Single hen

[Constance]

I've been a member of the forum for about two weeks and have spent many a happy hour going through all the topics and getting a great deal of reasurance, help and laughter from all you kind and caring people.

My green ex-show eglu and run arrived a week and a half ago and it is now put together and in situ on one of the terraces of my allotment plot.

Last Friday afternoon we collected our four Black Rock pullets (only seven weeks old) from Launcesten in Cornwall. When we were almost home the heavens opened AGAIN - it was thrashing down with rain so my OH said "we can't put them in the run tonight, that would be too awful for them". so he decided that we should cover the bathroom floor with newspaper, put a large shallow box on the floor with soft wood shavings in, along with their grower pellets and water. To cut a long story short, they ended up on the toilet cistern, and spent a great deal of time strutting up and down admiring themselves in the mirror, and eventually roosted there and went to sleep. They woke us up in the morning at 5.20am - we went in to the bathroom and Yep! yov've guessed it -POO and wood shavings EVERYWHERE. Took them straight up to the allotment, settled them in, then came back and spent the next two hours hoovering, washing and disinfecting every surface. Never again.

 

A week on and Constance (O.H. insisted one should be named after me). Clarissa (after one of the 'Two Fat Ladies'). Henrietta (because you just have to name one of your chickens Henrietta), and Gertrude (after Gertrude Jeykll, the famous Victorian garden designer), and I'm sure she will certainly live up to her name.

 

When I started to write this topic I meant to ask a question, but I thought first I should give you a bit of information, for you to get to know a bit about us. The question is, now we have the eglu and we live about fifteen minutes walk away, (or we jump in the car depending on what time we have) we both work full time). Here I go again, getting away from the question.

OK we cannot let the girls free range so one of us goes up to the plot as soon as we wake, to open the door so they can come out in to the run every morning - when we finish work we go straight there before going home - by the time we get home, have a glass of wine, cook and eat our dinner. we have possibly just an hour to sit down and relax before one of us has to jump in the car drive to the allotment and creep up onto the plot to close the door. We are going to get an enclosure from Wells Poultry Housing for the eglu to stand inside so that they can safely free range while we are at work. AT LAST the QUESTION! My OH wants to keep it 'eau naturale' i.e. just earth, so the hens can scratch and peckaround . He does not appreciate the fact that it will take a lot of picking up and hosing (hence a muddy area) to keep it relatively clean, and I feel sure that it will be very smelly in the hot weather and will attract an awful lot of flies. He isn't keen on wood shavings either. I think it would be better to put down hemcore but he doesn't want to do that. DO YOU THINK IT WOULD BE A GOOD COMPROMISE TO PUT DOWN PEA GRAVEL OR WOULD THE POO BE EVEN MORE DIFFICULT TO GET RID OF? There! I've got to the question at last, and now I'm going home, or rather up to see to the Girls.

 

Look forward to hearing your comments and answers very soon. Goodnight.

[Olly]

what a great post - glad to hear your girls have settled in, chickens are brilliant as you have already gathered from everyone else on here!

 

I haven't tried gravel, but it would need hosing down ... with hemcore/aubiose you can just rake it out. If you just have earth, they will peck around but it will get awfully muddy in wet weather ... I'd go for hemcore or similar.

 

Just a thought - and there are differing opinions on here, and it depends on the fox risk - but there are some of us who don't close the Eglu door at night. Ever. Although there are foxes around, I'm as confident as I can be that the run itself is foxproof, I know there are some sad cases of people whose chickens have been 'got' through the run. It would save you two trips each day to open and close the door - mine get themselves up and put themselves to bed, and are absolutely fine with this.

 

PS I do love the idea of them 'roosting' on the toilet cistern!

[Looney]

Blimey! Hello Constance, loved your message!

 

Mine are on wood chippings and I am considering clearing the run area, putting slabs down and then wood chippings / hemcore on top of the slabs. With all the bad weather we've had plus the clay soil it is soooooo muddy in the run it is grim.

 

I find that spilt, damp food smells far worse than poo but my chickens insist on emptying it out of the feeder and scratting it into the floor before eating any

 

So, basically I have no idea about keeping them on gravel - sorry!

[The Pearsons]

Mine are on earth with a layer of hemcore. I move them every week.

 

Where the cube has been we make a raised bed and so far that has worked well but it is a new garden. I do have a cuning plan for when we have raised beds where we want them - then the cube and omlet run will sit on paving slabs covered with hemcore with hen walks from there to which ever raised bed needs digging over. Due to disability I have problems bending so will be using my hens as slave labour to dig the beds and clear up after I've got the crops in

 

 

I don't spread the hemcore as the hens push it where they want it anyway. I also have hemcore in the nest and in the poo trays.

