Solitary chicken - need advice

[quirkas]

Hi

 

Just poo picked this morning after night of torrential rain and the straw at the back of the nest box where my girls sleep was definitely damp. It is of course possible that one of the girls has leaked but I am inclined to think it was rain finding its way in. Could it be via an air hole? What are others experiences and if it is a leak can I do to stop it?

 

The cube was errected by Omlet and there was a problem requiring a new back panel which was speedily rectified.

 

Quirkas

[Plum]

It may be a one off. The wind was so bad last night it could have driven the rain through a ventilation hole. I would keep an eye on things, it may not happen again

[Jools]

Hopefully it's a one off Quirkas. For info though, lots of long time poultry keepers have switched from straw on the floor and in nest boxes to wood shavings, aubiose, hemcore, easibed etc etc.

 

Straw has lots of disadvantages (apart from being cheap) because it's not easy to see how wet it gets and it's also a perfect hiding place for red mite and the like.

[nasogastric]

My newish green cube is gathering lots of water in the nest box with each heavy rain. last two weeks have been spent mopping and drying each morning. Anyone else have this problem, and more hopefully a solution?

 

naso

[Patricia W]

Make sure it's on level ground. If not level it off by manipulating the levers by the wheels. If its skewed it can leak I found. If that doesn't work and you've tightened all the joints etc, let Omlet know.

 

Hope you fix it

 

Tricia

[quirkas]

Many thanks for all your replies.

 

I have to say I am a bit of a straw fan as when I first starting keeping chickens over 10 years ago it was pretty much all you could get but I have bought some Auboise and used that and as it is so absorbent it would show up any leaking problems and there haven't been any Yippee. Yes I wondered about making sure the Cube is level and its not bad, if I have the problem again I will get a spirit level out!

 

Quirkas

[nasogastric]

Thank you Tricia. I have a very lumpy back garden (oo-er!) so I shall try levelling.

 

naso