Omlet cube and run

[carrotspine]

Hi all,

I need some advice about what would be the best ground to keep chickens on. I currently have a raised bed in my garden, which is 4 metres long and raised up about 40cm high. I used to grow vegs in it but the last couple of years it has just been full of soil. My two cats have taken to using this as a toilet though. I am just about to get rid of the turf in my garden and replace it with large gravel and wood chip (for the chickens free range bit). My plan initially is to take off about 20cm of soil from the raised bed (to remove cat doings) and turf on the top. Can someone advise me whether this would be a good idea or should I be thinking about taking all the soil out due to cat toxins? The other alternative is to completely remove the raised bed and have the chickens at ground level on turf in their enclosed run. I just want to try and save some money on skip hire and the nightmare of removing about three tons of earth!

Thanks for any advice, Caroline By the way, not got my chickens yet, just my eglu and run.

[AlisonH]

Personally I think putting turk down may be a waste of time as the chickens will destroy it pretty quickly. With regards to the cat doings, I would have thought that removing the obvious ones digging down a bit to check would be sufficient. I have a neighbour's cat come into our garden occasionally and the chickens scratch around but it doesn't seem to have caused a problem. BUT don't quote me on that, someone else may say something different. We use large bark chips on ours and that seems fine.

[Chicken deficient]

Hello!

 

Congratulations on your imminent chicken keeping!

As far as suitable substrates go for your Eglu run, turf will not last two seconds - the chickens would marmalise it! They would love it whilst it was there though.

If the run was on loose soil in the bed, depending on how secure your garden is, there would be a risk of things digging and getting into the run. Also, I think loose soil would be very difficult to manage in terms of cleaning out droppings and dealing with mud in wet weather.

I think - but see what others have to say - that the top two options for siting a static run would be to either have the run on solid earth or paving slabs, either way with bedding on top, whether hard wood chip if the run is open to the elements, or something like Hemcore if it is covered and so will keep dry.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

I wouldn't go to any trouble removing the turf if your girls are going to free-range there - they'll do it for you . You may want to dig it up a bit when they've eaten/scratched up all the grass but they'll enjoy destroying it in the meantime. I also wouldn't turf the raised bed - it won't last a week .

 

Re the raised bed, it sounds like a good area for a run. Not sure about the cat poo, someone may know more. You can put down powdered disinfectant (Stalosan F or Bio-dry are just two) but not sure if they deal with cat poo nasties or not.

 

Rather than spending money now, I wouldn't remove the soil in the run (except maybe the top to remove the cat poo, as suggested above) and would just wait and see how it works for you. If you keep the run covered, you can use horse bedding on top of the soil which works well.

[carrotspine]

Thanks everyone for all your advice,

We're actually ' doing up the garden' as it's all turf and the drainage is rubbish. It's a bit backward I know, getting it nice then getting some garden destroyers to come and live here! In my rosey view of the world it will be lovely with happy chickens pecking in their area ( mmmmmm.........) and me and the family sitting in our bit watching them!

I hadn't thought about the run getting muddy (doh) but it's given me something to think about. Its not been too bad so far but then we haven't had anything digging it up in the rain, naturally the cats come running in at the first sign of a black cloud!

I won't bother with the turf though if it's not going to last! Not sure about paving slabs as it's more money. Think I will try digging down on the raised bed, removing what I can of cat droppings and then try bark or wood chip that can be replaced easily ( or my husband will!)

I just can't wait to get everything done and then get some girls in my household full of men!

[Jenthelibrarian]

I have an Eglu Classic in an area edged with the same boards as my OH used to make my raised beds.

 

We have a couple paving slabs, one each under their food and water, to keep the ground underneath cleaner and less muddy, and use bark chippings over soil. We clean out once a week with some of the chip being replaced each time and we use ground sanitiser, and we do have rain covers of clear corrugated plastic sheet.

 

A long time back we were thinking of buying a house with a garden that would have been gorgeous, had it not obviously been used as a dog 'toilet'. We were advised to use Jeyes Fluid on the ground to clear any worms or infection. I wouldn't use this where hens are currently, but you might consider a weak solution on the are you plan to clear and than top it with a deep layer of chip or whatever

 

I'm going to do this on a raised bed that my cat has been 'using' all winter, having cordoned it off with netting to keep the cat out and the hens from dust-bathing. I will put plants on there in pots/grow-bags and give it a season of sun and rain before I plant directly into the ground again.

 

Hope you get sorted, do let us all see the pics!

[carrotspine]

Thanks jenniethelibrarian,

That's really helpful. Think we'll invest in a couple of paving slabs as you said. I've just had a big discussion with the OH and we are almost decided on the raised bed issue, now it's coming out completely, although it means a huge skip to take away the turf and soil. I never thought chickens would be so expensive! I think it's because it's all happening at once and I want them to be happy! I'm such a softy Once everything's done we can sit back and enjoy our new garden, new pets and a boiled egg or two! I can't wait to get them and post pictures, I've got a feeling though that once we've crawled around on the eglu run trying to get them in bed a few times we'll be back to diy land and building something bigger..........

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Why not miss out the first stage and go straight to the WIR ?

[Chicken deficient]

Why not miss out the first stage and go straight to the WIR ?

 

I was just about to say, what ever you do, you will end up changing it...and then start thinking about changing it again!

(For reference, also look up morehens disease).

[good_egg]

Ditto to the WIR!! Spent ages removing turf, adding drainage, laying membrane, sleepers and woodchip - now about to rip it all out for WIR... Wish I'd just gone straight for it! Lol

[carrotspine]

I would love to but OH is not so sure, let's just see how we get on first, is his mantra at the moment. I'm shocked he has agrees to chickens in the first place so I don't want to push my luck, he did drive to Devon last week to pick up our second hand eglu, which was a 600 mile trip! I've looked at the photos of the WIR and think it will happen but sometime in the future, just in case we're rubbish ar chicken keeping and it all goes pear shaped ( I doubt it really) but I want to stay on his good side in the meantime

I'm halfway through painting the fence at the moment, all this in aid of chickens, think they will be the most pampered birds in the UK, pretty much like my cats! Just want it all done then I can get started with my new pets!

[Chicken deficient]

...he did drive to Devon last week to pick up our second hand eglu, which was a 600 mile trip!...

 

Lucky it was somewhere nice!