Part 0800.0005

[egglicious]

How do you clean out the run area? Do you have to change the bedding each week or can you just rake it out? Can you use the deep litter method in a run or just for a large coop? I see so much info about cleaning the coop but never the run so i'm a little confused...

Edited July 3, 2011 by Guest

[surfer_chicken]

What have you got layering the run area? And is it on the ground or on slabs etc? I think everyone just works out their own way, but people with similar set ups to you will tell you their methods

[emmastar]

Im also wondering about the run area i have the eglu on the path at the moment but have edging ready for it to be put in a perminant sopt but i dont know what to fill it with and what will last the longest and easyest to clean

[johnandkymberley]

ours are on slabs, we used wood chips and stones but after a month it needs changing fully - which can be expensive as my 3m run took 10bags of stones. they look lovely but after the month it can really start to smell. out front of the run is slabs and the rest is a bit of soil to sunbathe/dust in, although our garden was already set like that. We occasionally scoop out poo etc but we do hose pipe it down, we clean it out for my grandma. she uses it on her allotment and in payment we get jams,pickles and chutneys - Yummmm! if it was my choice i would say slabs, hope this helps? xx

[egglicious]

Well the funny thing is I don't even have my chickens or my cube yet! I'm waiting for both to arrive in about a month. In the meantime I'm trying to decide what the best set-up would be for me. I have a good patch of lawn for the chickens to fr when I'm around. It is enclosed with fence. But they will be spending some time in their run. I live in the USA, Pacific Northwest, where it is very rainy. The area where their cube will be is sloped so it shouldn't get too muddy but I'm concerned about that. Should I use sand or shavings? Sand seems easier and quicker to dry but I'm not sure... As you can see I don't really know much yet but I'm trying to learn as much as possible before the chickies get here!

[egglicious]

ours are on slabs, we used wood chips and stones but after a month it needs changing fully - which can be expensive as my 3m run took 10bags of stones. they look lovely but after the month it can really start to smell. out front of the run is slabs and the rest is a bit of soil to sunbathe/dust in, although our garden was already set like that. We occasionally scoop out poo etc but we do hose pipe it down, we clean it out for my grandma. she uses it on her allotment and in payment we get jams,pickles and chutneys - Yummmm! if it was my choice i would say slabs, hope this helps? xx

 

This might sound really dumb but when you say slabs do you mean your eglu and run is set on concrete?

[gongladosh]

pretty much, yep. Not sure if garden centres in the US sell them, but lots of us in the UK put our runs on concrete slabs - effectively thick concrete tiles about 2 square feet in size. Think of the sort of thing you'd expect on a sidewalk - like that but smaller.

[johnandkymberley]

okay i wouldnt use sand or shavings, and deffo not if its rainy, the rain will soak the sand/shavings and it will turn muddy with the poo and will smell, it took us a long time to get rid of the smell and OH was nearly sick! He thought he saw maggots in it too! concrete slabs, i have attached a photo to see if you get what i mean?

The cube is on pebbles here, they look very nice until they are a month old! The 2m part of the run (everywhere apart from under the cube) is now slabs and under the cube is soil. Also stone slabs keep foxy loxy's out!

 

Do you have any slabs etc in america? mayb you call them something different?

[bouldercroft]

I have wood chips on regular garden dirt in my WIR and once in a while I dig them out and change them (I get them free from my tree guy). But in the heat of the summer I hose them down every other day to knock the worse of the poop off them and to generally cool the run down. Seems to be working well - not too stinky and not too many flies either.

 

I occasionally sprinkle a little tea tree oil about to freshen the place up

[jasperaliceuk]

We've had ours for just over a month now. Two chickens. The run is on the grass. Every morning I attempt to rake out the poo with a long garden rake which is semi successful - they also go out in the open run when I am around to fox watch or even free range if I am gardening - they love it. That cuts down the amount of poo in the run. If they didn't walk in the poo it would be much easier to clean up! The winter might be a different kettle of fish though and remains to be seen. I've been moving the whole thing every week and aside from the holes they have dug (that was something I hadn't expected!) the grass recovers nicely - it just covered with little brown patches where I have filled up and reseeded the holes! The upside is they are doing a lovely job of getting the moss up.

 

I am actually quite surprised that the design hasn't been made so that there is easy access for easy clean of the run but I suppose if you can always just shift it to the side and clean underneath - its light enough to do so. I've even shifted it with the chooks in the run - they just scuttle along with it, apart from trying to escape underneath. I've discovered that chickens always want what is on the other side!

 

Sue

[squiffs]

I have mine on my patio with a pondliner underneath it, broken up paving slabs lining the run skirt to weigh it down, and then woodchip (about 4 bags' worth) in there. I sprinkle lice powder on the chip once a week and rake it over every few days; also the chickens tread in everything so it all disintigrates naturally. It all drains brilliantly, (had thunderous downpours recently), the chooks love pecking at it, and digging and dustbathing too

 

We also cable tied a cheap shower curtain to the eglu end, and use that to pull across in case of rain (that is for the chooks so they can still get up and about when it's wet, not for the woodchip). The fox ripped it off its fastenings a few nights ago (I can't eat the chickens so I'll eat these cable ties instead!), so we're going to reattach it this evening as the nice weather is supposed to be coming to an end for a while after today.

