Single hen

[millymollymandy]

Hi I have ordered my first eglu and I am very impatient and excited!!

 

Just want to ask what is probably a stupid question.

 

I was going to just put the eglu and run straight onto the lawn, however when looking at all the lovely pictures people have posted of there eglus many seem to be on bark or sawdust in a special area.

 

Not getting my eglu for a few weeks so if i need to change the garden a bit I can do it before my chickens arrive.

 

Hope you can help sorry if it is a dumb question I am a chicken novice

[Mollystar]

Depends if you like your lawn?

 

I have a field & move my cube around, it will soon be a grassless field

[FORENSICA]

They will demolish the grass in the run in no time.

That is why most people use wood chips (not bark! ) or aubiouse to cover the ground which also amuses the chooks since they can scrach around. Also, it keeps the ground dry, since soil turns into mud very soon.

[Busybird]

I keep my three girls on mud (used to be grass). They are fine - three delicious eggs a day and all look in good health. When I first got them I moved the run around and soon lost ALL my grass. Now I only move the run for the weekly clean and then put it back on the same patch of mud. The grass elsewhere is recovering slowly with the help of a little grass seed put down on the really bald patchs.

 

From advice gleaned on this forum I do plan to dig over the mud and add garden lime before winter sets in. I would also use Stalosan F if I could find a local supplier. So, run on grass is fine so long as you don't mind losing the grass.

 

I think if you want your run to look neat then you are best to enclose and cover it and put down some sort of bedding as lots of people here do. Their runs look much better than mine. But my chickens do seem happy and healthy as they are

[Egluntyne]

Mine are on paving slabs topped with Aubiose.

[Surfnirvana]

We have put ours on an old concrete slab in the garden where our LPG tank used to be. Then topped it with auboise - great stuff. We put an electric fence round the cube so when we are in we let them out into this area for a wander around. They haven't rucked up the grass here - only in once place where they use it as a dustbath!

 

Congrats on your order - I hope the wait isn't too long for you.

 

xxx

[joegg]

Ours have been fine on grass over the summer, moved around on a weekly basis. The grass takes about 2-3 weeks to recover.

 

However we are currently rethinking, as in the winter there is less grass growth and more wet weather!! So thinking of restricting movement over the area i plan to dig for veggies.

[RubyReckless]

Our eglu was on grass for the first 2 years. We have a pretty big lawn, and even with moving it around every week the lawn got pretty hammered. Now the run is on sand and gravel (for drainage - we're prone to flooding) with wood chips on top.

[iar fach goch]

mine are on grass, I move the eglu once a week, yes grass gets trashed, but recovers in a few weeks - however, this is our first winter with chickens, so a change of tactics may be required in the future, I'll just have to wait and see.

[Steve.]

Just don't use sawdust or woodshavings if it can get wet.

 

I did and the stink of anaerobic composting was terrible!

[Henhathnofury]

I think on grass, there is always a danger of something burrowing in. My girls are on concrete with bark but I take them out on the lawn - but they usually run off into the flowerbeds and have to rounded up.

 

When we first got them they were completely freerange all over the garden. What a mess! Ripped up, eaten, pooed on lawn in the winter - so we restricted them to a certain area.

 

BUT....in the spring after all that fertiliser and air to the lawn......as most experts say you should do....what a brilliant green lawn! Clever girls, they obviously knew that they had to do that all along.

[mostin]

Alot of people on here say that they ruin your lawn but I haven't found that at all. Our lawn was in a shocking state anyway, more moss than grass . We move the run every week and it is fine. Last week when we raked where they had been we collected a whole wheelbarrow full of moss! Hopefully the lawn should look great next year.

 

I should mention though that our hens do not remain in the concentrated area of the run all day. We encircle the eglu and run with omlet netting and set a foxwatch to monitor that area, they play in there all day then get shut up at night.

 

We move the run and the netting every week.

[Hen Watch]

My 1st Spring/Summer with the chooks, I moved the eglu every few days, lawn recovered nice and green. No problems.

