Poorly chicken

[witzend]

Hi - I'm considering 2/3 hens but will have to keep them on a flagged area (I've no lawn to start with!) -from experience, what have people found the pros and cons of:

 

Bark

Soil

Gravel

Straw

Other

 

??

 

Thanks xx

[sage]

Hi witzend

I have a walk in run on pavers. On the floor I put dust extracted wood chip. ( £6 large bale is more than enought to cover a 6 feet+ 9 feet run and still have plenty to use in the cube). As the run is covered I only change the woodchip every 3-4 months. I just rake it over every week and spinkle it with disinfectant power.

Hope this helps

 

Sage

[Cinnamon]

Hi - I'm considering 2/3 hens but will have to keep them on a flagged area (I've no lawn to start with!) -from experience, what have people found the pros and cons of:

 

Bark.....heavy,can get water logged & claggy.Potential health issues from mould spores.

Soil...topped with Aubiose (a horse bedding), this can work well - I have been doing this for many years. Not good if your ground is prone to getting water logged or is clay.Aubiose is light,easily compostable & very absorbant.

Gravel......heavy,doesn't allow good drainage,you need to hose poo away very regularly. Potential to harm hens feet too.

Straw....Not good. Gets wet & waterlogged,plus the hollow tubes can harbour mites.

Other....Aubiose or similar on flags or soil is really good,but you do need your run to be covered.

 

??

 

Thanks xx

[witzend]

cheers - keep em coming!!

[Plum]

Not used gravel, bark or soil

but Strawsorb (rape straw) worked really well and goes a long way. It really dries things up and smells good at £5 odd a bale.

Aubiose and Hemcore (Hemp straw) are excellent but more expensive (£9-£12) and Hemcore can have fibres which ball around toes in muddy weather.

Soft wood chip works well in uncovered run and reasonable price (£4-6).

Easibed is wood pulp and works well but doesn't dry droppings as thoroughly as the rape and hemp beds £8.

Bedmax is cheaper wood flakes and was comparable to easibed £5-6.

I think there is a sticky somewhere about beddings maybe in FAQ section

 

I just buy what's in stock and better one if I'm feeling flush

[doctors girls]

i went for the half flagged half gravel base with hardwood chippings on the top i have been lucky with the dry weather at the moment as the wir is new and has only been up just over 2 months i have been trying to put a roof on it for the last month but because of the wind no luck all the roof panels and bearers are stuck at the bottom of the garden but i am going to see how i get on with the cleaning regime once the roof is on cause i am left with the option of fully flagging it at a later date if need be

 

 

 

[witzend]

like the run - roughly what size is it? x

[doctors girls]

like the run - roughly what size is it? x

 

i got this from bay animal housing and it is a 6ft x 9ft x 6ft WIR and there is plenty of room for the 3 girls

 

[witzend]

cheers - do you just slide the Eglu around to take out the tray? I'm trying to decide if I can do without a 'hatch' to help do this or not

[doctors girls]

cheers - do you just slide the Eglu around to take out the tray? I'm trying to decide if I can do without a 'hatch' to help do this or not

 

yes i just swivel it round on the table to get to the pull out tray but once a month i take the whole eglu out for a big clean

[witzend]

cheers - so interesting seeing what people do. Lots (almost too many!!) of ideas x

[witzend]

nearly there! Phew!

Eglu reserved, big shopping list made, waiting for quote for run, going to see possible chooks.............

 

Fav covering for flagged, covered run:

 

Aubiose

Easibed

Hemcore

Hardwood chips

 

either on their own or a mix

 

I keep reading other posts/FAQ re bedding but am spinning!!!

[Plum]

Just try different ones when you clean them out.

[Chooks76]

Hi there

 

without wishing to distract from the original post, I have a similar question. I've got my Eglu classic inside a netted run area 3.5m x 6m. The 3m Eglu run has 3 bags of natural woodchip in it. The rest of the run is grass (which will soon be soil I'm sure) and soil. I just rake over the woodchips now and again and dig over sections of the soil now and again. I'm not using any disinfectant although I've seen Stalosan F mentioned in several places. Should I be using something on a regular basis in the Eglu run and WIR and if so do the chickens need to be kept off it for a while or can it be done of a morning whilst they are locked in the coop?