Neighbour making formal noise complaint.

[James516]

Like it says - everyone seems to be talking about putting their hemcore on woodchips or earth, which sounds like their runs are permanently in the one place. I was plannign to keep my run on grass, and move it every week to avoid the lawn being completely demolished. So my questions are:

 

1) Does anyone put hemcore on grass, and 2) am I fooling myself to think that I will have any grass left in the first place

[Popcorn]

You could put hemcore on grass James. It wouldn't do any harm, and would make the ground softer underfoot for them and give them a substance to scratch and dig at.

 

If you want to move the Eglu around it would be really messy to have to move the hemcore everytime too.

 

The hemcore won't stop your chooks scratching up the grass (which they definately will, it's a natural instinct) and where the Eglu is placed the grass will certainly become worn and yellow underneath.

 

I'd say you'd be better to choose an area and dedicate it to your hens. That way you can save the rest of your garden from being eaten or ruined from lack of sunlight from the Eglu, and you can use the hemcore ontop of the grass without having the hastle of moving it with the Eglu everytime.

 

If your hens will be mainly living in the run, you could also pop a large litter tray in with them, full with nice dry soil that they can use as a dust bath.

 

Does that help any?

[The Dogmother]

I'll echo that Gina - I've done exactly what Gina has suggested James.

[Egluntyne]

I had my Eglu's plus extensions + converters on the lawn last year. They were so heavy that I couldnt move them, so I used Aubiose on top of the grass. It well and truly killed the grass off, and even though the hens have been moved to a different area of the garden, the patches are still bare. The grass has not regrown at all, just a few weeds here and there. Am going to have to turf it. I agree with Gina and Claret, either have them on grass and move the Eglu every few days, or have them on a permanent base, with Hemcore/Aubiose in the run.

[Aunty e]

Ditto. Moving the run after hemcore had been down, and then doing it again killed off my lawn for good, as the hemcore absorbs moisture, turning my garden into a dustbath and withering the grass.