How can I find my old pictures?

[alunee]

Hi,

 

Apologies if this question has been asked before - I have searched on here and other places.

 

Our 4 chickens have their own section of the garden which unsurprisingly they have torn up and is now just mud - the seemingly relentless rainfall hasn't helped. You need wellies to service their run and coop, I am worried that they are bored and not dry enough, a couple of them can look a bit scraggly, but they're all laying well. Anyway, I'm moving everything to another section of the garden next week.

 

I was at a farm visitor centre at the weekend (Monk Park Farm near Thirsk) and I asked them what they did. I was told they laid a couple of inches or so of gravel on top of a permeable sheet and that it drains well, the chickens love scratching around in it, loads of little creatures to find, etc. I didn't ask what grade of gravel it was, but looked about 20mm. I just wondered what opinions people had before I make firm plans.

 

Many thanks,

 

Alun

[mollyripkim]

Haven't got gravel but the permeable sheet is great. I have it laid in top of plastic pallets so the water can drain, then topped with hardwood chips.

[Cat tails]

I think Redsunset has gravel in at least part of her garden where the chooks roam.

 

If it's a sizeable bit of garden, then woodchips wood be too expensive I guess, since you would need to replace them once in a while.

 

Ps: why not paving it over? My chickens have dirt in their mostly covered run and "free range" on the paved part of my garden. Paving slabs are easy to keep clean too. And if you keep part of the area open, they still have their bit to muck around in and have a dust bath.

[mullethunter]

This is what I've done and so far (9 months) it's been brilliant. Level the ground, lay heavy duty weed membrane, line with sand, lay paving slabs. Then top with wood chip.

 

I may be wrong, but I have a feeling people have said the poo all goes between the gravel, can't get cleaned and gets horrible

[Luvachicken]

We used to have gravel but it was difficult to keep clean.

 

We now have paving slabs with a wooden frame on top to keep soil in.

[alunee]

Thanks all for the advice so far... What I have read is that larger rounded stones (not pea gravel) drain and clean well. That would match what I saw and was told at Monk Park.

 

Alun

[redsunset]

Gravel is good but I had a lot and I mean a lot of chooks at one stage and yes, the poop can build up. I stripped off the membrane and in parts the gravel is a few inches thick but still. As you only have 4 chooks and depending on area, run size it may be ok? If run very large should be fine, but if not it can build up as chooks can poop a lot!

Life would be just wonderful if they used a big litter tray, lol.

[Cat tails]

Life would be just wonderful if they used a big litter tray, lol.

 

If only! Would be heaven!

[alunee]

...I stripped off the membrane and in parts the gravel is a few inches thick but still...

 

Apologies for being thick, I can't help it. You couldn't expand on that could you?

 

Regards,

 

Alun

[redsunset]

No problem. I used to have a membrane under my gravel (people use it to suppress weeds) but I found it hampered the drainage for me especially when hosing poop so had the whole driveway redone plus a large swathe around back of house and dug down a little deeper and fresh gravel put on two years ago. I don't need a weed suppresser anyway as I already have one......it's called chickens as not a blade of grass or a weed in it, or anywhere else they roam for that matter! Poop can still build up in areas though just under the gravel so needs to be jetted from time to time with strong hose. There is no easy solution so the bigger the gravel area and the deeper you dig down and lay it on the better for good number of years...hope this helps.

[alunee]

Many thanks, that's interesting and useful to know.

 

Alun