4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[laurmurf]

all the posts about the Somme-like devastation the hens inflict on a winter lawn ring true for us too...

 

We don't want to restrict the free ranging so we're looking for temporary measures to get us through the winter. So far we've seeded some Hen run mix (thanks for the tip KAZAROO!) from Meadowmania and circled that area with omlet fencing to let it take.

 

But we also wondered about this stuff called Easy Path or Instant Path for the heavily travelled areas. It's plastic path that comes in either rolls or paving steps. It costs about £20 for a 3m length from our local hardware shop or a bit less plus postage from Ebay

 

Does anyone have this?

Would you recommend it?

 

Edited January 5, 2009 by Guest

[The Dogmother]

I thought about that last year Laurie - most of the damage in my garden is caused by me plodding up and down, not the chooks. Never got round to it though.

 

You might be better of though with that black matting stuff with holes in it - then the grass underneath can get some light and start to grow again.

[Redwing]

I've got some holey greenhouse shading (its heavy duty plastic) on the ground by my Eglu, it works a treat, I will take a photo and post it if I ever get to see the daylight!

 

It cost about £4 a metre and is about 1.5 metres wide, I must admit that although some light can get to the grass I am not holding out too much hope of revealing a perfect lawn in the spring

 

I think the stuff you mention is temporary rather than meant to be left down all the time so it will kill off the grass under it if left in place for any length of time

 

The resultant bare patches will be considerably easier to re-seed than a worn trench though.

[Chook n Boo Mum]

We've got this to save the trail around the shed from the back gate to the back door from becoming too muddy & horrid. It's great, although has been known to become a bit slippery when it's frosty ! Most of the time it's fine, we are very happy with it - it's the second year we've put it down. During the summer the grass takes it's chances & it's only down in the cold soggy winter months when the grass isn't growing.

 

Maybe if we didn't have a family of wrens using an old swallow nest in our front porch as a home for the winter, we may not have bothered with the path, but as we don't like to disturb them after they've gone up to roost , the path stuff is a godsend! It marks the route well for those who are night blind (most of my family, but not me!!), if their footsteps are off the plastic path, they may well walk into the shed !!! The security light doesn't register us until we are round the end of the shed unfortunately!!

 

Sha x

[laurmurf]

I ordered some of this stuff - 2 rolls - and it's great! I wish I ordered a third though, it's a bit shorter than i bargained for.

 

here's a pic of the path in the garden.

 

 

We have it in two pieces forming a T junction; one goes from conservatory back door to kitchen back door, where the damage from our feet was worse; and one spurring off towards the cube. We have stepping stones from the kitchen door to the eglu and mince our way through mud from eglu to cube. It is very flexible so it follows the contours of our bumpy garden too.

 

You can also see the omlet nettting ringing the recently seeded area ( we live in hope! )

 

the gaps in the path are quite generous, so i foresee the grass getting a chance to recover in between.

 

 

my OH is delighted, but wishes it was longer (not necessarily that we ordered more because it isn't cheap but it seems well made).

[BarbaraJ]

oh my goodness where did all your grass go??? do you have a dozen chickens?

[laurmurf]

no.... just the 8, wish I did have a dozen (or more ) though!

Janty and Egluntine are my my heroes

 

I keep going to these poultry shows, you see ....

[chelsea]

oh my goodness where did all your grass go???

 

All ours has gone too,...and I only have four...

[Paola]

no.... just the 8, wish I did have a dozen (or more ) though!

Janty and Egluntine are my my heroes

 

I keep going to these poultry shows, you see ....

 

How much do they freerange during the day?

[laurmurf]

The girls free range all day, every day Paola, and until the netting was put up in a circle around the original cube site, everywhere!

[Egluntyne]

My chicken's area looks pretty much like your Laurmurf. Just a path up the middle and a few steps.

[Yorkshire Pudding]

Blimey Laurie - don't tell my OH.

 

I've only just got up to three chooks and he is already complaing about the devastation in their part of the garden!

 

 

I might have to invest in some of that plastic path stuff - the main route to and from the chooks and guinea pigs is rapidly turning into a bald mudbath.... covered in sawdust from where the kids clean out the piggies every week!