Solitary chicken - need advice

[Dids53]

Hi All,

 

I am a newbie here and to keeping chickens, I have four ladies all four are Hybrids One of them Hillery is laying one egg a day, The others are at various stages of maturity and have not started laying yet although I believe they are all roughly around the same age, Give or take, I have them in a wooden coupe house with small run and nest box attached at the side, I have also built and attched an extension walk in run, This is set onto contreate paving in my garden in the patio area which then leads to a 100ft garden via a few stairs which when let out the girls run up the stairs of the patio and run to the end of the garden where they have pleanty of lawned grassed area and a dust bath also wooden and roofed built by my son, I consider they have quite a good life, They are kept in the hen house and run through the day whilst we are all at work , then in the evening they are let free to roam the garden for an hour or two in the evenings and at weekends weather permitting they are free to raom and supervised, as we do have a small urban fox problem, hence having to be watched, although to be honest we have not had any problems so far.

 

My question is around the cleaning of the hen house and run, My routine every evening is to wait untill they take them selfs off to bed and secured in the nest box all huddled together and then I jet wash the whole coupe and walk in run, I do this without fail every evening. The nest box i clean and change the straw every week or if badly soiled i will change the straw during the week, Every couple of weeks i steam clean the nest box where they sleep and apply mite powder and replenish the straw.

 

AM i doing the right thing.?

 

Also for the impending winter i have purchased a plastic cover for the hen house, and run which will cover the whole house except the walk in run it has clear plastic for where the doors are and in front so still allowing daylight and plenty of ventilation holes, At what point in the winter should I use this, I am based in central London an area where I am perhaps the only chicken keeper for miles around. a very unusual city area for this hobby. However I am enjoying the girls and their antics. and the daily egg.

 

[Patricia W]

Hi and welcome. We have some London chicken keepers on here so they'll probably be along to say hello too. I don't have a wooden coop so I'm no expert, but I think you're doing more than enough by jet washing every day. I'm assuming you mean the run area? If so, doesn't it make it muddy? Sorry if I'm misunderstanding.

[Dids53]

Hi Patricia,

Thank you for your post, To answer your question, No as stated the whole thing is built onto my patio area in the garden on concrete paving, yes I do jet wash the run house and run, The run is over a small drain which allows me to sweep the water away .and by the morning after having been jet washed its all fresh dry and clean, Until of course the girls are let out again, Within no time its all messed up again, I do wish we could potty train the girls.

[Olly]

I'm an outer-London chicken keeper, you're probably right that there are fewer people keeping hens in central London mainly because gardens tend to be smaller. Your set-up sounds fabulous, what lucky hens!

 

While I don't have experience of wooden coops, I'd respectfully suggest that you are worrying too much about cleaning. I clean my Eglu out once a week in summer, less often in winter and at the moment as I'm incapacitated due to a knee injury, it hasn't been done for two weeks and won't be for a while longer. I would have thought that jet washing a wooden house would make the wood rot eventually. I'd say that once a week is plenty, removing any soiled straw more often if necessary. There are some people on here who have wooden coops and they'll have more idea, but it sounds like a lot of work to me.

[Daphne]

My wooden coops get thoroughly wetted and cleaned (with poultry shield) about once a month with routine poo picking every other day or so and nest box material changing weekly or as needed. Its much easier in summer when you can let the house dry out properly, but in winter it can be a real challenge. With a plastic house you can dry up any excess moisture, but its impossible with wood. Damp is dangerous to chooks, particularly well feathered varieties, as it can lead to respiratory problems, so good ventilation is a must. Although we humans might like to see physically clean conditions, its actually the tiny lice/mites, dryness, ventilation and the absence of bacteria which we need to concentrate on more. I'd give yourself a break and clean a bit less often, you'll be in good company

[Dids53]

Thank you to everyone who has been kind enough to resond and offer advice, Clearly i am being a little obsessive with the cleaning regime, I will take on board what you have all said, One final question if I may, I am reading on here about this worming issue, What does one do for this, I am assuming there is a medication or other that can be purchased, How often does this need to be done and when?.

[Luvachicken]

Thank you to everyone who has been kind enough to resond and offer advice, Clearly i am being a little obsessive with the cleaning regime, I will take on board what you have all said, One final question if I may, I am reading on here about this worming issue, What does one do for this, I am assuming there is a medication or other that can be purchased, How often does this need to be done and when?.

 

Hello and welcome to the forum from me.

Flubenvet is the stuff to use

I do mine every 3 months.

You mix up a scoop of the worming powder with the correct amount of food and feed it for 7 consecutive days with no treats allowed for that week.

[Daphne]

You can also buy layers pellets with the flubenvet already pre-mixed in - Marriages is the brand, but not all outlets sell it.

[PoachedPlease]

I have a wooden run on concrete and used to jet wash each week. I do it now about every month and poo pick each day. In the coop I also poo pick each day so only need to totally replace the wood clippings when it needs it. Winter is worst as the chickens are n the coop for longer so it does need doing more regularly. You'll get a feel for it.

 

Xx

[Ain't Nobody Here]

I think we all start off cleaning everything to within an inch of its life but soon realise that our little darlings aren't going to perish if we relax our routine a bit .

 

I poo pick every day and take everything out and power wash it every couple of months. I don't really have to clean the eglu as they only lay in it.

[Dids53]

Hi To all,

Thank you all for your very helpful Advice, It seems from what you all say that I am being very obsessive about the cleaning issue, I just get very concerned about the girls walking about in their own poo. Seems I will have to change my cleaning regime, Thank you also for the advise on worming I have had my girls for about 3 months now so I will get the Flubenet as advised, The ready mixed food sounds the better idea.

 

Thank you again to all who offered their advice, Before embarking on keeping chickens K never knew there was so much interest, let alone a forum with such helpful people.

 

Thank you all.

Dave.

[Dids53]

I think we all start off cleaning everything to within an inch of its life but soon realise that our little darlings aren't going to perish if we relax our routine a bit .

 

I poo pick every day and take everything out and power wash it every couple of months. I don't really have to clean the eglu as they only lay in it.

 

HI Aint "Ooops, word censored!"ody Here,

Your run looks very simular to mine But the brilliant idea is the Eglu Inside. I was considering getting the eglu Cube, But having seen your setup I can see potentiial for not having to go for the cube, An eglu Classic would do the job just as well if i fit it in the run, How many birds can you keep in the eglu? I was under the impression that 2 birds was about the max but i have four hybrids, Would four fit in the eglu that you have?. if so i would definatly get an eglu rather than the wooden nest box.

 

Kind regards Dave

[Olly]

My Eglu sleeps up to six - not recommended, but they fit in! Four will be fine in an Eglu Classic - it's having enough run size that's most important.