Warm boot recommendations please

[enzed]

I got my chickens just over a week ago. We have now moved the eglu for the 3rd time. I'm just wondering what the best way is to clean up the lawn, both after we've moved the eglu, and while it's in it's place. My gorgeous girls spill feed everywhere, so there ends up with a big pile of uneaten feed under the food container. I'm not so worried about how it looks, but worried that all this feed will end up attracting rats or mice, and cause trouble in the garden. And if there is an easy way to collect the poo inside the run, can someone tell me? It's not the smell, just the flies that I want to try to prevent. Am I just being unrealistic about keeping chickens? They just seemed like an easy fun pet to look after and this is my only problem.

 

For the moment, we have been using our flymo, which has a collection bin attached, but the chickens hated it, and we don't really have the time to mow the grass every 3 days.

 

Thanks in advance for your assistance

[Nicola H]

I had the same problem when I first got my chickens nearly 3 years ago, the food stinks when it gets wet, I now have my chickens in a permanent barked area the poo seems to disappear into the bark and the area is much cleaner. I would suggest you hose the food and poo into the grass, I do this when mine freerange and it does stop the flies, but you will have to do it every day, at the moment it is easy for me to do when I water the baskets and veg garden. I hope this helps, more people should be along soon to give suggestions............

[Jools]

Their food will stink if it gets wet and starts to go off. I find that by not putting too much food in the feeder, then tend not to chuck it around everywhere and when it runs out, they eat what they've spilled. I'm talking about just a day's worth of food in the feeder per day.

 

I also poop pick daily and put it on the compost heap. You can then just hose the remnants away when you move the run and it stays much cleaner.

 

Just think about all those lovely eggs while you're doing the chores!

[chelsea]

is there any way you can have a permanent spot in the corner somewhere for your chickens?

 

We have a nice little spot for them under a tree...we have made it look pretty with stone chippings and potted plants and use hemcore in the run which really is magic and keeps away smells and absorbs poos and wet. We let out our girls to free range in the garden and use the hosepipe daily to blast up the poos on the grass and decking.

 

Try some citronella oil on a piece of kitchen roll in the droppings tray - we have no flies in our eglu, I also slip a piece of kitchen roll with few drops of citronella under the summer/winter shade which keeps flies down in the run.

 

Try not to worry, chickens do poo an awful lot but you will soon have the knack of things.

[Hen Watch]

Whilst chickens are free ranging once a day I squirt a hose inside the run to "disolve" the poos. I move my eglu every few days (might go for a permanent site come winter though). I use a lawn rake on the old patch of grass and scoop up debris for the compost bin, then hose it all down. Lawn recovers after a week.

 

By the way, the first 2 weeks my lot arrived were the worst for poos. Then it settled down. You do get used to it though. My chickens now ignore my hubbies petrol mower, so you could go back to "plan A" once they are used to it.

 

Aubiose (or Hemcore) in the poo tray helps suck up moisture too. Get a bale of either of these from horse supplies outlet.

[Jill]

They are dreadfully messy aren't they? I tried moving the eglu every couple of days but my lawn was a terrible mess so like loads of others I now have a permanent area with edging around it. I have hemcore in the run and bark around the outside. I don't have a problem with flies as the hemcore has citronella in it and I use citronella oil in the droppings tray as well and red mite powder which smells of tea tree oil. Once you get yourself sorted you will love having chickens, its only at the beginning that it seems a bit difficult.

[Ziggy]

Hi,

We've done the same, after seeing how the girls destroyed and messed up any portion of loan we put them on in more time than we could move them, we build a permanent area with bark and hemcore and hedging just for them... it looks really nice, and the love playing in the bark, digging and foraging around. It saves work too, I find the eglu, though not very heavy, is not particularly light to drag around to a new portion of grass every couple of days.

[Hotlipz]

I also gave in and we converted an old disused kennel run into a permanent chicken run with bark chips and hemcore as the base. i also put some logs in the run for them to climb on when its wet and a covered area for them to shelter underneath. they still have the eglu which is attached to this run but I just couldnt manage them digging up the garden lawn any more (I actually count gardening as one of my top hobbies so the two didnt go together too well). I have however bought the netting from Eglu and make small grassy runs on various parts of the lawn and just put them there for an hour or so which they seem to enjoy and my lawn stays intact.

 

I also let them loose on the vegetable patch when I'm hoeing which they abosolutely love and will dig around for worms and bugs wherever you are digging - the only problem is that Leia prefers the spinach

[Jane and Martin]

We now have a chcken area in the garden protected by an electric fence, with railway sleepers and plants so it looks like part of the garden, although the lunar landscape they have ceated for dust bathing is a vision to behold. This made life better because there is only so may times you can watch a golden retriever eat chicken poo without being totally disgusted. Also took away the fox anxiety.