 

I'll post some pics here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Really easy to clean, I'm gonna get some stalosan F too - and I also have a Flitrap hanging a few metres from the chooks which is helping, and we have latex gloves to poo pick and put into the compost heap

 

Apologies for the size of a couple of those pics, I have resized them, just waiting for that to take effect.

[johnandkymberley]

I have mine on my patio with a pondliner underneath it, broken up paving slabs lining the run skirt to weigh it down, and then woodchip (about 4 bags' worth) in there. I sprinkle lice powder on the chip once a week and rake it over every few days; also the chickens tread in everything so it all disintigrates naturally. It all drains brilliantly, (had thunderous downpours recently), the chooks love pecking at it, and digging and dustbathing too

 

We also cable tied a cheap shower curtain to the eglu end, and use that to pull across in case of rain (that is for the chooks so they can still get up and about when it's wet, not for the woodchip). The fox ripped it off its fastenings a few nights ago (I can't eat the chickens so I'll eat these cable ties instead!), so we're going to reattach it this evening as the nice weather is supposed to be coming to an end for a while after today.

 

I'll post some pics here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Really easy to clean, I'm gonna get some stalosan F too - and I also have a Flitrap hanging a few metres from the chooks which is helping, and we have latex gloves to poo pick and put into the compost heap

 

Apologies for the size of a couple of those pics, I have resized them, just waiting for that to take effect.

 

 

Gorgeous pics! your girls look so cute!! Do you think maybe it stays unsmelly because you have only got 2 hennies? also does the cable tie idea make it easier to attach the shade at short notice then? usually we are out there when its chucking it down putting them on!

[squiffs]

 

 

Gorgeous pics! your girls look so cute!! Do you think maybe it stays unsmelly because you have only got 2 hennies? also does the cable tie idea make it easier to attach the shade at short notice then? usually we are out there when its chucking it down putting them on!

 

 

They are sweethearts I don't think only having 2 makes it unsmelly - the flies did gather VERY quickly before we got a flitrap, and I definitely think the poops smelled quite strongly, especially on warmer days!

 

The cable ties worked a treat - we cable tied the bottom end of the shower curtain to the end near the eglu and rolled it back into a sausage on hot days, and when it looked like rain we unravel it and use the shower curtain hooks to attach the top end to the end of the run near the door it's brilliant because even if it's windy, one end is already attached and all we need to do is pull it forward and clip the curtain rings

[mollyripkim]

I have found that giving them bokashi bran reduces the poo smell too.

[squiffs]

I have found that giving them bokashi bran reduces the poo smell too.

 

Costs a small fortune too!

[sadietoo]

I have an eglu classic with an extended run and use aubiose in my run which is a type of hemp horse bedding. It is sold in 20K bags for about £10 at our local shop, and a bag lasts me at least four months (often longer depending on how much free ranging time they get). Aubiose seems to absorb the poo so keeps smells to a minimum, I use it in the poo tray too. I tried wood chip initially, but I found it very expensive and very unpleasantly smelly in a short length of time, if you don't keep on top of the poo picking. This really isn't a problem with aubiose..I don't bother with poo picking, just rake off about 25 % every so often and top it off with fresh, and also it is completely compostable...I would really recommend it or something similar.

[squiffs]

I have an eglu classic with an extended run and use aubiose in my run which is a type of hemp horse bedding. It is sold in 20K bags for about £10 at our local shop, and a bag lasts me at least four months (often longer depending on how much free ranging time they get). Aubiose seems to absorb the poo so keeps smells to a minimum, I use it in the poo tray too. I tried wood chip initially, but I found it very expensive and very unpleasantly smelly in a short length of time, if you don't keep on top of the poo picking. This really isn't a problem with aubiose..I don't bother with poo picking, just rake off about 25 % every so often and top it off with fresh, and also it is completely compostable...I would really recommend it or something similar.

Yes but if it rains, aubiose soaks that up too and becomes mushy.

[Egluntyne]

Yes but if it rains, aubiose soaks that up too and becomes mushy.

 

Many of us who use Aubiose in the run put a cover over the run. I also find that pond lining between the Aubiose and the paving stones prevents moisture seeping up from below, and so it stays dryer and more absorbant for much longer.

[sadietoo]

I have an eglu classic with an extended run and use aubiose in my run which is a type of hemp horse bedding. It is sold in 20K bags for about £10 at our local shop, and a bag lasts me at least four months (often longer depending on how much free ranging time they get). Aubiose seems to absorb the poo so keeps smells to a minimum, I use it in the poo tray too. I tried wood chip initially, but I found it very expensive and very unpleasantly smelly in a short length of time, if you don't keep on top of the poo picking. This really isn't a problem with aubiose..I don't bother with poo picking, just rake off about 25 % every so often and top it off with fresh, and also it is completely compostable...I would really recommend it or something similar.

Yes but if it rains, aubiose soaks that up too and becomes mushy.

 

Just to second Egluntyne's advice. I have a shower curtain over my run, which keeps it dry enough to not be a problem ...I don't have a pond liner underneath, (but maybe just lucky.) but it's a very good idea too.