Solitary chicken - need advice

[moomperu]

I'm going to make a permanent area for my eglu and was wondering if auboise or bark chippings would be the best thing to use. The area which the eglu and run would cover has some small pebbles, which leads on to some very patchy and dry grass.

 

What do people find effective? Also, I'm in the Canterbuyr/Whitstable area of Kent, does anyone know where I could buy auboise from?

 

Marjorie

Agatha

Queenie

[Egluntyne]

Aubiose is excellent, but it is super absorbent so you will need to cover the run with a shower curtain or similar otherwise it will soak up every drop of rain.

[alk630]

We have placed our Eglu + extension on about 2 inches (~5 cm) of hardwood chips (available in 60 litre bags from B&Q for approximately £5) which in turn are on top of a six rubber grassmats from http://grassmats.co.uk/ These are made of extremely soft recycled rubber so don't harm the chicken's feet while scratching around, but allow for great drainage and stop mud and water in the run.

[Mrs G]

We have wood chips in the run and surrounding area, then use Aubiose inside the Eglu, this works well for us

[jlo]

I put aubiose in the run and keep the shower curtain on (almost permanently at the moment although we did see the sun today . I do seem to rake it out more than others on the forum - I think that I am too picky about it and I can see it costing me a fortune so I am determined to become less picky!

 

On a slightly different topic, I did put aubiose in the nesting box for a while and it looked and felt really cozy. I think it got a bit too cozy as Tango started to sleep in it which led to lots of poo in it and the odd BeBe egg in the run or on the bars! I went back to putting straw in the box and it is clearly not so comfy.

[Cyber Chook]

Hi, I've been using Hemcore or Aubiose in the run, until Kate told me she uses horse bedding wood chip. I'm trying out the woodchip now, and it seems really good, and smells nice and pine-y too. It's cheaper - £5.75 for 25kg, as opposed to £7.50 for 20kg of Hemcore - and it's good for the area I've got the run on. It's sitting on boggy London clay, which quickly becomes like a marsh when it rains.

For me here in North London, the cheapest places seem to be the big Farm Supplies/Country Store-type outlets, or specialized horse supplies places.

 

P.S. alk630, curses, I thought I'd spent enough on my chooks and now you're tempting me with those grassmats... they look brilliant!

 

Caroline

[alk630]

Hi, I've been using Hemcore or Aubiose in the run, until Kate told me she uses horse bedding wood chip. I'm trying out the woodchip now, and it seems really good, and smells nice and pine-y too. It's cheaper - £5.75 for 25kg, as opposed to £7.50 for 20kg of Hemcore - and it's good for the area I've got the run on. It's sitting on boggy London clay, which quickly becomes like a marsh when it rains.

For me here in North London, the cheapest places seem to be the big Farm Supplies/Country Store-type outlets, or specialized horse supplies places.

 

P.S. alk630, curses, I thought I'd spent enough on my chooks and now you're tempting me with those grassmats... they look brilliant!

 

Caroline

 

Sorry for tempting you Caroline, but it was money well spent!.. The chooks now spend far more time lying in comfort on the dry clean chips. They loved the mucky bark chips too, but it always seemed damp or wet in the weather we've been experiencing and they never seemed content to just sit still in it... & who can blame them?