Patridge bantam chicken poorly foot?

[Katyed]

Hi

 

We are considering how to place our eglu. We've seen that the omlet demonstrations show someone moving the eglu around on grass and lots of people seem to have theirs on grass in pictures. We have grass and could do this. How much damange does this cause to the grass though and how often would you need to move it?

 

The alternative seems to be a permanent area set up with something like bark (though I've noticed that there is quite a debate about the best covering to use!)

 

Can anyone advise on what method they have found to be best? If you've got grass is it easiest just to keep them on that?

 

Any thoughts appreciated

[Purplemaniacs]

We have our eglu in a fixed position, I was all for having it on the grass and moving it around but was overruled by OH, I am glad it works very well in one place. We used wood chips initially and now use easibed. I would recommend a permanent site but to be fair we have not tried the grass option.

 

Good Luck with whatever you decide.

 

Chrissie

[mot336]

Hi, I had mine on the grass to start with and moved it every other day, but have now decided to leave the cube on the barked area at the end of the garden, as they free range all day anyway so only go back in the run in bad weather to to feed! I do want to cover the run properly before winter with the corrugated platic idea that I have seen on the forum!

[Yolky]

I started with it on grass but I soon found that it was smellier that way and also even though I have a largish garden it soon ruined the grass. Also it is harder to get the poo off of grass. After a week we put it on slabs with hemcore and haven't looked back. No smells, easy to clean

[Stevie]

Mines on the grass for the summer months and i change its position every 2-3 days so it never gets wrecked.I poo pick every so often and those which are left behind get chopped up by mower.My lawn is doing very well!

 

In winter,i'll have to give it a static home cos the lawn wont recover.

[Hen Watch]

As it is Summer now it may be a good idea to give moving it around the lawn a go before plumping for a permanent option.

 

Last summer I moved eglu every few days - grass regrew - no probs.

 

Winter - grass doesn't grow - left in one place, Auboise in run (covered with shower curtain).

 

This summer, got lazy. Move eglu left and right once a month and put up with "aircraft landind strips" in my lawn.

 

Or..... you could do a nice permanent place like the Omlet guide pictures. But you may just want to wait to get your set up and see how it goes before you decide.

[RubyReckless]

Don't underestimate the mess chooks will make on a lawn! Having done both, i recommend a permanent place for the run, with additional free-ranging room as your space allows.