Minnie Posted June 2, 2010 Share Posted June 2, 2010 Advice please !!! We have a serious urban fox problem and our girls do not free-range unless they are closely supervised. We have erected a permanent run (8 x 12 ft) to house our cube. We started with a grass base, but the girls gobbled this up within days. It rained and the whole area resembled a battlefield! We then tried bark chippings, but they were messy and smelly and we eventually paved the whole area. This is clean, but probably very boring for the chickens. Any good suggestions out there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ain't Nobody Here Posted June 2, 2010 Share Posted June 2, 2010 Welcome to the forum, Minnie . I've moved your post into this section which is where you'll find loads of advice about runs etc . The trick is to cover the run - with tarpaulins or corrugated plastic or similar. For the floor you can use horse bedding (such as Hemcore, Easibed or Aubiose to name a few) which are great for the chickens to scratch about in and magically absorb the poos. You do have to keep it dry though as they are all very absorbent. To keep dampness & smells down and keep things clean and hygenic, you can use a disinfectant such as Stalosan F, which you can sprinkle in your run after a cleanout (I do mine every 6 weeks or so). Hope that helps . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadAboutChooks Posted June 2, 2010 Share Posted June 2, 2010 Hi There, you could try something like aubroise, or hemcore, which will give the girls something to scratch around in and also magically dry up all those poo's. What I have done to make more room in my WIR is putting a large table (we got ours from Avaries4U along with our run) which was made for an eglu to sit on, but we have put a large wooden box which we have filled with soil, ash, DE for them to dustbath in, and they love it and it provides them with more room. You could also put some perches up. Its definatly worth being safe than sorry, if you have a fox problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plum Posted June 2, 2010 Share Posted June 2, 2010 but wood chip is good rather than bark and Yup I love auboise as well and easibed worked well. Needs to be covered really to stay fresh. Your run is big enough to put two areas with different bedding down to make it more interesting for them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Minnie Posted June 6, 2010 Author Share Posted June 6, 2010 Thank you for your helpful replies. I spent a very busy day yesterday re-arranging the run and spreading lots of Aubiose. Also bought a pressure washer, which is fantastic for cleaning the cube and paving slabs efficiently. I am also getting a car tyre for the girls to use as a dust bath Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chicken bark Posted June 6, 2010 Share Posted June 6, 2010 Thank you for your helpful replies. I spent a very busy day yesterday re-arranging the run and spreading lots of Aubiose. Also bought a pressure washer, which is fantastic for cleaning the cube and paving slabs efficiently. I am also getting a car tyre for the girls to use as a dust bath They will be lucky hens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
