 weeks, raking off the top layer, sprinkling garden lime and Stalosan F down, then new hemcore.

 

I keep it dry with corrugated plastic so there's no smell and it stays relatively dry.

 

Exactly what I do ANH. My run is covered too, so no dampness at all and the Aubiose/hemcore composts like a dream.

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