Smart Feeder - Light sensor values

[catherinedon]

Hi I have a WIR half of it is has a roof the other half just has net on top to stop the girls flying away but I wanted them to have an outside area for fresh air. The covered bit has concret floor covered with a kind of wood chip reccomended by hatchery(must really ask what its called). Its really good as droppings just drop down through it. THe outside bit has only got concrete so gets full of droppings very quickly. I completly hose it down weekly. should i put some flooring material similar to inside bit on it as it can look unsightly but I thought the girls might like the different feel of the concrete?? Also in the outside bit I have alittle area earth where I have planted ablackcurrant and redcurrant bush. I didnt gey the girlsn until aughust so the berries had gone but they loved jumping up and eating the leaves. they are now bear. Is there anything else I could plant for them? thanks

[Surfin]

Hi there.

 

Although I am a total novice just in the planning stage of keeping chickens my advice would be to plant raspberries. They don't take up too much room, you could train them against the wire. They are not expensive. However they do tend to march across ground if you ignore them. I know that the leaves are not toxic as when I kept rabbits they loved the young leaves.

 

I hope that is of help.

 

Ian

[Stella14]

Interesting question. We have only had hens for 5 days so I'm be interested to read the replies on the plants. I think we have a similar arrangement to you, a concrete yard, with a covered run and coop. We have sand in the run with some autumn leaves (we did have compost in part of it, but we quickly realized that it was difficult to keep that part clean, so we removed it. They have the run of the yard and their run during the day. We're just going to leave it bare concrete, again because it's easier to keep clean. We have put a tray out with sand for dust bathing and another with compost and bits of sod. They seem to love all of that and are also having a field day 'tidying' the troughs and pots from spring and summer planting! It looks like our veg growing in troughs is no longer an option!

 

I must say, I am amazed at how much poo can be produced by 4 relatively small birds. We feed on them Wiggly Wormers layers mash with bokashi which, due to the quality, is supposed to produce less waist. What they might produce from a cheeper feed doesn't bear thinking about

[megalin]

Catherinedon I asked the same question a few weeks ago post is called:

''Any recommended and un-recommended plants?''

There's a few useful bits n bobs in there. I found chickweed to be the girls favourite and have started

digging up all the weeds from the front garden and putting them in a window box for the ladies every 4 days-ish.

They go mad for it and demolish it happily....

 

You could try some gravel for the other bit of the run, or sand, they'd probably love that but it might be a bit messy.

You're meant to put some fabric under gravel to stop it getting muddy I think. Would be easy to wash through.

 

We're extending our run and I'm going to make them a giant sand pit to play in!

Megalin

[catherinedon]

thanks for all the replies I hadnt thought about gravel thats a goos idea. Sand I fear would be very messy when wet from rain but am very interested to see that people use it for chicken dust bathing, Mine only have a cat litter tray with some compost and its not big enough. Issand better and what tpye of sand do I need ? Megalin I will have a look for your post thanks