Pro - Does anyone else's nest boxes get soaked in rain?

[furball]

Please can someone let me know if its ok to use straw or hay in run. instead of bark

We have a farm across the road and can buy bales of straw and hay and when the chooks have done with it i can compost it (i think )Do'nt want to use it if it harms the chooks

[AMO]

Hi

 

I can remember reading that you shouldn't use hay as it can contain mites - there is a sticky on one of the forums about this somewhere. perhaps one of the mods can point you in the right direction

 

AMO

[Christian]

Hi Furball!

 

Hay contains mold spores so shouldn't be used. The problem with straw is that it gets wet underneath but the top looks dry. If you are going to clean the run out very often then i wouldn't see it as a problem, but if you are leaving it for a few weeks, then the 'build up' could be a little unpleasant for the chooks!

 

Are you able to get aubiouse or hemcore from a local horsey shop? It comes in a huge bag and cost about £7 but lasts for months!! I use it in the run, nest box and droppings tray. It 'dries' the poo up really well.

 

Hope this helps

[arowland17]

we use hemcore and it cost us about £6.50 for a huge bale and goes really far, we've had our chickens about 2 months now and have been using hemcore about 6 weeks, changing it every 2-3weeks or so and we're about half way through the bag it seems to be lasting forever!

quite good though since I live in the middle of the food and mouth area so goodness knows if the farm shop I bought it from will be open or not!

[Larkie]

I'm in a panic - I've been using hay for about 2 months and so far no problems, but now one of my 2 girls is looking very unhappy - could be impacted crop or mites. Interested to hear about hemcore and aubiose but wanted to check if they can be used outdoors, ie in their free range area or are they only suitable for us inside the covered run and eggloo?

 

thanks

[Egluntyne]

Another problem with hay and straw is that the hens will attempt to eat the long strands and will be likely to get an impacted crop.

 

I would say avoid using either and go for Aubiose or Hemcore instead.

[arowland17]

Hemcore's fine outside, we use it outside and it says on the pack that it stays dry - when it gets rained on a lot it gets a bit muddy but that's because our 2 dig up the mud underneath it so it all gets mixed in but it's really good stuff and lasts forever, I'm still on my 1st bale although it's finally coming to an end!

[jomaxsmith]

Our local poultry centre recommends and sells chopped straw as bedding. They actually don't think very highly of Hemcore but I think it's fab.

 

Jo

[Tiggy]

our local farm shop stocks horsey things but did not have either hemcore or auboisine, so I dont know where to get either from locally? any ideas.

 

we're in kingswinford

[Tweety]

You can order hemcore and aubiose online from G J W Titmuss and have it delivered.

[Guest]

I'm in a panic - I've been using hay for about 2 months and so far no problems, but now one of my 2 girls is looking very unhappy - could be impacted crop or mites. Interested to hear about hemcore and aubiose but wanted to check if they can be used outdoors, ie in their free range area or are they only suitable for us inside the covered run and eggloo?

 

thanks

 

 

ahhhh, hope she's going to be okay.

 

hay isn't good because it contains spores that can cause breathing problems, i believe it can harbour red mite and if they eat it, which they probably will, it can cause impacted crops.

 

we use aubiose inside and out.

 

best thing is to check if her crop is empty in the morning and have a feel of it, if it feels full and hard then treat her for impacted crop. There's info in the chicken clinic about what to do.