 

My 1st Autumn/Winter with chooks I changed tactics. I have clay soil so waterlogging with constant rain is a problem and the chooks absolutely love it and trash the grass within a few minutes. So I had one spot all winter, covered run with shower curtain, auboise bedding on the floor (grass dissappeared in a week). Then only left 1 patch to resow in Spring.

 

This Summer I have alternated left and right so have 2 strips of dead grass which hubbie will reseed. Then move them to winter spot again soon.

 

Lots of folk on here have permanent set up to stop all the messing about I have described above. I would say if you wait for your delivery, try moving it around the garden to see how it goes and if it suits your lifestyle and if not you can always do a winter permanent spot like I do, or built a proper permanent position.

 

Alot of people on here say that they ruin your lawn but I haven't found that at all.

 

Last winter - the before picture.

 

Last winter - the very soon after picture (I do have yuckky clay soil though - PS. summer was no prob)

[mostin]

Wow, where did your grass go, do my hens not dig?

[Hen Watch]

Wow, where did your grass go, do my hens not dig?

 

They ate it.

 

Can't remember the temperature off hand, but grass only grows once the temp is above a certain temp celcius. Once it's been eaten in Winter, it won't grow back until Spring.

 

Take heart though, there are lots of Omleteers out there with lovely winter garden pics full of grass that look nothing like mine did last year. All depends on your soil, type of grass, number of hens, how much they free range (mine are sometimes out all day if I'm at home so more time to munch and scratch) and how hungry the little darlings are

[BrunswickBB]

Hello - my ladies have sort of trashed my garden too - the lawn I'm not so bothered about in the summer, but am concerned about a mud bath over winter.

 

I'm going to get some wood-chip and keep them in one area for the winter I think....do I need to get edging to hold it in, or can I just spread it on the ground? ...what with my veg patch and the eglu - I'm fast running out of lawn!!

 

[earthmam1]

Hi

 

Our garden too is looking a bit like a battlefield. We have built a run to put our eglu on. Originally we were not going to cover it but having read through the forum we will now!

We were going to use bark as a base is this wrong?

[PurpleTree]

We got our purple eglu a couple of weeks ago and got the chickens yesterday. We decided to put it on a wood chip covered area. We bought this great edging from B & Q, here's the link

http://

http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav/nav.jsp?action=detail&fh_secondid=9218287&fh_view_size=6&fh_start_index=18&fh_eds=%3f&fh_location=%2f%2fcatalog01%2fen_GB%2fcategories%3C{10064}&fh_search=edging&fh_refview=search&ts=1224161345780&isSearch=false

 

 

It was really easy to put in and a lot cheaper than log roll or other wooden edging. Four packs was enough to go all the way around, I think we've got two pieces spare. Then we got three bags of the large chipped bark

 

http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav/nav.jsp?action=detail&fh_secondid=9297648&fh_view_size=6&fh_eds=%3f&fh_location=%2f%2fcatalog01%2fen_GB%2fcategories%3C{10064}%2fcategories%3C{9051018}%2fcategories%3C{9251016}&fh_refview=lister&ts=1224161602032&isSearch=false.

 

As I say we've only had the chickens a day but they seem happy so far.

 

Bubble Squeak Mash

[PurpleTree]

My links haven't come out properly, don't know why. Sorry.

[cordelia]

Our three chooks wrecked our lawn straight away...and are now on bark, with a wood surround, which to be honest isnt very picturesque....it was the nicest part of the garden, and I wanted to see them...but it has spoilt the view somewhat !!

 

Our problem was the rain....when we put the eglu down it was very wet, and athe lawn had got very long, and dear husband cut the lawn extra short..and it just disappeared...and with all the rain we've had, plus dog, chooks, cats and ch9ildren the garden is not very good...

 

I hope for a good spring and summer, so that it can recover...

 

It would be the right idea, to plan where you are putting it first, witha a bit of thought...we didnt LOL

 

..our lawn appears to be on clay.,..so doesnt drain well, even though it slopes...