Unsecure chicken perches

[luggage16]

Hi

Im new to the forum and chicken keeping in general. I have an eglu go arriving on tuesday and am trying to work out how best to set it up in the garden. I have a space which is 540x250 cm where the chickens will go. At the moment its a grassy/weedy part of the garden and im happy to play about with it to best protect the chooks and keep the area easy to clean. Reading about on the forum it looks like my options are pop it on the grass - stinky muddy mess?, boarder it and put in woodchip, put on paving slabs.

 

If I put it on paving slabs would that be the eglu and run? Or could it go on woodchip and just the eglu be on a paving slab? am i right in thinking thats better protection from foxes and rats? Could the eglu and run be on paving but them be able to potter around the grass around it when free ranging?

 

Im going round in circles trying to work out whats best so would love some ideas! we really want it to be low maintenance too so something easy to keep clean would be good. Ideally I'd like the remaining area to be lightly fenced off to allow them to free range a little, I know not a great sized space but hoping they will benefit from it - any suggestions?

 

Thanks

Sam

[Tweety]

Hi, welcome to the forum and the wonderful world of chickens! If your Go will be in a permanent position, you are probably best putting it - the whole thing including the run - on paving slabs. You can then put something like Hemcore or Aubiose on the run floor, which makes it very easy to keep clean. You will also need to cover the run to keep it as dry as possible.

Whatever you decide, the house and the run have to be on the same level as they are attached to each other. Some people have put the house and run on paving slabs, but have left a patch of grass in the centre of the run for the hens to scratch around in. This would be ok as long as the run is dry but, as you say, will turn into a muddy mess if it gets wet!

There are lots of different set ups in The Eglus,Cubes and Runs section of the forum, which might provide more ideas for you. Good luck, let us know how you get on!

[luggage16]

So if the run is on paving slabs, do i need to do anything special with the rest of the area they will be allowed to free range on or is it ok to leave it as grass? They would probably be on it a couple of hours a day in the summer and less in the winter, just whenever we are around in the garden as there are foxes locally.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Welcome and congratulations on your soon to arrive Go and chickens .

 

I now have a walk in run but before that I had this setup. Slabs at both ends and down one side for a path to get to the eglu without muddy feet, broken bits of slab under the skirt down the other side. Soil in the middle with Hemcore or Easibed horse bedding. Corrugated plastic sheets are perfect for keeping the run dry (essential if you use a horse bedding, which is very absorbant).

 

Your girls will be fine freeranging on the grass but they will wreck it if they're on it a lot. You might want to see how it goes then contain them in an area with Omlet netting or similar. I now contain my girls within my ex-flowerbeds so the grass is safe .

 

[luggage16]

How often did you change the hemcore? Im trying to work out how you keep it all clean and fresh? was the whole run soil underneth with a layer of hemcore on top?

 

all the pictures on the eglu shop show the eglu straight on the grass, how doable is that? how often would it need to be moved and how long would it need to be before it was back on the same patch?

 

just exploring options at the moment before spending too much paving a bit of the garden for it (esp as i can see me either wanting a wir or a cube down the line!!)

 

What other options are there for what to have it on?

 

We have a load of edging slabs that were in our front garden, im thinking i could lay these around the edge of whatever set up we do for extra protection so long as the eglu/run doesnt need to be fully paved?

[Ain't Nobody Here]

How often did you change the hemcore? Im trying to work out how you keep it all clean and fresh? was the whole run soil underneth with a layer of hemcore on top?

I used to change it every couple of months. Lift the whole eglu/run to the side, remove top layer to compost bin, put Stalosan F and garden lime down, then new bedding. It's surprising how clean it stays, the chickens dig everything in and the horse bedding dries the poo up. Keeping it dry is the key, really. Yes, the whole run was soil underneath.

all the pictures on the eglu shop show the eglu straight on the grass, how doable is that? how often would it need to be moved and how long would it need to be before it was back on the same patch?

Grass wouldn't last more than a week before getting eaten/scratched/covered in poo . Moving it sounds like a good plan in theory but most people opt for a permanent site in the end. If you have a huge garden, it's probably doable but would become a real chore, I'd imagine.

What other options are there for what to have it on?

People have used grass/soil/chippings/stones/slabs/decking, you name it . Nothing is right or wrong, just do what's best for your situation.

We have a load of edging slabs that were in our front garden, im thinking i could lay these around the edge of whatever set up we do for extra protection so long as the eglu/run doesnt need to be fully paved?

That sounds perfect. If you have enough, you could lay some for the run to sit on, then weight down the run skirt to deter predators

 

Hope that helps .

[luggage16]

ok so hubby is now in the garden running the old edging slabs for the run to sit on. Essentially the coop will be in a big paving slab with some eddging slabs around it, mostly covering the base but with a couple of grassy gaps - is this ok? It will all be level

 

All of the run skirt will be on the edging slabs too but the inside of the run will be all grass. If I put down some hemcore on top does that sound reasonable? We will buy some pretty stones to go around on top of the run skirt too to weigh it all down. Does this sound like reasonable protection from foxes/rats etc? We have the winter shade - will this give enough protection from rain or should we use some corrugated plastic? Do you think its ok to see how we get on for a week or 2 and buy the plastic then if needs be?

 

Do I need to dig the middle of the run down so the hemcore etc has a kind of trough to sit in or is it ok just scattered over the top? How thick a layer of hemcore does it need?

 

Will get pics in a bit when hubby finished laying the paving slabs and see what you think. We plan on seeing how we go like this but if it becomes a yucky mess in the middle then we will rethink and lay paving under the entire thing.

 

Does what we are doing sound reasonable so far?? Any other tips?

[Egluntyne]

Can't add anything to ANH's helpful reply.

[beach chick]

sounds good. what I would do, is allow them to trash the grass you've left in the middle of the run, and THEN throw down some garden lime and add the bedding - aubiose, hemcore, softwood or hardwood chips, whatever you can get that's not too expensive.

 

that gives you time to decide if you need to cover the run totally - and hopefully as we are coming into spring you will get away with this for a while. the thing that has always bothered me about totally covering the run in corrugated plastic is that it gets very hot in summer, and chooks dont like heat. but then you've got a freeranging area in mind as well, so may not be a prob.

[luggage16]

thats great! thank you all so so much!

[luggage16]

ok

next issue.... i cant find anywhere that has hemcore or similar locally!! (stevenage/herts). Went to thornes today and they sold me some easy bed but its straw based so not ideal. We needed something for the nest box so figure it will do for now but i really want to source some hemcore or similar - anyone know anywhere? Think i'll go and start another post in the hope someone knows of somewhere local!

 

Also we have the skirt of the run on the edging paving, quick question - should this be overlapping the edging so there is a line of paving alongside the skirt iyswim? or just under it?

 

Hoping to pick up my girls tomorrow!! very excited but also very nervous about not havign things set up right - really dont want mr fox to get them!!

[teacake]

it sounds like you are working really hard to get everything set up right! if you do a search for easibed you will see lots of people use it. it's one of the few beddings I can find for sale round here, so we may end up with it, I'll be interested to see what you think. We're still at the setting up stage, building a WIR and trying to choose what colour classic to buy!

have fun collecting your chickens today. photos please

[Olly]

Can you get to GW Titmuss? They have a good range.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Went to thornes today and they sold me some easy bed but its straw based so not ideal.

 

I use Easibed and it's brilliant . It's not straw based, have a look at their website. I used to use Hemcore but it got so expensive, I switched to Easibed and have never looked back . It composts really well too.

[luggage16]

my mistake its bed down not easy bed.