 

I wish hemcore had been available when I had chickens 20+ years ago. It is wonderful stuff

 

Helen in Hume

[chelsea]

Hello and welcome to you from another Devon Omleteer !

 

We have hemcore in the run, with stone gravel/chippings around the permiter of the run (mainly for us to walk on). We used to have bark chipping around the outside of the run - but have found the chipping/gravel really good - as with all this rain its still lovely to walk on and the area around the eglu is not caked in mud. Its also really easy to hose down with the hosepipe as the poo just washes away.

 

I personally wouldnt put it in the actual run itself though, I would be worried it would be too hard underfoot for my girls (cos they are wooses and im a soft touch) so I go for the comfortable, convenient hemcore instead !!

Edited June 28, 2007 by Guest

[Egluntyne]

Pea gravel would be too hard on their feet.

 

How about paving slabs?

 

Fox and rodent proof and easy to hose down.

 

I top mine with Aubiose, which is compostable.

 

Am glad you are enjoying the chickens.

 

The bathroom tale was hilarious!

[chelsea]

paving slabs....excellent idea....

[beach chick]

I'd also be worried about cats pooing in gravel....

[starboyhull]

Hi Welcome to the forum......That did make me smile

 

We currently have ours on the grass and they do make a right mess of it.....I couldt imagine ours just on soil.....Even worse when its wet......

[chocolatefudge]

Hello to anyone who doesn't know me yet.

 

Day 15 of Pepperpot sitting on her Cream Legbar eggs, it's going really well!

I'm really proud of how well she is doing, even though I have to turf her off every evening ( which is a good excuse for a little stroke) to eat, drink and etc......

 

I just wanted to ask what is hemcore? I've never heard of it before.

 

Pepperpot is currently on woodchips, but when the chicks hatch I think I will move her on to the lawn, as it is quite big and we will be able to more her and the chicks regularly.

[AJuff]

I moved my hens from the destroyed grass to a gravel area last week. It has been great. The hens love scratching around in it. It is far less smelly than grass and when I hosed it down mid week the poo just disappeared under the gravel. The only thing to watch out for is they move the gravel around and they left a gap at the side. Easily resolved by raking it back in place or adding more, before Mr Fox notices though. It's my problem though as I put the eglu on top of the gravel, if I'd put the eglu on solid earth and then put the gravel in and around it would be ok. Would definately recommend it. They also eat small bits of it too . . .

[bridgy chooks]

Chocolatefudge ...hemcore is shredded hemp fibre that is used mainly for horse bedding. It absorbs poo really well and contains citronella to help keep the flies at bay. We buy it at mole valley farmers. There is info here... http://www.hemcore.co.uk/ hope this helps!

 

Constance - just a suggestion with your situation.. could you put a clear pvc (or something similar) roof on your new run you are getting therefore the area the chooks are in won't get wet and you won't get the mud problem? We've built a run recently and like others on here have pvc corrugated roofing and have put a layer of hemcore on top of the soil and it's working ok so far. Fox proofing is another story and there is lots of advice on here about it - we have put a wire skirt around our run and covered it with paving slabs. Hope this helps. Good luck

 

ps very funny tale about the chooks in the bathroom!!

[chelsea]

 

I just wanted to ask what is hemcore? I've never heard of it before.

 

 

You can buy it from horsey/farmery shops. Comes bales approx £6-7 and bale last for ages as its very compacted. I would describe it as a dry, fine, woody style bedding material which is highly absorbent as its used in stables. Hemcore has citronella impregnated into it....another similar material which is just as good is called Aubiose.

 

www.hemcore.co.uk - gives you info and you can find your nearest supplier

[Constance]

HEY, FANTASTIC RESPONSE - Thanks Olly, Looney, The Pearsons, Chelsea, Egluntine, Beach Chick, Starboyhull, Chocolatefudge, AJuff and Bridgy Chooks.

 

I need your help yet again. This is a serious question - I’d like some advice from anyone out there about one of girls. Constance in fact, she seems a little bit strange. I’ve watched her over the past few days and first of all, I noticed that she was a bit reticent and I’ve noticed over the passed two days that she stands very still in the middle of the run fluffed up with her eyes closed, while the other three are very lively, going about their business all around her, in fact they even bump into her, but she just stands there with her eyes closed, and then when I feed them some treats ie spinach, broccoli, dandelion leaves, etc. through the bars she will come up, peck and eat, but still very reticent in doing that. Then goes to the grub container puts her head in and pecks away for a while and then stands, fluffed up with her eyes closed again. She is drinking, and she even preens herself a little bit. BUT spends a lot of time just standing still, eyes closed. A couple of days ago I picked her up and felt to see if her crop was full because her chest was fluffed up I wondered if that was the problem– put my fingers into her chest feathers – but I couldn’t feel her crop at all, just her little breast bone. So I’m calling upon your expertise again.

