Used Omlet outdoor rabbit run Width 2.2m Height 2.05m Length 3.1m vgc.

[jess8619]

Do you let your chickens out or do they have a bigger run around the eglu?

Edited October 7, 2007 by Guest

[chelsea]

I have 4 chooks between 2 eglus. You could fit 3/4 into one eglu itself, but if you have 4 chooks I would recommend a bigger run.

 

Ours freerange all day from 8am to 6pm. When we go out they are shut in the run.

[Richard]

mine have a bigger run which they are in all morning. I let them into the garden in the afternoons when I'm at home (a couple or three days during the week, and weekends).

[Ain't Nobody Here]

I have three in an eglu & standard run but am getting the converter next week. They are let out when I'm in the garden or kitchen where I can keep an eye on them - 7 hours freeranging yesterday - a record! They usually get out for about an hour a day during the week.

[Olly]

My two are in a run with converter - when my 'new' adoptees arrive soon, I will give them the converter instead as there are three of them, and mine will go back to the standard run.

 

I let them free-range when I can, but as winter approaches and the days get shorter, there won't be an opportunity to let them out in the evenings. I would like to give them more free-range time, but they seem absolutely fine in the run - and it's safer than letting them out when I'm not around.

[ali-s]

I've got 8 bantams in a mark 2 eglu which is in a large homemade run. they get let out into the garden for about an hour a day during the week and for longer at the weekends if I am at home.

 

My Red eglu which is a mark 1 (see my sig) is now empty as the girls prefer to sleep all together I will fill the mark 1 with hens when I move

[Richard]

, but as winter approaches and the days get shorter, there won't be an opportunity to let them out in the evenings. .

 

Arrgghh - more and more poo in the poo trays. I'd almost forgotten the delights of the long dark winter nights.

 

Still I suppose its good for the compost heap. Must start collecting the newspapers.

[Jules.]

I have some omlet netting across the bottom of the garden where I can let mine free range. Only problem is, Buzz always escapes (how?) into the garden, & Poppy sits on the neighbours fence

i have since removed the run- no escapees!

Edited October 12, 2007 by Guest

[chickencam]

We have 4 chickens in an Eglu and run with a run converter on bark chippings. They spend most of their time in the run, because we have a small garden and two chicken fancying cats!

 

They don't seem to get bored because they spend hours digging the most amazing deep holes in the chipping. They must find woodlice etc to eat in them.

 

We usually let them out for an hour or so at weekends when we can keep an eye on them and the moggies and clean the eglu at the same time. We lift the eglu and run off the chippings and give them a dig over flattening the area out ( it usually looks like a lunar landscape after a week ) While the run is off the chippings the girls usually have a quick peck at the grass then hop back into the chipping and start digging, therefore we do not feel guilty about keeping them on there most of the time.

[Olly]

but as winter approaches and the days get shorter, there won't be an opportunity to let them out in the evenings. .

 

Arrgghh - more and more poo in the poo trays. I'd almost forgotten the delights of the long dark winter nights.

 

 

I thought it hadn't been quite so challenging over recent months ... I only got my girls in February and I hadn't thought about the extra hours in bed, as it were, during winter. Right, that's decided it - I need another composter!

[chickencam]

Our composters are both full that is not a good start to the dark days

[Christian]

I just had another 2 composters delivered (3 weeks ago) and they are full already!

[Shirl]

What do you all do with your composters? I've had mine about 18 months and its only half full. Mind you we don't put the grass clippings in it because we have way too many and we get about half a composter full in one cut.

 

My girls get let out between about 8 and 9 am. We put them to bed about 6 at the mo.

[chickencam]

Our composters contain lots of newspaper from the poo tray complete with poo and all our veggie bits. Having eaten a lot of sweetcorn recently that fills it up along with bits from the garden.

[Shirl]

Do you not feed your veggie bits to the chickens? I must admit my dogs get more kitchen waste than the chooks because they aren't as fussy. I don't put garden waste in mine. The council collects green waste and I put it in there or if it is shredable I do that and use it as mulch. I guess I should put more in the composter but I worry about putting weeds in so don't put anything in

[ChookieCaz]

We have two hens at present, but did have three in our Mark 1 Eglu. I understand that you can have up to four hens in a Mark 2 Eglu. We started with a standard-size run, but we have a converter attached.

 

As for the compost, the droppings go in there along with the newspaper, we have a series of compost heaps in a nearby allotment. Our hens enjoy a variety of table s"Ooops, word censored!"s.

[Richard]

Our composters fill up really quickly. Vegetable waste, stuff from the garden, lots of newspaper/shredded paper/chicken poo.

 

We have a council green waste bin (for green waste - not a green bin, its actually brown) for which we pay £35 a year or so, but we only use that for woody stuff that I can't shred and put in the compost.

[ChookieCaz]

Our allotment is a good size, so we can have a good size compost heap. When one is several feet square and a couple of foot high, it spreads sideways allowing the old heaps to rot down. Our front lawn is small, so not too many clippings and not too many from the paths around the allotment. Woody things that would take too long to rot down and diseased plant material now goes in the new green waste bin from the council instead of the dustbin. I suspect our pets are having too many table s"Ooops, word censored!"s, though!

 

I think the amount of droppings is reduced by the hens doing a lot of free-ranging in our back-garden, mainly laid to "lawn". Some of the droppings have been raked to the edges and onto the small amount of flower-beds. Two hens don't seem to create a great deal of compost, at least not compared to our family. It would be interesting to know how much is produced by more.

 

This year, we had a pumpkin seed itself on one part of the compost heap, spreading all over the old and new parts, and a large pumpkin grew outside, plus a number of smaller pumpkins. My husband won a prise with the pumpkin at the local Gardeners' Association show Just goes to show what a good size the compost heap is!

 

My husband uses a variety of recycled s"Ooops, word censored!"s to form the boundaries of his compost heaps, including fence panels, bits of wood, bits of old fire-guard ...

[Lesley]

That sounds like some compost heap!

 

Congratulations on the pumpkin, I love getting 'freebies' like that. I have a large spinach plant which appeared in the middle of the peas - I think a seed must have slipped out of the seed packet box.

[ChookieCaz]

We now have four hens and a purple Cube. Pepper and Rosie arrived with the Cube at the beginning of November and they share it with Henrietta and Lizzie. The original mark 1 Eglu is still in the garden, left open, so they can use the run when they want shelter from the rain and sit in the nesting-box, if they want to. Lizzie did that yesterday.

[ChookieCaz]

Below, I hope there will be pictures of our lovely hens and of our compost heap in December (after some was removed and another section added, of a similar size).

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn7/marsiecaz/P1010310.jpg

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn7/marsiecaz/P1010309.jpg

 

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn7/marsiecaz/P1010314-1-1.jpg