Single hen

[Sarah 2]

It's a bit embarassing but I've had my eglu for 3 weeks now and haven't given it a good clean yet. I thought it was once a month job. Done the nest and poo tray loads though. Anyway, I was going to do it this weekend but due to the weather I haven't yet. I read that you can use vinegar to clean the eglu, does anyone know how much vinegar to water I need?

[Couperwife]

Hi, we gave ours a good clean down using the hose pipe, it worked fine.

[Egluntyne]

I used the power washer on mine yesterday.... brilliant.

 

I know vinegar is an earth friendly way of cleaning......but I've found that it attracts little black flies.

[Gallina]

I can well imagine that vinegar attracts flies: I wouldn't use it. Ordinary washing-up liquid is fine: I put a drop of tea-tree oil in with it because I like the smell.

 

And don't worry when your read that some people take their Eglu apart and scrub it out twice a week. There are others of us who empty the poo tray often and wipe down the dirty parts fairly regularly, but only give it a good clean very occasionally. The main thing is to inspect the ends of the bars when you clean them to check for red mite.

[xScrunchee]

For the first couple of weeks I was cleaning the whole thing out twice a week but realised that it wasn't dirty enough to go to such lengths so now I just clean the poo tray out 2-3 times a week, the nest a couple of times, s"Ooops, word censored!"e any muck off of the roosting bars daily and give it a proper scrub once a week or fortnight, depending on the weather, how much time I have and how dirty it is.

The good thing is that providing they have food and clean water and

are not left to get too smelly-you can get away with leaving some jobs a little longer if you really haven't got the time that week or whatever.

 

I know that I spoil my girls in other ways and go above and beyond what they actually require but that makes me happy more than them.

I have just got a clear plastic raincover for the run to keep them dry but noticed yesterday that some rain was getting in through the run door end so I put the garden parasol there to slow down the rain!!

Why I bother I really don't know-the hens don't seem to mind the rain but I didn't want their run to get wet so that their little feet were in constant damp!

 

I am a bit of a saddo-outside getting drenched right through just to make sure my girls are nice and dry, OH keeps reminding me that they are hens and are used to living outside!

If I could have them living in the house I think I probably would!!!

[UkButton]

...Phew I thought I'd be in the garden for the rest of my (the Chickens) life.

[Olly]

I agree - as long as they are happy, and let's face it hens are not particularly fastidious then don't worry too much; as long as they have clean water, and there's not too much poo, don't worry too much. I just don't have time to clean the whole thing every week - it doesn't take long when you get down to it, but I reckon once a month is plenty.

 

There are people here who clean it twice a week, but then there are also people (I am told) who hoover every day ...

[chelsea]

 

There are people here who clean it twice a week, but then there are also people (I am told) who hoover every day ...

 

 

I AM one of those people....and I hoover TWICE a day sometimes!!

[Sarah 2]

I won't be using vinegar to clean the eglu. But I have been using apple cider vinegar in their water. Have noticed a few little black flies about. Not that they drink it apparently rain water is much nicer. But I've just added a few drops of citronella to their poo tray and bars.

[chocchick]

If anyone wanted to know they could try SuperKate (I'm guessing here) or the sticky on green cleaning, or green cleaning book.

I use poultry shield for cleaning.

[Mrs Frugal]

I've never used vinegar for cleaning out the Eglu but I use it regularly in the house for getting rid of limescale etc and cleaning windows.

 

I've only ever used a squirt of washing up liquid and maybe a few drops of tea tree oil to clean out the girls and it works really nicely. In fact, the Eglu is currently out of use as we've got Jenny, Clarry and Izzy in the Cube and all I used to clean it out was a bowl of hot water and rinsed it over with a watering can full of clean water.

[Hen Watch]

I'm a washing up liquid fan as well.

 

When they first arrived, I started off cleaning my entire eglu every few days, and scrubbing roosting bars every other day (they did get really squirty poos when they first arrived).

 

But I've settled into a different routine now that I've had them for 2 months. I do full eglu wash down with a hose (and bubbles) once a week and change roosting bars (I've got a spare set). Poo tray cleaned every few days and check on nest box too. I move the eglu run every few days as I don't have a permanent site, so it's a merry-go-round around the lawn. Seems to evolve this chicken keeping lark......