koo2cat Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 HI there We have had our cube for 3 years and have been absolutely delighted with it. Easy to clean, no red mite (touches wood!) and fox proof. However, my girls have often got dirty bottoms . They are regularly wormed and de-liced, and kept in 5 star luxury! Given a good diet of pellets with just the odd treat now and then. They lay ok and otherwise appear to be in good health and do chickeny things and seem happy. When I discussed this with my chicken feed supplier he asked me if they roost on a bar so the droppings fall away from them and I said they were in a Omlet cube with roosting bars. He seemed to believe that the problem is the fact that the roosting bars don't have big enough gaps between them and aren't far away from the litter/ground. I thought about this and when I clean the girls out there is often poo actually on the bars which would be easy for them to sit in. This must then dry on their feathers and then attract more poo (if you see what I mean!). I just wondered what peoples thoughts were on this. I do get a bit fed up of having to wash my chickens bottoms all the time! Many thanks. Oh and apologies if this is in the wrong section but wanted to get the most people possible to read post! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mercedes55 Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 I've only had mine in a Cube and Eglu, so no experience of wooden housing with traditional perches. However my experience has been that some hens seem to lay looser poos even though they are all on the same diet. We have 7 hens, 3 ex batts and 4 pure breeds. One of our ex batts has had a mucky bottom pretty much since we got her over a year ago. Every day when I clean out the Eglu I can see where she's been sleeping as it's so messy, but it's only where she's been. One of our other ex batts sleeps in the nest itself and her poos are firm and her bottom is pretty much always clean. Our pure breeds all sleep on the perches in the Cube and although there is sometimes a bit of poo on the perches they all have clean bottoms. Our ex batt with the messy bum is our only ex batt who lays, so I don't think she is sick or anything, just seems to be the way she is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mollyripkim Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 My girls are in a cube with the plastic roosting bars and I haven't had a problem. Very occasionally there is a larger poo which hasn't fallen through but as they are quite "solid" the girls don't get messy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julia W Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 I've had my cube since 2008 and have recently bought a spare set of roosting bars, only because they aren't that easy to clean and I do it between cleaning out the cube so always have a clean set ready for the cleaned out cube. I must say my chickens bottoms are pretty clean though they do have a little bit of poo on the ends of their feathers, but I would agree that it would make life easier if the trays were lower down but this would mean a re-design of the cube to make it say even 6 inches taller to accommodate the extra space needed. I can't think of any way it could be modified. Originally I had a pretty large shed for my earlier chickens (pre 2008) and this had sort of cubicles along one side and then a shelf on top of these so they were sort of boxes. The roosting bar was above these cubicles roost and this did work very well. The poo all landed on the shelf above the roosting boxes so the eggs never got covered in poo. I do sometimes get fed up with the poo they walk into the nest box and deposit on the eggs sometimes, never had this with the old system and it can be a so and so to clean off the eggs. Any tips how to clean the eggs, people keep telling me I shouldn't use water and that there is a powder you should use to clean the eggs. Must admit I do use water and a little brush but dry the eggs thoroughly afterwards but always think that I shouldn't be doing that. Any advice on that please. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodcat Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 i have my girls in a wooden house at the moment and i also have one girl with permanently dirty knickers. I think it's because she has quite ample knicker feathers and it just gets caught. i trim them down when i clean her up as it's the only way they stay clear at all. I don't think the cube makes any difference if I'm honest i think they are just sometimes prone to it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jools Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 I doubt that's the cause of the dirty knickers, but I've found that roosting bars (in a Forsham house) were too close together and therefore regularly pooped on, whereas the perches I have in my other Forsham houses stay clean. I removed every other bar on mine and that helped to some extent. My preference though is for perches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mercedes55 Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 I do sometimes get fed up with the poo they walk into the nest box and deposit on the eggs sometimes, never had this with the old system and it can be a so and so to clean off the eggs. Any tips how to clean the eggs, people keep telling me I shouldn't use water and that there is a powder you should use to clean the eggs. Must admit I do use water and a little brush but dry the eggs thoroughly afterwards but always think that I shouldn't be doing that. Any advice on that please. I would imagine in an ideal world where we clean out the hens before they lay, then there wouldn't be a problem with poo getting on eggs. Most mornings I manage to clean my Cube out before any eggs are laid and I take the roosting bars out and wipe any poo off them. However there are times an egg is dirty, either with poo or mud and I just wipe it off with a bit of paper and only wash them just before using them. Apparently there is a