debratugwell Posted April 13, 2007 Share Posted April 13, 2007 Hi - can anyone advise re keeping the girlies on woodchips? Went to B&Q last night and they do soft wood chips and hard woodchips and also in a variety of colours. Assume natural would be best as no artificial colourings but soft or hard???????? What would be best????? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buffie Posted April 13, 2007 Share Posted April 13, 2007 I've got natural woodchips, I ordered mine in a load from a tree surgeon/timber yard. Hope this helps, you don't want to use dyes of any kind. BBx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
debratugwell Posted April 13, 2007 Author Share Posted April 13, 2007 I've got natural woodchips, I ordered mine in a load from a tree surgeon/timber yard. Hope this helps, you don't want to use dyes of any kind. BBx Thanks for that but hard woodchips or soft??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinnamon Posted April 13, 2007 Share Posted April 13, 2007 (edited) Mine are on hardwood chips. There is another thread if you look, & someone posted a link to a place that delivers - I got mine from there There is a photo too, if that helps. EDIT - heres a link to the other thread for you http://club.omlet.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9301 Edited April 13, 2007 by Guest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubereglu Posted April 13, 2007 Share Posted April 13, 2007 I'd use soft woodchips, they're probably kinder to the chickens feet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted April 13, 2007 Share Posted April 13, 2007 I use Aubiose or Hemcore - it's dryer and softer too, deodorises any smell and composts like a dream. A loacl chook keeper, who shows her chooks uses it for deep-litter as it doesn't mark the birds' feathers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaime Posted April 13, 2007 Share Posted April 13, 2007 It probably refers to hardwood or softwood as a genus (big word). Hardwood can be very soft as Balsa wood is a hardwood and it's as soft and light as polystyrene. Beech is a softwood but is incredibly hard. I'm full of useless information Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
debratugwell Posted April 13, 2007 Author Share Posted April 13, 2007 I use Aubiose or Hemcore - it's dryer and softer too, deodorises any smell and composts like a dream. A loacl chook keeper, who shows her chooks uses it for deep-litter as it doesn't mark the birds' feathers. Hubby is going to build the design on the Omlet website for keeping chickens on woodchips where the run and a surrounding area are covered in woodchips. If I use Aubiose/Hemcore surely everything would just get soaked straight away when it rains and need changing whereas presumably woodchips would stand up to the elements better???????? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chelsea Posted April 13, 2007 Share Posted April 13, 2007 we use hemcore/aubiose in the run. surrounding the eglu and run we have bark chips (for us to walk on) as in the winter it can get pretty mucky. Aubiose/hemcore soaks up the wet superbly, it never seems wet underfoot and there are no smells. and the poo seems to disappear in it We put quite a thick layer of aubiose/hemcore in the run....once a week we remove the top layer and replace with fresh and once a month we take the whole lot out and replace. A bale lasts for ages. Oh, and I have a clear shower curtain over the run - to protect from the rain and on top of that I have the winter and summer shade to protect from the sun....so all stays nice and dry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
debratugwell Posted April 13, 2007 Author Share Posted April 13, 2007 ooooooooh - now I see what you mean. So do you keep the Eglu and run in the one place all the time and just walk around it? I had thought about making the area big enough so that I could move the eglu up a couple of feet each way just to rotate the area the run is stood on. This however would mean that all the hemcore and woodchip would get intermingled together eventually I suppose. What do you do? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chelsea Posted April 13, 2007 Share Posted April 13, 2007 yes ! We havent moved our eglu. We have the bark chips all around the perimiter, with little stepping stones in the chips (to make it pretty ) and some potted plants around it too, then we have a logroll/wooden border around the bark chips to make it neat and tidy. The Hemcore/aubiose is in the run. We also bought some lovely solar lights on offer last weekend and have dotted them around the eglu, looks really pretty at night when I go out to shut the eglu door. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
debratugwell Posted April 13, 2007 Author Share Posted April 13, 2007 Many thanks for that - think I've got the hang of it now and what a good idea re the solar lights - excellent thinking as our girls will be down the end of the garden and there is no lighting down there. Think I'll buy some while they are on offer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chelsea Posted April 13, 2007 Share Posted April 13, 2007 yeah, the great thing with solar - no wires - just stick them in the ground. We got some nice tall silver ones from homebase - buy 2 get one free - but im sure you might get better offers elsewhere as homebase arent necessarily the cheapest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted April 13, 2007 Share Posted April 13, 2007 Chelsea's set up sounds just like mine - my eglu is static, on solid earth with Aubiose/Hemcore inside the run, an Ikea shower curtain over the run and Aubiose/Hwemcore in the poo tray and nest box. It is almost like it is kiln-dried because it doesn't soak up the wet at all, which is a problem I had with bark and woodchip, which both went soggy and smelly. The Hemcore I get is treated with citronella, so it repels flies too. It costs about £7 for an enormous bale, which is compacted and lasts for ages. I also use it in my Rablu. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly Posted April 13, 2007 Share Posted April 13, 2007 I'm with Chelsea and Claret on this one - use aubiose/hemcore and you won't regret it. I can't explain it, but it doesn't go soggy in the rain as you might expect, and it's much easier to rake out and compost down than woodchip. I started off with woodchip from B&Q, just basic hard brown stuff, but most of it got kicked out of the run quite quickly. A word of warning - I'm sure I constructed my bark chippings area to eggsactly the Omlet instructions, but it wasn't quite big enough to pull out the droppings tray ... I built it before the Eglu arrived, so I couldn't check. Measure yours, or add a couple of extra feet. Mine's only been down for a couple of months, but I don't plan on moving it - just rake out the aubiose and add some fresh every so often. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinnamon Posted April 13, 2007 Share Posted April 13, 2007 I think a lot depends on the set up you have. I have had Aubiose in the bantams run & if it were not a walk in run I would not hesitate to use it again as it is really good,very economical & easy to compost & use. However I have a walk in run with a clear plastic roof (see photos in my album - link below) & we found that walking across dewy grass & onto Aubiose meant we got Aubiosy feet & it got walked into the house,which was a pain The bants are now on 805 wood chip with some Aubiose & its working well,the big hens are on woodchip & thats fine for them The roof on my pen means it all stays very dry....in fact too dry in summer & we have to hose it down every so often to stop it getting too dusty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
debratugwell Posted April 18, 2007 Author Share Posted April 18, 2007 Chelsea's set up sounds just like mine - my eglu is static, on solid earth with Aubiose/Hemcore inside the run, an Ikea shower curtain over the run and Aubiose/Hwemcore in the poo tray and nest box. It is almost like it is kiln-dried because it doesn't soak up the wet at all, which is a problem I had with bark and woodchip, which both went soggy and smelly. The Hemcore I get is treated with citronella, so it repels flies too. It costs about £7 for an enormous bale, which is compacted and lasts for ages. I also use it in my Rablu. Do the chickens not get really hot in the summer with a shower curtain over the top??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted April 18, 2007 Share Posted April 18, 2007 No, I take it off in the summer and use one of the Omlet shades. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Hen Posted March 30, 2021 Share Posted March 30, 2021 First time chicken owner, are Pets At Home Beech wood chips OK for the chicken run? I know flyts of fancy do specialist wood chips but needed to put something down now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat tails Posted March 30, 2021 Share Posted March 30, 2021 8 hours ago, Crazy Hen said: First time chicken owner, are Pets At Home Beech wood chips OK for the chicken run? I know flyts of fancy do specialist wood chips but needed to put something down now They’ll be fine. But if you have an option, go for the bigger chips rather than the very fine ones. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
