Mrs

[slowallonian]

Greetings all!

 

Sorry to ask again asI know this has been covered before but what do people do about the poo in their gardens & chickens runs?

 

We have a Forsham Boughton Ark which house our Doris & Polly . It is kept on our lawn and moved every two days to give the grass a break and to provide clean ground for the girls. My problem is that the constant raking of poo and the pecking and scratching by D & P is taking it's toll on the grass which is very quickly thinning out. We have two young children as well so I like to try and make sure as much of the poo is s"Ooops, word censored!"ed up as possible. I knew the grass would take a battering but was wondering if there was an easier way of dealing with it. One other problem is that the odd bits of corn littering the garden along with the wet weather seems to have led to the odd visit by a whopping great rat.

 

My question is, would I do better siting the ark permanently on the lawn with wood chip or similar under foot and how often would that need cleaning out? I'm not fussed about one area of grass getting trashed. Am I worrying too much about chickens scratching about in their own poo? Seems a bit unfair to let them tromp about in it if it's not cleaned up as frequently. I'm planning on getting an extension which would cut down on the poo concentration We let them free range in the evening so they get a good chance to get greens and bugs.

 

All I want at the end of the day is two happy chickens!

 

Any suggestions would be very gratefully received.

[chicken bark]

If the chickens are spending a lot of time in their run I would make it a permanent site like you suggest.

 

I think arks only really work if you have a large area you can set aside for your hens.

 

My children always wear their wellies when we go near the chickens bit of the garden.

[mostin]

It really depends on how much bedding you put in and if the arc is waterproof or not?

 

Also if the chickens are going to stay in one area you need to sprinkle the ground with a disinfectant such as stanlosan F each time you change the bedding too.

 

I put in a very deep layer, and as long as it doesn't get wet it last's about a month. If your arc is very small though, it may need changing as frequently as each week.