coating on the eggs when they are laid which protects them from bacteria I think, need to read up on that again I think. You can buy stuff to clean the eggs with, but I really can't see the point unless you are selling them and want them to be pristine, although most people I know who get eggs from our girls like them to have the odd bit of dirt and rapport on them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UKMARCH Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 I have a classic and haven't really had a problem. I also have a spare set which I have ready to go so if I notice there is some poo on the bars I swap over and soak the dirty ones, one of mine has bigger feathers which catch a little occasionally. Poo on the eggs for me is more likely if someone has roosted over the nest box with their bottom facing the wrong way then they lay early! You can get an egg cleaning fluid to dilute with water but I don't know whether this would be worse as it must be chemical based and the egg has its own protective coating which dries when its laid so I don't use it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
witzend Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 how old to 'chick's have to be before you put the bars ba in an eglu? They're all 'perching' on things in the run but still sleep on bedding Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gongladosh Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 how old to 'chick's have to be before you put the bars ba in an eglu? They're all 'perching' on things in the run but still sleep on bedding I'd say about 12 weeks - I wouldn't do it any earlier as their bones would still be forming and you wouldn't want a hen with deformed bones! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
witzend Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 sorry if this appears twice - tried to post earlier this PM but it's not shown up!!! Are the bars simply to let poo fall down below or do they have a.n.other specific 'function' ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gongladosh Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 they lot poo fall down and older hens often like to roost on them so to a degree, they're a bit like a series of perches Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Hazel Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 Hi Some of my girls have dirty bottoms and some don't. Not sure why! How is it best to clean them? We tried washing them and the poo was dried on and wouldn't come off. How do you get them clean? Hazel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auntielizzie Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 Apologies if this is another silly newbie question, but what is the difference between roosting bars and perches? My wooden coop has two long wooden bars parellel to each other which run the whole length of the house and this is where my girls always sleep. The poo falls into the wood shavings underneath. Their nest boxes (3 of them) are tucked in on the side and they never sleep in there. Eggs are always nice and clean. Should there be other perches higher up or something instead of them sitting on the roosting bars all the time:? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gongladosh Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 HiSome of my girls have dirty bottoms and some don't. Not sure why! How is it best to clean them? We tried washing them and the poo was dried on and wouldn't come off. How do you get them clean? Hazel Mine can usually sort it themselves if they get enough opportunity to dustbathe! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Hazel Posted July 23, 2011 Share Posted July 23, 2011 Hi We free-range the girls most days and they get to bathe in the dust and dirt but still the poo stays on! Strange thing is that some are fine and some aren't and I guess they all eat the same stuff and do the same kind of things. Anyway, 2 or 3 are pretty bad and I'm wondering whether it would be better to cut some of it out. I've tried washing with water but it just doesn't shift it. Is there any product I can use? Maybe I'm being too gentle - I don't want to upset them but I would like them to be clean because I don't want any problems with flies etc. Any ideas? Hazel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lindafw Posted July 23, 2011 Share Posted July 23, 2011 i admit to cutting it off mine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnandkymberley Posted July 23, 2011 Share Posted July 23, 2011 Blossom had a REALLY bad bum, all the others were fine apart from hers so we cut them off, not the best thing to do in general but it was the best thing for Bloss xxxx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jools Posted July 24, 2011 Share Posted July 24, 2011 Apologies if this is another silly newbie question, but what is the difference between roosting bars and perches? My wooden coop has two long wooden bars parellel to each other which run the whole length of the house and this is where my girls always sleep. The poo falls into the wood shavings underneath. Their nest boxes (3 of them) are tucked in on the side and they never sleep in there. Eggs are always nice and clean. Should there be other perches higher up or something instead of them sitting on the roosting bars all the time:? Not silly at all but it sounds like a perfect arrangements You have perches higher than the nest boxes and as chickens prefer to sleep as high as possible, they'll choose your perches over the nest boxes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murtagh 1 Posted August 2, 2020 Share Posted August 2, 2020 Just a warning about hens with mucky bottoms...I hope it never happens to any of your girls, but one of mine got fly strike as a result. Very upsetting when the vet explained it to me. My girl had to be euthanized. I know it's difficult to keep them clean but dont forget to check daily any birds that have a tendency to get grubby at the back... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
