Is my pekin bantam male or female?

[ScottishMike]

OK, probably another daft question from me

 

Does chicken poo damage/burn grass if not lifted??

 

Is it worse if they are 'squirty'?

 

Are there any known health hazards particular to hen poop beyond the obvious YUCK factor that I should be aware of with a 1 year old child in the household who will put almost anything in his mouth

[Maccbean]

 

Are there any known health hazards particular to hen poop beyond the obvious YUCK factor that I should be aware of with a 1 year old child in the household who will put almost anything in his mouth

 

[Jules.]

The poo disappears when you squirt it with water from a hosepipe!

[Mutrix Farmers]

Definitely doesn't burn the grass but if allowed to build up would kill it off. It can be blasted into the grass with a hosepipe or if you want to save water it is easily distributed with a lawn rake when dry.

 

You might need to fence off the area the chickens are in until the baby is older because if he doesn't eat the poo, he will crawl in it!!!

[chelsea]

it doesnt burn the grass.

 

I blast them to oblivion and it soaks into the lawn.

[keyhole kate]

it doesnt burn the grass.

 

I blast them to oblivion and it soaks into the lawn.

 

Me too

 

Kitty

[ScottishMike]

the hose sounds like the easiest solution then

 

Just purely out of interest, do hens tend to poop a lot outside versus inside, day vs night?

[iar fach goch]

my hens tend to poop a lot - both day and night, in or out, I was quite amazed at the amount of poop they can create, I sometimes think I have bought three small dogs in disguise! I have a two year old who is now an expert on hen poo, he loves walking round the garden finding it for me to pick up (off the paths only) and checks my feet any time I come into the house. My grass (where it has not been demolished) is also much greener since the hens arrived!

[Hen Watch]

It is easily flicked into a bucket using a trowel and in an odd way I do this every evening and it is strangely theraputic. (Sorry, Micheal but until you have hens yourself, only other Omleteers will know what I mean.)

 

Poops don't tend to scorch the grass and can be hosepipe blasted. But in deepest Winter, I can't do that as I have clay soil and it gets waterlogged, so back to old fashioned bucket method.

 

Very ocassionally chooks do the odd chocolate brown, shiny, runny poop. Only happens infrequently but I find that does leave a black scorch mark on the grass for a few days. But it goes quickly and my grass is fine. Certainly not covered in scorch marks.

 

But I do have one strip of grass under the eglu run which gets killed off in weeks as I don't tend to move the eglu much now. Soon I will reseed and move them to the other side of the garden which is their winter home, next to the patio so I don't have to squelch down to the bottom of the garden to open them up in the morning.

[Stevie]

Not being funny here,but since getting the chooks in April-my lawn hasnt looked so green and luscious! They've definetly had a positive effect on garden.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

I keep a food scoop (49p from Morrisons) in a bucket by the run and do a poo flick into the borders every day or so. My flowerbeds are loving it . My harled walls aren't so impressed when I miss .

[PluckedChicken]

You should do what I do..... get a childs long handled spade and write on it "chicken poo spade" then once your hens are tucked up search the garden for poo.

 

Then, and this is especially good fun if you have older children (mine are 9,7,5 and 20 months) flick the poo onto the flower beds.

 

Chicken poo flicking is highly amusing to 9,7,5 and 20month old boys I can tell you .

Also add the fact that it has POO SPADE written on it and they're even more amused!!

 

Its even more fun when it splats on the fence