Unsecure chicken perches

[emchook]

Talk about a clean out !

I have just spent two and a half hours taking out all the yucky slimy smelly bark chips and general mud ..and replacing with Aubiose [ as per all recommendations on this forum ]

 

I have used some old polycarbonate roofing to lay over the soil so the damp and mud dont become too much of an issue !

 

Here are a couple of photos of the eglu and one chook [ with more plastic sheeting and omlet covers to make sure this run stays dry than you can shake a dirty poo stick at !! ]

 

As you can see the three madams have trashed the grass at the side of the run .. I will have to rake this up another day .. I have had enough of chicken cleaning for today !

 

They spent all morning digging exactly in the spot that I was about to hit with a spade .. Not at all worried about losing their toes !! I thought they would be really excited to get out and about but they couldnt wait to get back inside the eglu for a nosy !

 

 

Uno the escape artist !

Edited January 17, 2010 by Guest

[CluckyBucks]

Well done it looks very cosy and clean the look on your chooks faces will make it all worth while

 

xx xx

[Plum]

Oooh I could sleep in there

[chelsea]

Oooh I could sleep in there

 

Me too, lovely and toasty.

[chick wiggle]

May I repeat, how clean and cosy it looks in there, A good job, well done. Doesnt it make you feel good. Shame it doesnt stay that way messy little blighters

[emchook]

It was truly revolting !

Although it makes me feel really good now its clean .. it makes me feel really guilty that I didnt do it before

I'll blame it on the weather and the bark chips.

 

The layer of aubiose is quite thin .. only half a bag .How often will it need to be cleaned now do you think ? Its a bit of a mission as I have to move the whole run and house.

[Egluntyne]

I used to put a thick layer down and change it every 6 weeks.

 

I really hated the task as it is back breaking and I'm afraid I'd try to find excuses not to do it sometimes.

 

I now put a much thinner layer down and change it every 2 or 3 weeks.

 

It is a much easier job and done in no time......plus the hens have the fun of something fresh to scrabble around in more often.

[TAJ]

I used to put a thick layer down and change it every 6 weeks.

 

I really hated the task as it is back breaking and I'm afraid I'd try to find excuses not to do it sometimes.

 

I now put a much thinner layer down and change it every 2 or 3 weeks.

 

It is a much easier job and done in no time......plus the hens have the fun of something fresh to scrabble around in more often.

 

I sort of do a mix of these two - I start with a thin layer and each each throw some fresh in on top, then clean it all out after about 6 weeks.

 

Tracy

[Plum]

I suppose you can if you have a soft base but hesitate with slabs

[MargotT]

Emchook, I read your post on a day when I was completely demoralised because of the state of my run. As you can see it had become a sludgy mess post-thaw; I felt terrible.

 

 

So, spurred on by your post I decided to give improving my run a go and press-ganged hubby into action. Here are the results!

 

 

 

I'm still waiting for my corrugated roofing panels to arrive but I’ve extended the run and gone for the pond liner/aubiose base. I also built some perches using upturned terracotta window boxes and some old branches from my apple tree - it looks great.

 

The improvement in my girls within two weeks has been incredible. I was having bullying problems which have stopped, which in some part must be due to their enriched environment (and UKADEX...yuk). They seem so much happier; I am over the moon.

 

Tomorrow I’m off to scrounge an old tyre of the local mechanic to make a dust bath. At this rate of home improvement I may consider moving in there myself.....

[emchook]

MargotT your run is a thing of beauty !! I am glad to have been a source of inspiration ** cough** *splutter *

Mine is looking somewhat worse for wear .. Definitely not as cosy looking now as in my first picture ! BUT still doing well !!

[Lewis]

Both look good, up until after the snow ours has been pretty dry, if a bit muddy .... but now it stinks!

Its because they're been kicking their food everywhere and free-ranging more so its all combined to a smelly mud. Will have to move them and clean it all out this weekend!

[Valkyrie]

Our aubiose is kicked out of the doorway! I usually put about half a bag, but this time I put in a whole bag - trouble is the chickens make such a lovely clean floor messy in no time at all and then they bathe in it. Tipsy digs to Australia and the dry soil underneath (with Stalosan and Diatom) is soon raked to the surface, mixed in and instead of a nice light cream colour it looks grubby in about 2 days. And they free range most of the day - I think they go in there to wipe their feet!

[Gelbel]

I used to put a thick layer down and change it every 6 weeks.

 

I really hated the task as it is back breaking and I'm afraid I'd try to find excuses not to do it sometimes.

 

I now put a much thinner layer down and change it every 2 or 3 weeks.

 

It is a much easier job and done in no time......plus the hens have the fun of something fresh to scrabble around in more often.

 

I am very much the same - it's so much easier to do in the summer - you've just got to get on with it in the winter. I do try to have a poo pick at the weekend if the weather is not too bad.

 

I've been out in the damp today for about 2 1/2 hours. I've cleaned the covered run (old hemcore and poo straight onto the borders - for the little madams to kick everywhere ). I opened the bag of hemcore I brought last week and used about 1/4 of it - it smells so lovely.

 

The coop and been scrubbed (and dried with a hair dryer ). The DH secured the fencing along the 2'6" space that runs the length of the garage that is just behind their covered run so the girls have somewhere new to play (it'll get covered soon too), I moved the FR area about so I can rescue my grass (it's a soggy mess from them walking over it - they only peck it not scratch it) and I've made the outer run as secure as it can be without it being an actual WIR (that will happen in the summer when I get my bonus ).

 

The girls are now playing behind the garage - Rita got the biggest worm you EVER saw - I actually thought it was a slow worm or lizard - and downed it in one when the other two tried chasing her for it.

 

Me - I am shattered and am fit to collapse in front the telly with the rugby with a bottle of wine chilling in the fridge. Roll on wine o'clock.

 

BH I'd never got any fresh air at this time of the year so I've had a good work out in the open air - no wonder I have rosey cheeks - and I deserve that drink.

[craftyhunnypie]

Well we've done the 2 eglu's today. Tomorrow is cube & big shed day.

You feel so much better when it's done & the chooks love spreading the new run stuff about.

Our worst filthy chooks are the silkies. They are disgusting little pooers - I think they like a hot steamy pooey mud bath I bet their eglu will be disgusting again by morning.

The cleanest are the pekins.

I love finding the eggs in the morning in sparkling clean nests.

 

I'm rather jealous of hubby's dungarees/overalls for chicken jobs. I want my own pair of pink dungarees, rubber gloves with leopard skin cuffs & a pair of leopard skin wellies - what do you think...glam?

 

Emma.x

[Jules.]

I've cleaned out the cube & run today. I don't think that the roosting bars or poo trays had been scrubbed with hot soapy water since before Christmas

 

The workout in the fresh air has been good for me, too