My eco solution to rat problems

[Eggy-Bread]

I know, I know, chickens poo! What I didn't bargain for was how much, how often and does it have to cover every square inch of the garden? Apart from the obvious of fencing off a part of the garden for my little lovelies, how do the rest of you cope with the poo? I go on poo-patrol as often as poss and do away with the droppings in an organicly-recylingy way, but is there another method (that's probably blindingly obvious)

of reducing/containing the Spread of Poo ? Any suggestions would be welcome.........................

[snaps]

How much: Unbelievable amounts for such relatively small creatures.

How often: About every five minutes.

Does it have to cover every square inch of your garden: Yes.

 

Fencing off is the best option if you have room. 2" chainlink from a garden supplier and accompanying steel rods work well and are easy-ish to erect. I can't remember how much it cost but I don't think it was that expensive.

[Snowy]

Section off a part of the garden - do a wanted on freecycle for chicken wire (I got a couple of rolls and they haven't worked out how to get over it yet, only 2' high) hold it up with bamboo canes. Any on the lawn - rake it in with a leaf rake. Any on the path/patio - I keep a small childs spade and go round every now and then and flick it onto the flower beds Any in the kitchen .....

[The Dogmother]

I have bantams, so the damage is minimal. Having said that, I have fenced off the patio with chicken wire (from Freecycle too, great minds eh Snow ?) to stop them digging in my plant pots. Hardly any poo at all though.

[Liz Steed]

SO much poo and I've just doubled by supply!!

 

I'm not as deligent in the winter as I am in the summer, hence my patio is not a pretty sight currenly , I fence off half the garden when my husband reaches saturation point (normally when he's stepped in one with no shoes on ) I have Omlet netting which sadly gets holes in it (the foxes chew through it!!!) and they invariably manage to find a way through and then REMEMBER where the holes are(never think chooks are stupid ) so I'm looking for a more permanent solution which in my head involves white picket fencing but in reality will probably be less attractive and expensive

[CannyCat]

We've decided to get a compost bin (WRAP are doing cut price ones - they're only 7 quid delivered, if you order online!) and use it up that way.

 

Ours just blends in with the mud though, really; its just what's mixed in with their run chippings that we notice (how gross is that?)

[Egluntyne]

Ours just blends in with the mud though, really; its just what's mixed in with their run chippings that we notice (how gross is that?)

Ditto!! (and when it begins to whiff a bit, sprinkle liberally with garden lime! ....works a treat!)

[chocchick]

We have 2 compost bins and are considering getting a 3rd.

Although there are now 2 small sheets of newspaper a day for the nest which they poo in , aubiose/poo from the run and poop tray, and of course our leftover food

 

I s"Ooops, word censored!"ed the covering out of the omlet run and dumped in a random heap on the vegetable patch uncomposted, and weeks later (Febuary) our rhubarb started coming up and it's never been better and has huge lush leaves and thick stalks

 

P.S. when we lost Beth we're sure the poo halved even though we went from 3 to 2 chickens

[Tara.F]

I don't mind so much in the winter....frozen poos are really easy to clear up

but what do you do about the flies in the summer?

throwing water at the poos on the grass simply dilutes them and if anything seems to attract more flies on a hot day!

 

I'm getting the eebee jeebees just thinking about it

[CannyCat]

I don't mind so much in the winter....frozen poos are really easy to clear up

but what do you do about the flies in the summer?

throwing water at the poos on the grass simply dilutes them and if anything seems to attract more flies on a hot day!

 

I'm getting the eebee jeebees just thinking about it

 

I haven't had to deal with the grass bit yet as their free-ranging can be limited depending on my partner's shift pattern, but I remember that using hemcore in the run greatly decreased both the honk and the fly-count.

 

Did someone mention sprinkling the poop with garden lime helps?

[CannyCat]

We have 2 compost bins and are considering getting a 3rd.