[zircon]

Slip a seed tray just under the grub feeder, this tends to catch most of the spillages.

[Christian]

- the only problem is that Leia prefers the spinach

 

I have planted spinach just for the chickens

[Kathy C]

We have put an old rubber car mat under the feeder. They easily pick up the dropped pellets and can scratch it to their hearts content.

 

Try a few (5) grains of dried garlic in their glug. It is available from horse feed places. This should keep poo smells down. Only the yellow poos seem to smell now we do this.

[enzed]

thanks for all the replies, to my first (and almost definitely not last) question.. Have been thinking that eventually we will put some bark down and have a permanent chicken area, but will try some of those suggestions.

 

thanks again, hopefully in a few months I will be knowledgeable enough to answer some questions, rather than just asking them!

[The Dogmother]

My chooks are on a permanent area, with Hemcore in the run. They used to make a dreadful mess feedign fromt he Omlet Grub, and now that I have 8 birds, I have bought a small galvanised trough with a lip to stop them kicking the food out - it stays dry under the run cover and works a treat.

[Suzanne]

My gorgeous girls spill feed everywhere, so there ends up with a big pile of uneaten feed under the food container.

 

I have bought a narrow rectangular tray which I put just under their "Grub" and any food they spill drops onto this. (well most of it )

 

I also have a fine rake that I use to get out any poo in their run and as they free range it does not get too messy.

Reading all your advice,I think that I will have them on slabs for the winter.

Suzanne

[Edgeman]

I have had my girls for Three weeks now and started them on the Lawn.

 

We moved them after 4 days on to another patch of lawn. They did make quite a difference to the grass and I have no idea that they would eat so much of it

 

I then moved the run every Two days. After each move I gave the grass a good rake over to get the dried poo and dead grass/moss out. Also a daily watering. It was quite warm here the first Two weeks.

 

I have moved the girls on the bark now to give the lawn a rest and they seem to be fine about the whole move. As soon as they come out at 6.10pm its time to inspect the grass !

 

I have also grass seeded the lawn and put some seed in shallow trays to germinate, when there is enough growth I will put a tray in the run for the girls to nibble/desimate during the day.

 

This was a tip from another Omleteer.

 

I hope this helps

[Edge Wife]

Hello. And the lawn actually looks better for it? It seems much more lush and green, probably because we are paying it more attention. You are right though, they were like three rampant lawn mowers at first.

 

There are some fantastic tips in this segment though which we could adopt. I am very interested in this hempcore or whatever it is. is it expensive and what is the texture? do you put something on top of it? how does it work? Edgeman - get your wallet out, we are going to the horse shop at the weekend!!!!

[Laura & CTB]

Have a look here:

http://www.hemcore.co.uk/bedding.html

 

Hemcore ( or Aubiose - it's more or less the same stuff) is great if you want a permanent site for your chooks. It's very absorbent so soaks up the poos so they kind of disappear into it it dries very quickly if it gets wet.

 

I use one bale - costs about £7.50 from horsey shops, rake it around every few days then after a couple of months chuck the whole lot out and start again - it's also very compostable.

I also use it in the nest box and poo tray ( and the cat has it in her litter tray too)

[Guest]

Like others I have a tray under the grub (mine's a cat litter tray) to catch the food.

 

The food smells so awful when it goes off that I almost can't get near enough to clear it up. Since using the tray, I haven't had a problem

[kannie]

We quickly moved to a fixed area with bark or hemcore, too. When the hens stayed with my sister, last summer, she had the eglu on her lawn. We put a green plastic mesh lawn protecting thing down first: it meant the hens could eat the grass but not scratch it.

 

The lawn still looked an awful mess at the end of the holiday, even though they moved the run regularly, but the lawn did recover and the chickened patches looked much greener and healthier than the un-chickened areas!

 

On the mash-mess, our hens have recently been on growers mash, as we had 2 new youngsters, and they ate it beautifully with no spilling. Last weekend we moved them on to layers mash, and now they're chucking it out wildly as they eat! Not sure why. Think I'm going to have to re-instate the plastic tray underneath.

[TESSANN]

Hi there,

 

What a useful post this is.

 

I am still confused tho !! Lots has been said about using bark or woodchips in the run etc and despite bark apparantely giving off some sort of harmful bacteria alot of folks still use it.

 

Personally I prefer the look of bark to woodchips but am reluctant to use it and wondered how others have decided to use bark over woodchips.

 

Your comments and opinions would be so helpful.

 

Many thanks

Rosemary

[Jools]

Woodchip is better than bark as it doesn't absorb so much water and there's less risk of asperligosis(sp? ) which is the problem with bark. If you have a covered run though, I'd go for hemcore or aubiose.