Steve. Posted December 2, 2008 Author Share Posted December 2, 2008 no, I knew you had littlies - the 'hire a cement mixer' comment was the kind of thing that I would suggest brightly, and would get my DH muttering "and stick YOUR head in it"!!! yes ask the architect, bound to know someone who will at least turn up and even if it costs a few £ more at least it will be done. Hahaha - how rude - though I'd never say anything like that. I'd find something much ruder Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve. Posted December 2, 2008 Author Share Posted December 2, 2008 Frustrating eh. Makes sense to do it at same time as your walk in run. You'll only find the panels are 6" bigger than your base. Chin up Oh god - just don't go there! Good point though ... I love my chooks but at the moment they are no fun to be near due to smell and risk of getting covered in mud/poo combination from a 4 foot radius. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beach chick Posted December 2, 2008 Share Posted December 2, 2008 would there have been an 'f' word somewhere in there Steve? certainly would in this house!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plum Posted December 2, 2008 Share Posted December 2, 2008 Oh get em on the patio. Lots of woodchip. mine don't smell at all on slabs. Loose the mud. The patio will wash down. Close the curtains and your DW will never notice and you will be better to live with Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quickcluck Posted December 2, 2008 Share Posted December 2, 2008 How are they doing in general Steve? Are they up to their knees in mud? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve. Posted December 2, 2008 Author Share Posted December 2, 2008 How are they doing in general Steve? Are they up to their knees in mud? Yep - well - their ankles anyway. They stink too ... poor things. So Saturday we will pop them in the hospital run, move the cube, powerwash it, and pop them back in. Depending on how much time we have we might wash a few of them off in a bucket of warm water - I can see that being very popular. Powerwashing chickens I don't think is an option. They can go without chippings for a week or so as I need to raise the skirt otherwise the woodchip etc will get kicked out. Oh, and some garden lime or something for the soil they've been on since July. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quickcluck Posted December 2, 2008 Share Posted December 2, 2008 garden lime and stalosan if you've got it!!! can you put the green stuff round the skirt to hold it in? It works pretty well here...... Powerwashing? Sounds interesting, but you're right a quick dunk will be much more appreciated closely by a blast with the hair dryer or they'll freeze into statues! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve. Posted December 3, 2008 Author Share Posted December 3, 2008 I've ordered some Stalosan off eBay, that should be here in the next couple of days. I have a 6" or so skirt around the run but this may not be enough on concrete? We'll take a look in Wilco as in the summer they had some deeper lawn edging ... though may need to wait till it's in 'season'. Weather it looking chilly but no rain, so assuming no major catastrophes, we should move them onto the patio at the weekend, and we'll get a couple of quote from folks that actually want some work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve. Posted December 3, 2008 Author Share Posted December 3, 2008 would there have been an 'f' word somewhere in there Steve? certainly would in this house!! He got the 'c' word Anyway, some good news, the girls must be getting excited about Christmas as we've had a ton of 8 egg days. We're going to be overun with eggs in the Spring. Brilliant or what? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beach chick Posted December 4, 2008 Share Posted December 4, 2008 ah... long may it continue! I'm only getting 2 or 3 a day at the mo. 2 girls excused on account of moult, dont know what's going on with the other 5 though. Apricockerel/Roger Moore permanently excused on account of gender. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve. Posted December 4, 2008 Author Share Posted December 4, 2008 And another 8 egg day Well my Stalosan F arrived this afternoon - amazing since I'd only ordered it 24 hours beforehand! Apart from on the ground, how much do I need to put down? The instructions look to be rather generous on the application. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quickcluck Posted December 4, 2008 Share Posted December 4, 2008 I just chuck a few generous handfuls down with the garden lime when I am changing the run... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve. Posted December 4, 2008 Author Share Posted December 4, 2008 I just chuck a few generous handfuls down with the garden lime when I am changing the run... quickcluck, do you know much much garden lime costs? I'd only need a small amount for this area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quickcluck Posted December 5, 2008 Share Posted December 5, 2008 I got mine for a couple of quid from wilkos in the summer, but a garden centre should be able to sort you out... What are you doing with all those eggs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve. Posted December 5, 2008 Author Share Posted December 5, 2008 I got mine for a couple of quid from wilkos in the summer, but a garden centre should be able to sort you out... What are you doing with all those eggs? Thanks we'll take a look in Wilkos. The eggs get eaten, or sold, although we have 4+ years to go to break even! Egg Stats Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quickcluck Posted December 5, 2008 Share Posted December 5, 2008 that's very detailed! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve. Posted December 6, 2008 Author Share Posted December 6, 2008 I'm knackered. Started at 9am, finished at 5pm. Stopped for one wee and took 10 mins to have lunch (bacon and cheese toasted sandwich). Quick Summary: Put together hospital run Put chooks in hospital run Put dog box in hospital run for eggs Gave them food + water, and corn to keep them busy Moved Patio furniture out the way Moved Cube onto Patio Took cube apart (tho left on front panel) Cleaned Cube from top to bottom (though can't get some of the purple spray off the innards) Put some lino + wood shavings for nestbox Cleaned Run from top to bottom Added extra skirt on the new extension Cleaned 2x grub 2x superglug Washed 8 x chickens in a big tub in the garden with warm water + washing up liquid. They all enjoyed it apart from Wilma and Delilah. Didn't towel or hairdryer them, they seemed fine, if subdued for a bit. Put chooks in run. Put on my 2.4 metre cover + a Omlet cover giving almost 100% protection (left a gap for the hinged run-door) Gave them some veg to peck at in a couple of those food balls. Cleaned out their Dust bath and gave them new sand. Tidied up the old boggy woodchip + put down some Stalosan f. Put down 2x bags of woodchip in the run Tidied up. Had a shower. Probably quite a lot of other stuff too .... garden is like Boggy Creek. Oh dear. Found 3x clean eggs in the nest box and 1x in the dog box, so 7 eggs today. Not bad. Expecting egg production to drop the next few days as they've been scoffing corn to keep them quiet! Next job - find someone to do my run at the bottom of the garden! Oh, and I'm going to make them something to perch on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plum Posted December 6, 2008 Share Posted December 6, 2008 Wow, busy day. Sleep well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve. Posted December 7, 2008 Author Share Posted December 7, 2008 (edited) Wow, busy day. Sleep well. Just woke up Anyone good at massage? I'm stiff all over Edited December 7, 2008 by Guest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plum Posted December 7, 2008 Share Posted December 7, 2008 What an offer. Sorry, Im in to promoting independance, few stretches, couple of paracetamol and get out there digging over the old run space. You'll feel a new man. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve. Posted December 7, 2008 Author Share Posted December 7, 2008 What an offer. Sorry, Im in to promoting independance, few stretches, couple of paracetamol and get out there digging over the old run space. You'll feel a new man. I did the digging yesterday ... and I feel like an old man Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quickcluck Posted December 7, 2008 Share Posted December 7, 2008 Phew! Gold star for you! You will go to chicken heaven and they will love you forever. I've everything crossed that your concrete base goes down fast! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve. Posted December 8, 2008 Author Share Posted December 8, 2008 The Builder rang up this morning asking to come next week .... DW told him that he'd wasted our time and told him where to stick his trowel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quickcluck Posted December 8, 2008 Share Posted December 8, 2008 bet you are spitting feathers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve. Posted December 8, 2008 Author Share Posted December 8, 2008 I think I would have used some choice language if I'd have answered the phone! Here's some pics of the run as it is now: They are much happier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
