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

[Abbey Road Girl]

Hello all,

 

Due to life being what happens when you've made other plans, I haven't been able to take part in this wonderfully addictive forum as much as I'd love to. However, when you take responsibility for lovely feathered egg-laying friends, you get problems and--if lucky--some solutions. Mine have to do with clearing the poop trays.

 

Although my son and various friends are often around, they do not always appear on the scene when the poop trays most need to be cleaned. I've had to clean them on my own in a very labour intensive way--using a scoop to plop poo scoop by scoop into a washing up basin and from then into a black bin bag if and when I can get help.

 

What has worked much better for me is to order the organic feed directly from the supplier instead of from Omlet (sorry!). The total cost is higher, but the pellets come in four 5 kilo bags instead of a bulky 20k bag. The four bags come in a large container--a sturdy plastic bag.

 

Unlike fragile black bin bags, the plastic bags are sturdy enough to stand up for themselves. I can easily slide the contents of the poop trays directly into them.

 

Also, the paper sacks that the pellets come in are a good size to use for recycling stuff that is suitable for composting instead of having to wrap up bundles in newspaper.

 

Hope this may help some other singletons!

[Egluntyne]

Welcome back! I wondered where you had got to.

[ted]

I use newspaper to line the tray and then it just slips out quite easily and keeps the plastic quite clean. A quick clean, new paper and back in. I am new to this so am learning myself so it may not be the best way but it seems to work well...

 

Cheers

[Vivihen]

I use newspaper, too, which slides out straight into the compost bin, the tray doesn't get very dirty except right at the back and is cleaned with disinfectant once or twice a week.

[moomin]

I put a thin layer of Stalosan in the poo tray and then cover with a half inch layer of auboise. This lasts until the next clean.

 

Then I get me fetching marigolds and each morning (or every other!), remove the poo into a flower-pot and chuck it onto the compost heap

 

I feel like I am on my own too - my husband & kids don't want to know - but they will eat the eggs

[Barkisland]

I line my poo trays with either shredded paper or nedzbed, and don the marigolds for the poo pick every morning. It goes straight into a compost bin installed next to the run, for my sole use The trays and cube get a good wash and clean nestbox material every weekend. I find it isn't difficult if you do poo management every day. Can't believe I am typing this!

[Larkspurs]

I didn't think about lining the tray! Such a simple yet very useful idea. Thanks!

[moomin]

Poo-management is the key! Stay on top of the poo!!

[Cooks]

Hi Sue,

It's so nice to see you back! how are those wonderful girls doing? Guess who's getting a cube now as well??

 

If you need a hand and I am able and in the area I will help just hollar! I haven't been 'that' able myself though recently. but things should improve.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

As well as lining the poo tray with newspaper, I also hang a small plastic scoop on a bulldog clip beside the eglu door. It's really handy for scooping poop out of the nestbox and s"Ooops, word censored!"ing poop off the bars into the tray below. Makes the eggs less pooey and the bars much less mucky for cleaning .

[Snowy]

I keep 2 tubtrugs under the cube - small tub contains bar s"Ooops, word censored!"er, marigolds, citronella spray, and scrubbing brush. Large tubtrug is for tipping poo trays into for quick transport to the compost bin. I then use the small tubtrug to fetch clean aubiose. I've been using aubiose in the nest box as well so when cleaning, I pick any poo out of the nest box and use the aubiose from the nest box to line the now empty poo trays. Then I only have to put fresh aubiose in the nest box. Keeping it all together means it only takes me 5 minutes to do a quick clean.

[chickenanne]

Why not just put the poo into your compost heap or "brown waste" wheelie bin? It should be much easier, and althouh you can't put dog waste etc in your garden waste wheelie bin, bird- incl chicken-waste is fine.

[mccroft]

As well as lining the poo tray with newspaper, I also hang a small plastic scoop on a bulldog clip beside the eglu door. It's really handy for scooping poop out of the nestbox and s"Ooops, word censored!"ing poop off the bars into the tray below. Makes the eggs less pooey and the bars much less mucky for cleaning .

 

 

So do most people clean the bars daily, how dirty do they tend to get?

I was planning of cleaning the pop trays dailing but forgot about the bars, I was thinking about cleaning them weekly.

[Cyber Chook]

I'm still perfecting a system, still quite new to all this. I have a health issue or two that make it a bit harder to look after my chickens, so I'm always looking out for how to cut corners (safely I hope), to conserve some precious energy, and time. What works for me is this:

 

I have a second compost bin, kept close to the Cube and run. I line the Cube trays with newspaper, and add an inch-thick layer of Hemcore/Easibed/Aubiose or whatever, and sprinkle it with eucalyptus or citronella oil (deters flies in summer and makes it smell lovely).

 

Every few days, maybe 4 or 5, I take off the lid of the compost heap bin, then take out one of the trays, turn around and rest it on the edge of the bin which is just behind me. Wearing Marigolds I pick off the poo (it's usually fairly dry and 'well formed', thanks to giving them bokashi bran, I think), and drop it straight into the compost bin.

