Smart Feeder - Light sensor values

[petite70]

i have 7 hennys at the bottom of the garden, they have eaten all the grass that was originally down and all thats left is earth - with all the rain that we have had its like a mud bath and its begining to smell can anyone offer me any advise please!! Thank you

[Olly]

Oh dear! Hens don't smell ... but the poop smells, and it's much much worse if it gets wet, as you've discovered.

 

First thing is to cover the run - Omlet shade, glass tarpaulin, corrugated plastic or just a 99p Ikea shower curtain, but keep as much rain off it as you can.

 

Secondly, get a bale of aubiose or hemcore (horse bedding) and scatter it in the run, it soaks up water and chicken poo in an amazing way, and you can compost it afterwards. You can use bark chippings or wood shavings but they don't compost as well, and they're more expensive.

 

If the ground they're on is already smelly, you might need to move them to a different area. If that's not an option, then move the run out of the way, s"Ooops, word censored!"e off the top layer and dig it over a bit, and sprinkle some garden lime or Stalosan. Take a look at this thread for details of some of these products, or for suppliers.

 

You could also try a bit of citronella oil on a piece of kitchen roll, tucked under the sunshade or somewhere convenient, but really you need to tackle the root problem which is wet chicken poo! I'm sure once you've kept the rain off and got something down in the run to soak up moisture, you won't have a problem.

[petite70]

Thank you - that advice helps and i will take a look at the thread - its not just the run its the whole area that they are in too - looks like i will be poo-s"Ooops, word censored!"ping over the weekend!! Thanks again x

[cluckbok]

Yeah good advice from Olly, they don't smell too bad once you've got the run covered. We rake our auboise/hemcore up every 4-6 weeks, depending on how bad it is. When it's done it smells lovely and lemoney and woody!

[warrenwant]

i have 7 hennys at the bottom of the garden, they have eaten all the grass that was originally down and all thats left is earth - with all the rain that we have had its like a mud bath and its begining to smell can anyone offer me any advise please!! Thank you

Hi I was told thar Garlic powder would neutralise the poo acids which cause the smell. I use it all the time and have noticed a huge difference, it is also good for them. I purchased some from a Horse tack supplier(plenty on the net)

Forking the ground over not only helps drainage but gives the girls a new scratching area.

Hope that is helpful

Mick bok,bok...bok....bok

[gillmcc]

I had the same problem in my eglu run. As well as covering the runs, I have found that a sprinkling of Bio Dri really helps.