Although there are now 2 small sheets of newspaper a day for the nest which they poo in , aubiose/poo from the run and poop tray, and of course our leftover food

 

I s"Ooops, word censored!"ed the covering out of the omlet run and dumped in a random heap on the vegetable patch uncomposted, and weeks later (Febuary) our rhubarb started coming up and it's never been better and has huge lush leaves and thick stalks

 

P.S. when we lost Beth we're sure the poo halved even though we went from 3 to 2 chickens

 

Freecycle it. Seriously, that's what I do when I clean the run out, and it always gets snapped up. People love it for their veg

 

(Do you find that your chickens do a (my partner's words, not mine:) "mega-turd" first thing in the morning?! )

[hillfamily]

 

(Do you find that your chickens do a (my partner's words, not mine:) "mega-turd" first thing in the morning?! )

 

Absolutely Enormous

 

Where else can we talk about chicken poop on a Sunday morning and not getted carted off in little white jackets

[Looney]

 

(Do you find that your chickens do a (my partner's words, not mine:) "mega-turd" first thing in the morning?! )

 

Absolutely Enormous

 

Where else can we talk about chicken poop on a Sunday morning and not getted carted off in little white jackets

 

Much prefer the mega-turds to the squirters though

[Egluntyne]

 

(Do you find that your chickens do a (my partner's words, not mine:) "mega-turd" first thing in the morning?! )

 

Absolutely Enormous

 

Where else can we talk about chicken poop on a Sunday morning and not getted carted off in little white jackets

 

Much prefer the mega-turds to the squirters though

Me too!!

The chap who occasionally digs over my garden says we should dissolve the poo and water the garden with the resulting liquid.

[ali-s]

[The chap who occasionally digs over my garden says we should dissolve the poo and water the garden with the resulting liquid.

 

That is what I do Egluntine. I have a special poo soup watering can in which I put the chicken poo, top it up with water and use it round the base of the veggies. The runner beans loved it last year.

[Looney]

[The chap who occasionally digs over my garden says we should dissolve the poo and water the garden with the resulting liquid.

 

That is what I do Egluntine. I have a special poo soup watering can in which I put the chicken poo, top it up with water and use it round the base of the veggies. The runner beans loved it last year.

 

What a good idea!

[Helly Welly]

Sorry but i just don't understand what all the fuss is about. We barely notice the poo on the lawn and even if we tread in it i'm not bothered as we take our shoes off by the back door anyway. We have all learnt to wear mucky clothes and shoes outside and the occasional runny poo on the "patio" gets rinsed off with the hose. The rain takes care of the rest.

[One Man Banned]

Any on the lawn - rake it in with a leaf rake

 

Silly question I know but...........

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What's a Lawn??

 

:lol:

 

A

xx

[Snowy]

Rapidly disappearing Andrew!!

[Lynn in Bristol]

Some friends of ours asked if we had a bucket of poo to spare, to get their new compost bin going.

 

Now, their garden (and house) is immaculate, not a blade of grass out of place. I don't think they're ready for the horrors that lurk in a bucket of chicken poo that's been sitting fermenting for a few weeks. I'm doing a special bucket for them, with only the nice poos in it.

 

I must be completely mad!

[Guest]

I'm doing a special bucket for them, with only the nice poos in it.

 

Edited March 26, 2007 by Guest

[Egluntyne]

I'm doing a special bucket for them, with only the nice poos in it.

How do you define a "nice poo" Lynne?

[The Dogmother]

Hmmm, I'd rather not know thanks

[Lynn in Bristol]

Nice poo? hmm, you know, the neat ones that look like the picture on the Omlet website (not the brown smelly ones).

 

That rules out all of Parsley's poos. Hers look more like something a horse might do. As chicken purchasing novices, we quickly learned that big chicken does not equal big egg. Big chicken equals big poo.

We're going for bantams next before we disappear under the stuff.

 

Just got lovely composter for ourselves from WRAP, so we won't be tripping over full buckets of poo anymore (waiting for hubby to carry them down to the allotment).

[Looney]

I love this discussion!