Single hen

[jellyb100]

We have now clipped their wings and cleaned the eglu for the first time. It was quite stressful! We are definitely still getting used to picking them up - I felt awful as they obviously weren't too keen! I am sure it will get easier.

 

They really didn't like the cleaning of the eglu - they hid in it when it was done and only ventured out into their run and no further! Doris made a run for it into the house which was quite amusing.

 

I have bought some corn on the cob as a peace offering.

 

They have been talking to the cat through the run this week but I don't know what mowzer thought of them face to face - he really wasn;'t sure about this new creature and tried to take a swipe. I don't think he'll do it again!

 

How do your chickens respond when you are cleaning it? Do you exclude them from the area completely? Do they get used to it? Do you clean it all every week or just roosting bars and poo tray (I use newspaper in the bottom).

 

Thanks and sorry for more questions!

[chelsea]

our chickens free range when we clean but they are rather nosey and come peeking if we are cleaning it......yours will get used to it !!

 

We do a big dismantle and clean every weekend where everything is hosed off and scrubbed, we also clean out the run and replace the hemcore. We have spare roosting bar set - so we rotate them every clean.

 

Midweek (wednesdays) we do a "mini" clean, where the poo tray is removed and cleaned out.

 

I admit I am a bit obsessive when it comes to cleaning the eglu, I dont like the idea of my girls being in mess (but thats just me )

 

Citronella is fab in the poo tray for keeping away the flies.

[BeckyBoo]

Hi Jellyb, I've just cleaned ours for the first time, and I was pleasantly surprised at the mess, nowhere near as bad as I expected. We've got a cube and they all ran and hid under it whilst I was raking out the bark, which I didn't really need to do cos it wasn't all that mucky, but have now got some Aubiose and put it in the run, the nest box and the poo trays. I think this will be the one and only time that I really enjoyed mucking them out, I loved it, altho I did wear rubber gloves which, if I'm not careful, will get OH calling me Hyacinth!!

 

Mrs B

[jellyb100]

I didn;t use rubber gloves! Will I catch some horrid disease? I did wash my hands thoroughly afterwards!. I need to get some...

 

It's so funny how their personalities are coming out now.

 

They weren't sure what to do with the corn on the cob - when I picked bits off they gobbled it up, but couldn't quite work out what was going on! I've left them in the run to see if they'll work it out!

[starboyhull]

Ours havent worked out what to do with corn on the cob yet either.....So for now I will have to keep picking it off for them.......Other people say theirs eat it no problem.......Maybe its an age thing???

 

 

Karl

[BeckyBoo]

I gave ours corn on the cob and they just looked at it like it was an alien landed! I left it in the run and after a day and a half they got the hang of it, now they love it. As well as grapes cut in half, earthworms and dried mealworms which they would follow you to the end of the earth for which is quite handy.

And I only used gloves cos we're supposed to be going out tonight and I didn't want black nails (how vain!) and cos the inside of the nest box had got soggy and the hay was really yuk - I didn't know if it was rain or wee so wimped out and wore gloves. Can't imagine you'll catch anything if you washed them afterwards!

 

Mrs B

[Couperman]

We have done a few mini cleans of the Cube itself. We waited till they had done their laying, locked the Cube door and gave it a good scrub. I hosed the roosting bars down on the driveway. Chicken poo is obviously really acidic as it dissolved the surface of the drive a tad! You can see where it was laid.

We haven't tackled the run yet. If it ever stops raining we will do it tomorrow when the hens get parole. The Easybed is looking more like mud now with the non-stop rain and the other chicken additions!

It doesn't smell too bad though.

 

Kev.

[jellyb100]

I returned home after being out this evening to find that the corn has been eaten. I think they were just pretending so I would feed it to them!

[xScrunchee]

I think that this may just be me but I don't find it that easy to clean my girls out.

It probably doesn't help that I have a 2 year old running about all over the place trying to 'help' me!

