Solitary chicken - need advice

[Petersl86]

Hi

 

I have recently bought an Eglu Classic with a 2m run, mainly because of its safety and ease of cleaning. I've seen lots of advice on how to clean the actual hen house and this has been fine. I haven't yet found the easiest/best way to clean the run. I bought easichick bedding on the advice of a post, and a contributor on another site said they just pick out the larger bits of poo and they can keep the same bedding for a while.

 

My problem -

There is lots of poo in the run and not sure about the easiest way to collect it all without removing and replacing all the bedding. A lot of the poo has broken down into smaller pieces and isn't so easy to pick out. Last week I ended up shoveling out most of the bedding, but this is going to get quite expensive if I keep doing this. Is there a better bedding and a better way to remove the poo?

 

Also, is there a way of cleaning out the run without 1) unfastening it from the eglu and removing all 12 pegs before putting it all back again or 2) climbing through the small door(!)? Have a small rake but struggling to reach the part nearest the door to the hen house.

 

As I said, bought this hen house for ease of cleaning so any advice on type of bedding that lends itself to this and efficient weekly cleaning routines would be appreciated! Sorry for all the mentions of poo. With a toddler, dog and chickens, seems like life's full of it at the moment...!

 

Thank you!

[Cat tails]

Congrats on getting chickens!

 

I'm utterly lazy when it comes to poo picking. My Go Up run is on just plain earth and I let the worms deal with it. I've dug some paving slabs into the ground to prevent them from digging too deep. And once in a while hose the ground down with a garden hose.

 

I have a small added run (just some garden mesh) on the paving and just sweep that up every night. Although the added run is not fox proof. But very little risk of foxes in my area.

 

Might one of those dog poo shovels (the small ones with the long stick) be an option?

[grahamrhind]

I have the same problem - the low runs are not well designed for easy cleaning. I'm lucky in that I have a very large outside space where the hens can run around so there's no concentration of mess in the run itself. The annoyance for me is that the weeds grow riotously in the run, and I can't easily get to them, even with a hoe or rake. I'm afraid I leave the cleaning to nature and the hens have to run an obstacle course of nettles to get to the Eglu. Fortunately that doesn't seem to bother them ....

[Roksteddie]

In terms of poo picking I use a long armed litter picker and it's great at getting to bits of poo that are a bit harder to reach. It also keeps poo at arm's length so you don't have to get too up close and personal. Smaller bits of poo aren't really a problem I don't think. Using a ground sanitiser once a week should take care of them and other nasties.

[Chickabee]

Mine is left to nature and scratching I'm afraid. I throw in a section of straw from time to time. Never had a problem with flies, smells etc. They love digging their own dust baths too. Just make sure you regularly worm. I think it's made worse by putting too much bedding in, because you just can't reach it

[Cat tails]

Mine is left to nature and scratching I'm afraid. I throw in a section of straw from time to time. Never had a problem with flies, smells etc. They love digging their own dust baths too. Just make sure you regularly worm. I think it's made worse by putting too much bedding in, because you just can't reach it

 

Same here!

Ground sanitizer powder is not a thing in the Netherlands. Could only it buy it by bulk (25 kg minimum, but they don't start delivering the stuff from a certain amount of money, which makes about 100 kg... )

I never use the stuff and just make sure the coop is clean and I remove the poos from the patio.