 

On a lighter note, the enclosure that we are getting is from Wells Poultry House - I have put the link below, - won't be ready for approx. eight weeks, but it will be well worth the wait because it will free us up so much. It is very strong and secure - made with timber and mesh, has a mesh floor and a corrugated roof. When you look at the link you will see what I mean. It will be 6ft wide and 15ft long, which will allow us to place the Eglu inside and we will be able to leave the door of the Eglu open, so that we won't have to turn out last thing at night to go up to the allotment to close the Girls in. It is of such a size that they will be able to be totally safe to free range in side the enclosure, and be able to roost and wake up whatever time they wish.

 

www.chicken-house.co.uk I don’t think this will open so you may l need to highlight it and paste it or type it in, When you’ve found the site, scroll down to find the just the run only, not the ones with the coops attached.

 

Now, having read all your suggestions I have taken bits of each of your ideas and have devised a 'cunning plan'. I am going to overrule my OH and once I have told him what I have decided, and he sees it implemented, he will say. "I should have known better, and listened to you all along, you always find the best way of doing things". I reply with a shrug of my shoulders with the palms of my hands turned upwards and say, "I rest my case". (I shall show him what your ideas are - I shan't take all the credit. I will have done it with your help).

 

Now to my 'cunning plan'. Before the enclosure arrives I shall continually plant grass seed and red clover seeds on the plot and try to make it as lush as possible (fat chance with four hens, but one has to try) When the enclosure arrives, place some slabs right around the inside edge, and a path of slabs in the centre leading up to the entrance of the Eglu (are you starting to get the idea?) Then that will leave the grassed/clover areas for the Girls to decimate. Perhaps seal off one side of the enclosure for the grass to flourish and alternate the access for the Girls as required.

If that doesn’t work long term it is going to be Hemcore – Actually, it gets better. Hemcore one side of the enclosure, separated by the central slabbed path, leading to the Eglu and Grass/Clover on the other. Wow – this is going to be so fantastic. Oh yes! we can put the Eglu on slabs too. Can’t wait to tell OH what we are going to do. Roll on 4.30.

 

Have a great weekend everyone. We’re going to a Summer Party at Bridestowe, Devon, tomorrow afternoon, Have a great weekend everyone.

 

By the way, I shan’t always write such lengthy posts, so make the most of it while my literary mood is upon me. (Please say if I am writing too much – I won’t be hurt)

 

Constance.

[chocolatefudge]

Hi Constance, it sounds similar to the simptoms that my hen Gingernut had a few months ago. It was something called egg peritonitis (don't know how to spell it), the vet tried to describe it to me but it's a little complicated, I'm sure there are lots of people of the Forum who would know more. Anyway, it has something to do with proteins forming in the part of the hen where all her egg cells are stored. Unfortunately Ginger had to be put to sleep as it is very difficult to treat. I'm not sure I've helped at all and hope I havn't worried you too much.

[Hen Watch]

they ended up on the toilet cistern.....,-POO and wood shavings EVERYWHERE.

 

Henrietta (because you just have to name one of your chickens Henrietta),

 

Just wait until they are older... they will poo golf balls then....!!!

 

Yes, my daughter insisted on a chicken called Henrietta and one called Henny (very original).

 

I know you are a distance away from your chooks on the allotment and I may be opening a can of worms here. But my chooks (back garden ones admittedly) have their eglu door open 24 hrs a day and can let themselves in and out at will. I know some others on this forum are not comfortable with that as it depends on your location, fox population, soil type (ie. is it easy for a fox to dig up).

 

Regarding your poorly chook. I would suggest offering her food in your hand. I had a poorly chook a few weeks after they arrived and I thought she was eating/drinking OK but she wasn't and by the time I got round to hand feeding her, she was so feeble she couldn't lift her head up to eat. So if you can indulge your chook with some hand feeding, I would do so.

[KTee]

One possible alternative location for your Eglu would be outside the run with an opening made in the mesh so that the chickens can have the entire run available. Also, you can open/close the Eglu door without going into the run or leave it open all the time as they will be protected from predators both by the run and the Eglu.

It is something that I am about to do. In part, because I found that dismantling the Eglu to clean it in the confined space (30'x7') and with 4 enthusiastic feathered helpers whilst it is fun, it is also time consuming if you are not to tread on one of them or trap a neck between the Eglu parts!! Ouch.