Prolapsed vent - am I getting it right?

[pamelafilby]

Please please help. I have had my eglu for just over a year, and the Spice girls (Sporty, Baby and Posh) - (you can't do Ginger in English Sussex, and we don't do Scary in my house) and we have all been very happy. Odd problem here and there and a very kind vet who has been somewhat amused but very helpfull. The problem....the girls have had the run of all of our garden for the last year, it isn't big, more sort of medium sized. I do have an eglu with the one metre and then added another one metre extension. However, I have never really liked the idea of them being shut in and so they have had full run. Now my garden is wrecked! They have made dustbaths where I didn't want them to and have made my lawn a dessert, the herbaceous border is no more. It wasn't a homes and gardens garden, but now it is dire. I thought about building a run around my eglu, I have a bit of lawn at the bottom that has an apple tree and that we could enclose with those open green fencing panels, then they could still get about, but I might get my garden back. How far can chickens jump up? They are great big heavy girls, and the lawn isn't big enough that they could get a great run at it? Has anybody else done 'things' to protect bits of garden. Maybe I'm just doing it all wrong, but my husband is getting very cross and muttering and I'm getting a bit fed up. Caging my husband would also seem like a reasonable possibility, but possibly for anothe website? Any suggestions greatfully received.

Pamela

[Fur 'n' Feathers]

Welcome Pamela.

 

Webought the Om;let netting and it has been invaluable. If you don't want to buy the amount that Omlet sell try to see if anyone is willing to sell a bit to you.

 

The advantage is that you can protect the areas you don't want them to get at and it can be moved around as the poles spike into the ground

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Worry no more, Pamela . You've come to the right place for solutions to that problem .

 

I, too, have a medium sized garden which after a year of chicken residence resembled the Somme more than a surbuban oasis .

 

This was it then ....

 

One walk in run and some Omlet netting later, this is it now ...

 

 

You'll see more photos in the link in my signature.

[Chook n Boo Mum]

Welcome to our world Pamela !!

 

If you look at the "stickies" (messages which don't move down the page) above this thread you'll find 2 which are titled "planning a WIR" and another called "Chicken run inspiration"....grab a large glass of something and a pile of nibbles (they are long!!) and have a look through them, there are loads of different runs to get ideas from..most are closed in and covered so the girls stay in them safely when needed and most are given supervised freeranging time which reduces the amount of carnage they deliver to the rest of the garden.

 

If your DH(Darling Hubby).......or indeed you yourself as we have so many talented carpenters in our chook mummy ranks .... would like to build the chooks a run rather than one for himself, there are bespoke homemade ones for inspiration and a lot of members, like ANH above have had runs made for them by a lovely man called Tony from Aviaries4u.

 

Just for the record, this is mine from the inside...nothing like as many perches as ANH, but I'm working on it....

 

 

and this is a full shot of the outside, it has 6 hybrids and 4 Orpingtons living in it at the mo & they are all very happy in there....

 

 

It doesn't look like this now as the tulip tree has cover most of it and there's a bantam pen along the nearest side too with and in it Obsessed...moi

 

Sha x

[pamelafilby]

Thank you thank you thank you!

 

You have given me so many ideas for sorting this problem. I really do love these chickens, my husband thinks I am frankly bonkers, and mutters lots about 'how can anyone love a chicken'? However, they really respond to me, I take a few raisins out with me in the evening and have a chat to them and they respond. I know they like me better than anyone else because they run away when my son or husband come out. The other day the boiler engineer was sorting the heating out and they ignored him, but the mo I entered the garden to say hello to him they rushed up in a body to greet me (or get a raisin?) and terrified the life out of him, he shot behind me giving a big Bon Dieu (we live in France) as they are quite big heavy ladies and when they get the wind behind them they can get up quite a speed. The Somme would be a good description of my garden after their ministrations. I love my eglu, my neighbours all have chickens, but of the left on concrete, never cleaned starlag variety, that the moment they forget to lay get dispatched pretty damned quick to the casserole. They think we are nuts, but I get more eggs from my happy girls than they do. I am definitely going to get a glass of something and nibbles tonight and get planning!

Pamela with thanks

[Chook n Boo Mum]

You are very welcome, and have you noticed that we like photos on this forum , we'd love to "meet" your lovely Spice Girls and see the lovely run in its various stages...there you go I already expect a big run to be built

 

Whereabouts in France are you? We have at least 4 members over there now that I can think of.....

 

Sha x

[Jools]

I have to keep my chickens separate from my dogs, so I have different fenced off areas in the garden. 4ft should be plenty high enough for your big girls and not too obtrusive if you use either Omlet netting, or the dark green plastic mesh sold at DIY stores for climbing plants. It's easiy stapled to a few fence posts and you can still see straight through it to keep on eye on the chickens. It's a great compromise ..... garden and chickens ..... and in my case chicken eating dogs too!

[Olly]

It depends - do they normally roam unsupervised, i.e. can you just make a fenced-off area for them, or do you need something predator-proof? If you want them to have more space during the day but you aren't worried about foxes or other predators, then fencing or netting will be fine. If on the other hand they spend a lot of time in the run for safety, then a walk-in run like the ones shown above is the answer.

 

Either way, I definitely recommend some sort of separation - I love my garden, and I'd be very upset if the hens destroyed it. As ANH has shown, it is possible to have both happy hens and a lovely garden, so don't feel guilty about restricting their free-ranging area. As long as they can scratch about in earth and under bushes they will be happy. If you use something like Omlet netting then you could vary the area where they are from time to time.