Smart Feeder - Light sensor values

[Cotswoldchap]

Hi all

 

After reading through all of these great posts we are almost at the stage of getting a couple of "girls". There is one question that is a bit of a "make or break" thing that we're hoping some of you can help with.

 

We had planned on getting a "cube" with a standard run (no extentions) and two chickens.

 

We have come to realise reading everyones comments that chickens can be "a little destructive" (and I think that may be a polite way of phrasing it!). So, the question is; if we mainly leave the girls in the run (letting them out for a few hours every other day while we are in the garden) and move the egglu to a new patch of lawn say, once a week, will the lawn/garden be totally trashed? The lawn would have enough space for say 10 moves before the egglu returned to the starting point and the rotation started again.

 

I know this probably seems a weird question but it would be a major issue for us if we ended up with no lawn or a really badly trashed one. All comments would be greatfully received as we just aren't sure if we should continue with our chicken plans!

[Torrin]

In my honest opinion, yes your lawn would be trashed. I had to temporarily move my 4 girls onto the lawn while my WIR was built and they totally trashed the lawn in 4 days. It will certainly recover, but I would expect it to take a couple of months.

 

Is there an area where you could plan to keep them permanently? When I first got my girls I had the same plan, to move them often, but soon realised it wasn't going to work for me and just left the run in one place, waited till they stripped the ground to bare earth (didn't take long ) and then covered the run, put aubiose down. Works brilliantly!

 

I would also say if you can afford to, get a run extention. Standard run, even for 2 chooks, might be a bit on the small side if they don't get much fr time. Although I love my and would def recommend it, maybe you could look at an eglu and then have a bigger run for less money??

 

Don't give up on the idea tho - a little extra planning / rearranging your garden will be WELL worth the pleasure (and eggs) you get from a couple (or maybe 3 ) chooks!

[Cotswoldchap]

Hi Torrin

 

thanks for the very helpful reply. It is as I suspected. The loss of the lawn isn't acceptable so we'll put our thinking caps on and come up with a cunning plan for a permanantly positioned cube and run

 

thanks again, very helpful!

[Falkor]

I am in agreement with Torrin.

 

If you are def going to only have two girls then maybe an eglu is the way to go but I can vouch for the fact that chooks are addictive and you will want more so the cube will allow expansion.

 

An alternative to the cube run and extensions could be a Walk in run made with panels of weldmesh stapled to wooden frames. You may be able to get a bigger WIR for the cost of a cube run

[Chook n Boo Mum]

I agree with Torrin & Falkor too ...... a static, possibly walk in run is definitely a very sensible choice if you would like to keep your lawn intact And if you can't FR them very often the bigger the run the better Take a look at the "Eglus, Cubes and Runs" forum, there are lots of runs on there, from a very small footprint to vast, to give you ideas

 

It also depends what breed you decide to go for....I think I'm right in saying that girls with feathery feet, so Pekins and Cochins are less likely to be as destructive, also given the diminutive size of the gorgeous & delightful little Pekins (can you tell I adore mine ) they cause less damage than say a Black Rock/Mrs Pepperpot.............my two rockies are in the process of digging their way to Australia & wrecked the grass in the pen they were in within days....there were 6 of them at that point, back in October/November so the grass had no chance of recovering ....they are excellent layers and fairly friendly so what you gain on one hand you lose on the other

 

Good luck with your decision making, and do not be worried about asking questions, we all started where you are now

 

Sha x

[mabelandflosmum]

Yes, don't be put off chicken keeping, I have a beautiful garden still, I let mine free range a couple of hours a day, more at weekends.

A permanent site for the run is essential, be prepared for sweeping soil back onto paths or invest in edging strips, willow is nice, and fence off any vegetables!

I love being in my garden with my chickens!

[Cotswoldchap]

After reading the forum for a little while before posting I expected nothing less than lots of support and advice when I posted and i haven't been disappointed! Thanks for all of the comments and helpful ideas

 

A couple of things are becoming apparent. It seems that the utopian idea of simply leaving the cube on the lawn and moving it around every week or so to keep a lovely lawn is a non starter. So it seems the way to go is a permanent site for the cube. So far so good, then comes an extra run length, again a little more cost but fine. Finally comes a "base layer". From what I understand that is either wood chippings or aubiose )as Torrin suggested and which sounds interesting).

 

The concern i have with either of those is that I assume the "base layer" will need to be changed every so often (once a month?). I'd certainly want the girls to have nice hygienic conditions. Presumably this gets very expensive? I know that when we have to mulch the garden with bark chippings every year it is eye wateringly expensive. Could anyone who has a permanent site for their cube give me a rough idea how much they spend and how often they spend it when they change "the base layer"

 

I'm sure answering the same questions over and over again must get a little tedious but for all of us considering embarking on chicken keeping a huge thank you!

[Falkor]

Hi

 

Me again

 

I have a cube with fixed WIR that measures 3.25m x 3.75m ish (it ins`t square, don`t ask ) and I use Aubiose horsey bedding in there for my 6 big girls. A bale costs me 8.99 and I use about two thirds of a bale every 6 weeks or so. The remaining third of a bale is used to keep the poo trays and nest boxes in nice clean bedding and also I skip out the area near the run door once a week so i throw a bit more in.

 

My other cube has a three metre cube run attached and I use B&Q Natural woodchips. With a completely empty and cleaned run I throw in 2 56litre bags of woodchips at a cost of £11.98. The I poo pick a couple of times a week and have a spare bag of woodchips in the shed that I use to top up occasionally but it is normally only half a small trug full once a week. The woodchip lasts a good long while if the run is poo picked and raked over. TBH I don`t think I have completely emptied out this run in three months. I do rake all the woodchip to one end most weekends and throw down the pink fairy dust (Satlosan F) and then rake it back again.

 

Hope this helps.

 

As previously mentioned if siting the run in a permanent position then it is best to edge the run with lawn edging, feather board etc to keep the bedding in the run rather than on the lawn. My lawn mower doesn`t take kindly to woodchips

 

With Aubiose the run should be covered and this can be achieved on the cube run in a number of ways. Corrugated plastic sheets held on by bungees, clear shower curtains or glass clear tarps.

 

[chickyhazel]

Our runs are pretty permanent but we don't have a base layer - is this wrong? Every few months or so we move the and , rake over the area where they were, add sand and a pink powder which I can't remember the name of, then move the and back again. Our chickens are healthy and some of them are quite old for hybrids (almost 3 years).

[chickyhazel]

I just remembered, the pink powder is garden lime. It helps with the smell, etc.

[jellykelly]

If you were to contact a local tree surgeon, they often give you free wood bark to line your run with. However please specify how much you actually need - I called a tree surgeon he dumped about 2 tonnes on my rear driveway!! If it wasn't for freecycle, I'd still have a 'bark mountain' in my back garden!

[Cotswoldchap]

Hi again to all you helpful eggsperts.

 

It all seems a little clearer now and also perhaps not quite as expensive with the wood chippings as I had thought.

 

So, after reading lots more and listening to all of your helpful suggestions we have put the order in today! We'll have a cube with an extra run, making a 3M run in total and three "girls". We're going to set it up as you've all advised with an area cordoned off with lawn edging and covered in 6 inches or so of wood chippings.

 

Hope we haven't bitten off more than we can chew

 

Thanks again for all of your advice, I'm sure at some point I'll be back pleading for some more words of wisdom!