Omlet Smart Autodoor - New in box

[beach chick]

hi all, any ideas on this one?

 

the girls should move into the WIR this w/e, and then the electric fence will move over in line with that onto completely new ground.

 

the area where they are now is literally covered in craters where they have dustbathed and scratched about. it's so bad that I cant mow it because the wheels fall down the gaps, or you skim off the top of the 'mountains'. it's potentially dangerous to walk in as well. bless them, they do have a lovely time out there but my g*d they've trashed it!!

 

how can I get the 'old' area back to reasonable levelness? I'm thinking just to bung some compost into the holes and let the grass re-cover, reseeding in the spring if necessary. does this make sense, or will it just mean that the compost will sink down again?

thanks in advance if anyone has done this!

[Happy chickens!]

Are you going to keep the girls off it now for at least a year?, or I wouldn't bother!! I tried splitting the area of the garden that my girls trash into 2 halves with the aim of re-seeding and giving the grass a rest in one half, then swapping. New grass however seems to be particularly delicious and very fragile so that plan didn't work!

 

I dug over and used a plank to compact the ground down (you need to do this, or you will just sink when you walk and it will be uneven again) and level before re-seeding - it shouldn't need any fertiliser at least!

 

Good luck!

[beach chick]

yes, because they're moving into the WIR I will have the area in front of that which will be for the leccy fence. with a bit of cleverness, I will be able to swop them from one half of the new area to the other every six months or so.

 

the old bit is going to be restored to grass, and I dont plan to put them back on there... good point about compacting the compost or whatever I put down, hadnt thought of that! with any luck I wont have to reseed either - and def no fertiliser required!!

[Olly]

I would definitely dig it over to level it, rather than just filling the holes with compost. I returfed (got a bargain, as I only needed a small area) after I'd had Eglus on my lawn, but I didn't level the ground off enough first and it's never really recovered. If I did it again I would dig it, rake it and re-seed it.

[beach chick]

if it was in the garden Olly I would do that, but it's in the field which is rough grass/vague attempt at meadow flowers anyway, so it doesnt need to be bowling green smooth. I will just settle for crater/hillock free!!

[Jools]

I tend to use off cuts from edging paths to re-fill craters. They don't have to fit perfectly, I just squeeze them in then jump up and down on them a bit - and keep the chickens off til it's taken properly!