Sooo much pooping

[kannie]

Can I just check out from people who have their eglu & run on the lawn and have put wire under it: has this caused the chickens any problems with their feet? Any injuries? And has it significantly reduced damage to the lawn?

 

I rang up to order a rabbit underwire from Omlet yesterday, but they were a bit apprehensive about selling me one to protect the lawn from scratching, as thats not what the wire is designed for. But I am worried about letting the hyper-scratchy Matilda holiday on my sister's end-of-summer lawn...

[Lesley-Jean]

Hmmm..... I'm not sure about this one I don't think I would like to put wire under the run incase they hurt their feet trying to dig. Does the run have to go on the lawn Is there perhaps a paved area it could go on with scratching stuff added for them to dig in

[ubereglu]

You can do that to protect your lawn a bit. We tried this when we first got chickens. It also means that it's even more foxproof too. We eventually removed it to let them scratch around, but I suspect for a week or two they'd be fine.

[Jools]

I use some weldmesh panels to protect some areas in the chicken garden from their attentions. It's not the stuff you buy on a roll, it's much sturdier and the holes are about 2in square. It means they get access to the grass but can't dig down to Australia, so the roots don't get destroyed and the grass grows back again. I don't know what the mesh is on the omlet version, but some companies do sell scratch mats specifically for their chicken runs - Forsham is one I know of. I think I remember someone on here saying they use mesh and it's dramatically reduced the damage. If you're worried about the metal being a bit much, what about the plastic mesh you can buy for climbing plants? If you peg that down it should achieve the same thing and it will be soft on their little tootsies too Homebase stock it at around the £15 mark.

[The Dogmother]

That's a good idea Jools Plastic mesh. I have some at home that has squares about 2.5 inches across, that would work very well indeed. I think that welded mesh might hurt their feet.

[Lesley-Jean]

Thanks for that information Jools I remember now I put some of that green plastic mesh down to stop my girls digging up a part of the grass that I re seeded. It's still there under the tangle of grass. I completely forgot it. Mower goes over it fine

Edited August 16, 2006 by Guest

[The Dogmother]

When we visited Kooringa, she had this imbedded in the grass on the pathways of her garden to stopit wearing down - great idea.

[kannie]

Thanks for all your suggestions and enquiries!

 

I think the run will have to go on the grass. There is a patio but its right outside the house, and one of the cats is likely to be terrified of the chickens, so it'll be kinder to him to have it a little further away.

 

I've just checked the Forsham website, and their Romany chicken coop does seem to come with a 2"x 2" mesh, but they dont say what its made of. Maybe I should ring them tomorrow.

 

I expect the omlet wire is coated metal, like the rest of the run. I think they said it had a 3"x4" mesh.

 

I actually have a mass of plastic mesh. We tried to use it to protect our lawn when we'd re-seeded it, but it didn't work: the problem then was birds pecking up the seed rather than scratching it though. But I suspect that mesh is so fine that if it was under the run it'd just crumple up and be a nightmare when the run was moved around. And also the chooks might get tangled up in it. And that would worry me.

 

Did you use wire mesh noeglu? Where is grd? I think he said he'd used wire mesh....

[ubereglu]

I used petmesh stuff. It's like what Omlet make the run's out of, except it has smaller holes. It's just metal covered in a plastic coating. I got mine from somewhere on Lynx trading estate in Yeovil. But I'm sure they'll be stockers of it on the interent somewhere.