Sooo much pooping

[Bramble]

Not sure if I'm posting this in the right place, but here goes ...

I've had my girls for just over two weeks and, as expected, they've pretty much trashed the lawn where the run is. I'm not particularly worried about this, but am thinking it would look nicer if I earmark a permanent site for the eglu and run, get rid of the grass in that area and put down some wood chip or similar. What do you guys think, I'm sure lots of you have already done this? I'm just slightly puzzled about how I would get the woodchip out to replace it (maybe I need to borrow a small child who can climb in through the little door!?) This will be a bigger problem when I add a run extension.

I'm also toying with the idea of using aubiose/rapasorb instead of woodchip. My run is covered with a tarpaulin (at the moment, just to make sure the girls have plenty of shade from sun or (more likely) rain, when I'm not there, would that be enough to keep aubiose dry? I'm also bothered it will just blow away?

Any idiot guides/suggestions gratefully received! Many thanks all!

(Two weeks in and I'm LOVING hen keeping)!

[Goldstar]

Hi

I have wood chip in my run. I rake it over every couple of days, I havent had to change it yet. I dont have an eglu so cant really help with how to get it out, not sure if you could get a rake in.

Cant help you with auboise as I dont use it, I wouldnt know where to get it from. I know it has to stay dry, so as long as your run is water proof it should be okay.

[Patricia W]

I've used woodchip, bark and now aubiose in the runs. There is no comparison. As long as you keep the aubiose dry by covering the run ( clear plastic hard sheets £5 each plus some bungees from Wickes) then it stays fresh for several weeks. You need to poo pick from time to time, but it mostly magicly disappears. I pay £9.95 and my feed supplier gets it in for me. One standard eglu run takes about a third of a bale. I use it in the nest box and in the tray too where I change it once a week.

 

As for cleaning out the run, a long handled rake is great, or simply lift the run and eglu away ( easy with 2) and brush off.

 

Tricia

[Bramble]

Thank you, both! Do you find that you need to put anything around the bottom of the run to stop the aubiose (or whatever) blowing away/getting kicked out by the chucks, or does the plastic sheeting do the same job? Really appreciate your help, thanks!

[chickenNutter]

My eglu and run with extension is permenantly wedged between the posts of a pergola, so I can't move it to clean it. I have had to resort to climbing in and using advanced Yoga postures to clean it out. I did talk to the Omlet HQ bods at Tatton Flower Show to ask if there is a chance of making a side panel with a door in it for the eglu classic, but apparently it is not possible. Therefore I have decided that the only solution is to ditch the run, mesh the sides of the pergola, which already has a roof on it and turn it into a walk in run!

 

Had been toying with the idea for a while, but did not want a large solid structure in a tiny garden. Now thinking of my aching back, it seems like a fine idea, especially as it means I could possibly get more chickens........

[sadietoo]

I too have my eglu in a permanent site and am looking to do something different because it really is very awkward to clean out. I manage with a long rake (used upside down sometimes) from both ends, together with a dustpan and brush. Because I use Aubiose in the run and have just two chickens, I only do a complete clean out every six weeks or so which helps. I've managed like this for at least 18 months now, and it isn't impossible, just a bit uncomfortable when you need to do it. I am looking to put in something different, but mostly because we have a fox problem around here and so my two only get limited supervised free ranging and I would like them to have more space every day when they are in the run so want to enlarge the space.

 

The advantages are that your lawn will not resemble the Somme, and you don't need to worry about foxes digging around the eglu (they don't know they can't get into it until they try and you still end up with the holes in your lawn)

[Bramble]

That's interesting, thank you. Do you have a cover on your run? All the posts I read say that aubiose needs to be kept dry so I'm wondering if simply using the Omlette full shade or a tarpaultin would be good enough as a cover (Im worried that making something more permanent with plastic sheeting etc is going to make the eglu more like a greenhouse?). Interesting to hear that you've made this work for 18 months though, thank you!

[Bertrum]

This how we did it:

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=65878

 

The woodchip is very deep and we have space either side of the run which is woodchip also so we don't need any skirts to keep the chips in, or any covers to keep it dry. We do put the Omlet winter shade on when it is very heavy or prolonged rain, but that is more to keep the hens dry than anything. I think Eglu runs that are covered with sheets, tarp, shower curtains, etc tend to look a little 'refugee camp chic', so it is important to me to have a run floor that can cope with getting a bit wet.

 

It does still look that neat after a month of abuse by our two hens, which pleases me.

To look after it, I simply rake over the chips each night when I put the hens to bed. The poo so far has just vanished because the chips are very deep, at least 6 inches. I have no problem with smells or flies. The hens love finding bugs in the woodchip and are never bored. Only downside so far is that they are eating very few pellets and I think that is affecting how well they lay (one never started and the other laid 8 in 10 days then nothing for 2 weeks now). It may be because they have enough food in the form of all the bugs in the wood.

I expect that eventually I will want to do a 'refresh' of the wood chip. I'm not sure how far away that is, but on current progress, it will be several months. When the time comes, I'll simply lift the whole Eglu and run off the site, shovel up the old chips, do some cleaning and put fresh down. The deeper layers of the run are already turning into a fine, dark earth which I expect will be just wonderful compost.

 

Only a month in, so I may change my mind, but so far woodchip rules for me.