Single hen

[Steph101]

Now that our garden has finally disappeared, not a blade of grass in sight, we have decided get it returfed next week. Want to keep the cube and my eight chooks in the same spot from now on, and limit their free ranging to just a couple of hours a day (instead of all day every day!). What I want to ask is, what do I need to put on the ground in their area and on the base of the cube? I've read about wood chippings, but doesn't something else need to go underneath? What is the best way to keep it all 'sterile' if they are constantly on the same site? Does bare earth breed disease? Advice much appreciated. Thanks.

[Egluntyne]

If I were you I'd put down some paving slabe. It is much easier to clean and stops vermint tunelling in from below. A jet washer and some Stalosan F will keep it 'sweet'.

 

I have Aubiose on top of the paving slabs and the hens love rootling around in it. A plastic cover on the run will prevent the Aubiose from becoming soggy as a result of rain.

[Lewis]

I'd aggree with Egluntine .

I used to have mine on grass, which turned to mud and has now gona hard so it is ok when dry

I think I'll use paving slabs in the new run, you can always add trays of grass and a dustbath for them.

[badgerbluebadger]

My girls are on mud and woodchip. Every few months I have been taking out the mud and using it in garden, I then replace the woodchip.

 

I don't then have to worry about their bedding getting wet and don't always then have to have a full cover on the run just half and half. This way the girls get a nice bit of daylight.

 

Perhaps slabs and woodchip is the answer? But my girls really love to dig in their run?

[poachedegg]

Our cube is on soil - we use hemcore and the run is covered with a couple of IKEA curtains, we top up the hemcore every week and then about every 4 -5 weeks we s"Ooops, word censored!"e it all out (put on borders), sprinkle garden lime (to neutralise) and then put down fresh hemcore with diatom and corn sprinkled in it.

 

It works well for us and haven't had any issues with it.

[Guest]

ours is on soil with aubiose on top. Once a month DH removes the poopy aubiose which gets composted, then he digs garden lime into the soil to neutralise it, then stalosan f gets sprinkled on top of the soil and then fresh aubiose goes on top of that.

 

The area where the girls are used to be a flower bed so was soil anyway, it's surrounded by paving slabs already so seemed a perfect site to put the run.

 

Personally, i wasn't keen on the idea of paving the run area because the girls like to dig around in the run and any water that leaks in can drain, down into the soil, wheras I think if we had slabs, the water would pool and have nowhere to drain away.

 

Whatever works best for you in your circumstances I think.

[Steph101]

Thanks everyone. I'm going with Poet's idea. I was talking to my son about it earlier, and he pointed out a book on bird anatomy that he'd got from school that says chickens and other birds need to be on soil to hook their feet into it, forage and dig around.

[darthwenger]

After my chooks ate all my grass and turned my garden into a mud pit. I also decided to relocate them to a permenant place.

 

I put some paving slabs underneath the whole eglu and run as over time, the spilt chooks food has attracted rats and every morning there were as many as 5 tunnels into the run but that has now stopped since the slabs. I use horses bedding straw (from Thornes) chooks love to rake through it and they love nesting it in plus it smells like lemon which is great for the Eglu. I find having the slabs underneath keeps the chooks claws short (and they have no problems digging through the straw when they need to dig)

 

I found over the winter that having the Eglu on dirt/mud combined with the wood chips that I used to use turned the run into a mud pit and chooks legs and feet were just covered in mud.

[Barkisland]

I do the same as Poet. My girls like to make little dust bowls in the dry soil I have a full roof on my walk in run, so it doesn't get too wet unless the rain is horizontal - which it sometimes is up here!

[Phoebe]

I have a mixture of slabs and mud - not by design, just ran out of slabs. So I have a central slabbed area and a gap all round. Whole lot is covered in auboise/easibed. The girls seem to enjoy excavating the edges and piling the auboise up into a big heap in the middle. not very vermin proof I suspect, but works so far.

 

I am putting the willow edging from Wilkinsons round the run this week, as the green plastic lawn edging is not tall enough to stop the chooks kicking auboise over the edges.

 

I have a clear tarp cover from Toolspot over the run to keep it all dry.

 

For dustbathing, I have a litter tray of wood ash under the cube.

 

As the hens are not getting grass anymore, I hang some leaves or veg of some sort in the run - usually tied up in a bungee cord and hung from the run.

 

All these ideas suggested by omleteers - so thanks very much !! (next time its clean and tidy, I will put some photos up.)

[4Clucks-minusOne]

Can I please ask what is a bungee cord?

[Barkisland]

Can I please ask what is a bungee cord?

 

Very stretchy, thick elastic cord with hooks at either end. The sort you would use to fasten your bag onto your bike rack etc. Hth.