 

The Hemcore left in the tray usually looks fine to keep going for another few days. If it looks a bit past it, I pour it into their run, so that it just adds a bit of clean-ish flooring material to the run. Then I change the paper in the tray, and put new Hemcore on top, which I probably do every 8-10 days. And clean them thoroughly then.

 

I got very tired, doing it more regularly. So far this has been much better.

 

Re: the pellets, I empty a big 20kg bag into a metal dustbin, and leave a scoop in it. Now that I've got a walk-in run, lucky me, I keep the bin inside the run. I'ts a lot easier to top up the Grub this way, and saves a lot of space.

 

It's nice to see you back here, Sue

 

Caroline

[C&T]

I am feeling very slummy... The poo tray is only emptied once midweek (lifted out, s"Ooops, word censored!"ed straight into compost bin, new newspaper put in, and then slid back in place). And then everything is cleaned properly at the weekend (or most weekends...).

 

Not had any problems so far....

 

But maybe with only having 2 chickens I guess I get less poo then others.

[Abbey Road Girl]

Hello everyone!

 

How very nice to be welcomed back, Egluntine, Lynsey and Caroline, and to get helpful hints from everyone else as well. I do use newspaper to line the trays but glad others mentioned it. The poo is destined for my allotment--whatever I don't use will be shared around. I've even "sold" some for "Cams" which is the currency for CamLETS, Cambridge's local exchange and trading scheme. Poo--specifically I should say chicken poo-- is valuable!

 

(Lynsey, is your new Cube going to be the colour that no word rhymes with? That would look stunning! Caroline, how do you manage to transfer 20k of feed into a bin? That's a daunting task! Snowy, how do you keep a trug (or anything) under a Cube?)

 

My hens are still lively and funny--bless 'em--but still looking awfully scruffy! The feather pecking has been followed by moulting in December. I've taken your advice, Egluntine, giving them a late snack of tuna to help them grow new feathers but to no avail so far. I think maybe they are secretly pulling each other's out so that they will all keep getting the tuna!

 

Best wishes to everyone for a healthy and happy 2009!

[JM]

My trouble is that my compost bins are full, and I'm sure that they aren't working too well as we just put garden waste and chicken poo/Aubiose on it, without turning or anything like that (I'm dreading finding that I've just got a big compost bin full of yucky chicken poo instead of nice compost!!)

 

I gave my neighbour the results of last weeks droppings trays!! (keen gardener!!)

[Olly]

Nope, another slutty chicken-mummy here! I'm on my own, too, and it just isn't practical for me to clean more than once a week.

 

As two or three of mine sleep in the nest-box and the other two as close to the nest-box as they can manage, one tray is usually hardly touched (I put a layer of aubiose in mine to stop the poo sticking). I tend to pick poos out of that one, and chuck them in the other (full) one, then scoop the nest-box into that tray too, then I just tip the whole lot into the compost heap. I'm guessing that perhaps you have back problems, Abbey Road Girl, that make it difficult for you to carry a full tray to the composter? In that case I think I'd decant into a tub-trug for carrying.

 

Then I move the clean poo tray to the left, hose out the dirty one, and replace it on the right, filled with aubiose. The nest-box is a problem with them sleeping in there - I have a bit of lino in there with aubiose on top, which means I can scoop out the pooey aubiose and put it in the composter midweek.

 

I hose the bars down once a week too - in summer I give the whole Cube a good clean, but this time of year it's just bars and trays, and a good shaking of red-mite powder. My chooks don't seem to mind, and they don't have any health problems.

[Cooks]

No Actually Sue it's going to be green! the children and hubby ganged up on me

 

It's being dlievered Monday, but to be honest we;ve had a few sety backs here so it wont be in place for a while after that.

 

I let my poop go to freecyclers, they fight for it!. I now have a list of about 5 people who want some more!

[BarbaraJ]

lol my poop goes to freecyclers too. I had a list but lost it in dead laptop so asked again. someone comes from Hitchin for it and said any you have i will take and pass around to people on my allotments

[Cooks]

one man had the cheek to tell me to get more chickens so he'd get poop faster.. it was quite funny though.

[BarbaraJ]

i collect mine in a bin bag and email him when i have a bag full lol i think i will tell him next time its out the front so he can just pick it up too!

[Cooks]

i collect mine in a bin bag and email him when i have a bag full lol i think i will tell him next time its out the front so he can just pick it up too!

 

thats what I do, although the last time they had the contents of the composter as well, so it was about 4/5 sacks.. :lol: I thought they were going to explode with happiness!

 

amazing how poop rocks isn't it!..

[Snowy]

My cube is outside a big run, so very handy for storing things under.

I only clean out once a week - s"Ooops, word censored!"e any residue of the bars into the tray then empty the trays. I aim to do a full scrub/hose down once a month, but that is weather dependant. I don't lose any sleep if it doesn't get done much through the winter

[Ain't Nobody Here]

So do most people clean the bars daily, how dirty do they tend to get?

I was planning of cleaning the pop trays dailing but forgot about the bars, I was thinking about cleaning them weekly.

 

Oh no . Once a week only . I just push big poos off the bars when I let the girls out in the morning or collect eggs - it makes the weekly clean a bit easier!

 

I only empty the poo tray once a week too and give it a wash (although if it's not too bad I've been known to leave it another week ).