I moved my girls run onto the patio about 5 weeks ago with the intention of getting some Hemcore to go into the run. I used straw and sawdust in the run just until I picked the Hemcore up but then my Dad passed away unexpectedly and I still haven't picked up my Hemcore (am getting it this week though).

The straw and sawdust was being kicked out of the sides of the run which looked a state and was constantly being walked indoors by the kids, cats, dog etc, so yesterday I wired wood panels all around the bottom of the run to contain some of the 'mess'!

I find it hard to sweep up because it all gets caught in the wire skirt and I have to jet it all out with the hose which then floods the grass and covers it with old straw which looks-well, gorgeous!!

I also picked up a clear polythene sheet from Wilkinsons for £3.99 and have now cut it to size and attatched it with bulldog clips. I am hoping that this will make cleaning the run easier as it should be drier rather than a caked on damp mess that has to be s"Ooops, word censored!"ed up!

 

The Eglu itself is no problem but the run is hard work-I end up crouched down crawling about s"Ooops, word censored!"ing the floor then I hose it all out and end up with soggy straw and sawdust everywhere. This is made even more claustraphobic feeling when little Liam (my two year old) decides to shut Mummy in the run!

What am I doing wrong? Am I making an easy job hard? I can't imagine anyone else has this problem-I'm hoping that once I get my Hemcore, I won't have to clean it all out every week therefore I will only have this performance every 6 weeks which may be a little easier.

[Jill]

I am afraid I am not quite as eager as you all with the cleaning out. I wash the eglu each week but as I have hemcore in the run it can go a few weeks. I find it best just to move the eglu and run a couple of feet and then move it back again. It is not very heavy and my biggest problem is the chickens getting under my feet all the time. They think it is wonderful trying to find anything they might have missed. (and they will have to wait now as I certainly won't be doing it in the rain!)

[Olly]

my Eglu is on earth - I don't know how it works if you have it on slabs - I just rake out loose Aubiose, sprinkle some lime, and chuck some fresh aubiose in. I do this about every six weeks. With all this rain, it does look rather grubby in there but the girls don't seem to mind!

 

I only clean the Eglu every 3-4 weeks (depending on weather/time) and I swop the roosting bars for my spare set - the rest of it I just hose down, I don't find the inside of the Eglu gets particularly dirty. Oh, and I empty the poo tray every 3 days or so, and chuck some more aubiose in.

 

I reckon a whole clean only takes me about 30-40 mins though, and most of that is scrubbing the roosting bars.

 

I do agree, xscrunchee, mine kick the litter out through the sides of the run and it's really annoying! I keep meaning to do what you've done, and put 'kick-boards' on - it's on my to do list.

[Couperman]

We have just done our first major Cube overhaul!

 

It is impossible to clean out the run without moving it. So we let the hens out dropped the undercarriage and proceeded to taxi it down the garden so we could shivel the shut so to speak. The chooks thought this was a great game!! They were running around under our feet in and out of the run whilst we were moving it! Got the job done and managed to corral them back in just before the heavens opened..again.

 

I think next time I might move it before they have got up, it might make life easier!

 

Flurry is still being a little tinker! wouldn't come out at first, and then she wouldn't go back in!

 

I chased her all round the garden and finally caught her in the front room!

It was like that training scene out of Rocky! I needed 'lighting greasy fast speed'!

 

What a giggle!

 

We should have done this years ago!

 

Kev.

[The Pearsons]

Our main problem is not standing on the chooks when we move the cube or clean it out. They do like to be all over your feet.... I put some treats away from where we were working but that didn't keep them busy for long.....

 

I was home early on Friday and "caught" my next door neighbour feeding the ladies sweet corn. She did blush a little bit but I thought it was funny. She admits to coming into our garden at least twice a day to talk to the hens.... and there we were worried the neighbours would object. The neighbours on the other side of us are trying to get me to buy a rooster as they like the noise and miss it since the old boy belonging further up the street died ......

 

Helen in Hume

[Egluntyne]

Mine get a mega clean once a month (dismantle and power wash) and a twice weekly mini clean of the poo tray and nesting box.

