Unsecure chicken perches

[johnandkymberley]

Hi, have now purchased a shallow trug for my girls! cant wait as they have never had one in the coop before, there other one was in the garden but they managed to bust it! so now looking on b&q for soil and sand, can anyone advise what is the best sand and best soil? thanks xx

[Bramble]

My girls seem to have a preference for the lovely new top soil I have just added to my raised beds!!!

[Margaret]

Ditto

[beach chick]

children's play sand is very popular with my girls, but is now strictly reserved for the quail as the chooks chuck it about too much!

I think others use topsoil, woodash, old potting compost... and when my summer pots are finished, I just chuck the entire contents into the run for them to scratch at.

you can also add some diatom so they can do their own bug-busting

[Henchanted]

Ditto

(what beach chick and others said )

[Lavenders_Blue]

can anyone advise what is the best sand and best soil? thanks xx

 

The cheapest

 

As others have said, it will only get flung about all over the place (and if my girls are anything to go by, pooed in )

[johnandkymberley]

I have got a huge bag of compost that i bought from lidl for £2 - and i didnt need it, that will last them years! will get some sand from B&Q aswell, will be putting sum DE in for them, shall i put grit in or is sand a natural grit? how often will i have to fill it once a week or more? i usually fill grubs,glugs,poo trays etc on a mon/tue and on a saturday would it fit in with my routine? xxx

[Surfnirvana]

I use play sand - which they love & eat too! I hope I have successfully loaded this piccie of them.

 

[Luvachicken]

Thats a nice pic Surfnirvana, where did you get thet lovely grey container ?

[lillybettybabs]

I mix some play sand (Tesco is cheap) and some compost.

[Surfnirvana]

Hiya luvachicken

 

I saw it hanging in my Mum-in-laws garage unused, and asked if she wouldn't mind if I drilled a few holes in the bottom and used it for my chooks sand bath. Luckily she was more than happy to donate it to such a useful and worthy cause! It is a great little tin bath - but not sure where she got it from I'm afraid.

[witzend]

I saw it hanging in my Mum-in-laws garage unused, and asked if she wouldn't mind if I drilled a few holes in the bottom and used it for my chooks sand bath.

 

Why the holes??? I've was going to put tape across the hole in my plant pot so the soil/sand didn't come out when I moved it

 

x

[Surfnirvana]

Hi Witzend

 

I leave it out all the time, so any rain can drain through. Otherwise it would be one sandy puddle after a while. Only small holes so that the sand doesn't go through them.

[witzend]

cheers - mine will be undercover so I might keep the 'plaster' on!

[johnandkymberley]

Lovely picture, i love the black rocks (if thats there breed?) i am getting some sand today and then will see what they think of it, hopefully they will appreciate all this....