[beach chick]

I do it all once a week - dismantle, powerwash, ecover, rinse, leave to dry (ha ha), spray with bird friendly disinfectant. go round the run with the hose to break up the poo. then I tend to leave it all in the sun (again, ha ha) for a couple of hours before I put it back together.

am considering removing poo tray mid week, but it seems ok so far and its such a faff to take the cover off the compost heap...

[UkButton]

Sorry just checking my signature

[Cherryl]

Hi

 

Have been cleaning, and a few questions (yeah I know......)

 

Do if you use just warm water, bucket, scrubbing brush and rubber gloves

 

should you use, washing up liquid or disinfectant (am going to buy some citronella sp, so that question will be redundant

 

What is the best tool for getting poo off the bars (the girls can manage to get it down inbeteween the bars so me scrubbing brush doesn't fit)

 

And... how do you manage to dry everything when its wet ?

 

Managed to clean and dry on Saturday morning in between the showers, but am now getting concerned about cleaning and drying in less clement weather, say July

 

All the girls are fine, getting huge (no eggs), and gobby (take after their mum !)

 

 

thanks

Cherryl

 

Canine girls, Sophie 15, Sadie 13, chicken girls, Treacle and Biscuit

[Egluntyne]

I use a wall paper s"Ooops, word censored!"er and a stiff brush to get the poo off if i'm not using the power washer.

 

I use a few drops of Ecover washing up liquid and the same of tea tree oil.

 

I have spare roosting bars so I just swap the wet for the dry, and I have a loppy disgusterous old towel to give the plastic bits a dry if the weather is not good.

 

It gets washed by itself!

[Cherryl]

Hi Eglutine

 

Thanks for all those tips, it was getting the nexting box that was worrying me as well.

 

Have to admit, did think about getting one of the sun parsols out and setting it up over the dismantled bits to keep them dry, or even going out and buying one of those push up gazebos.

 

Have some bird disinfectant (from the pet shop), which I squirt and dry ocassionally.

 

umm.. just thought of something else... could you put roosting bars in a dishwasher (on their own of course), and could you do the same with glug and grub (my youngest nephew thought that that is what the chicks should have been called )

[Olly]

someone on here, I think it's Claret, put hers through the dishwasher before Plastidipping them - I should think that, like most wooden things, they would split if you did it too often.

 

You can definitely put the Glug and Grub through ... but I can't bring myself to. I don't know quite why, I just don't fancy it, but lots of people on here do it regularly. My Glug is now quite grubby in the bottom, I hose it out, but the girls seem quite happy drinking from stagnant puddles anyway if they get the chance!

[Cherryl]

Hi Olly

 

Thanks for the info

 

Also leads on to another thing I have been thinking about - tap water.

 

Is it okay for them to drink it, worry about chlorination (sp), and I know the dogs perfer their water once it has stood for a while (and oh yes the joy of drinking out of puddles)

[Olly]

well that's what I give mine - never thought twice about it, to be honest! by the time they drink it, it's probably stood for a while, as I keep a water-bottle in the greenhouse where their food is, and fill the Glug from this.

 

I haven't noticed them being fussy about it. They do drink less when it's raining, as they like to suck raindrops off the bars ... now that's probably full of carbon deposits and whatnot!

[beach chick]

I keep a watering can next to the run for topping up glug and grit bowl. on the plus side, I guess it's had a chance to dechlorinate (is that a word?), on the minus side it's probably full of rainwater, wildbird poo etc etc. but as they like to stamp in their own poo when I've hosed it on the grass, I dont get too concerned!

 

edited to add: special can for the chickens so I dont use one that's had tomato feed or something poisonous in it.

[jellyb100]

I am loving this chicken keeping lark! I managed to get Frankie to sit on my lap to get some corn. She didn't stay long as Mavis tried to get up there aswell and freaked them both out! They are loving pecking at our wedding rings. We are finding it hard to shut them in for the night as if they see us coming they run out again!

 

Hours of amusement!