Run floor

[Flummery]

Hi Flum, was chatting to folk in the local ag. suppliers before Christmas and they recommended Easibed.


Bilbo

Hi Bilbo - I think I might use something like easibed for inside the coop, but mabe not on the whole of the run. Dunno though? Does anyone use this - or Hemcore or similar, all over the run?

[dozey1]

No i use easi bed int eh shed with chippings. I still found that a lthough the gravel gets wet if you turn it over the run doesn't smell and the birds love it..

[MaureenHall]

Yes, I use Easibed all over. I don't put down a particularly thick layer (would be too expensive in the area I've got), but I put it round the feeding station, and anywhere where it gets particularly muddy when it rains. The chooks themselves decided they'd like the straw scattered around when they found a new game called "Let's destroy the straw bale"

Bilbo, I think it's more likely hay that harbours the mites rather than straw, I may be wrong though

[Flummery]

No i use easi bed int eh shed with chippings. I still found that a lthough the gravel gets wet if you turn it over the run doesn't smell and the birds love it..

Do you have anyhting under your gravel dozey1? Like landscape fabric, I mean?

[Flummery]

Well it looks like there are endless possibilities! I might have to go with what's easiest to get hold of here. Straw shouldn't be a problem - lots of farms. Yes, Maureen, I understood that ay is the one to avoid. Think I can get horse type bedding in the local agricultural place.

I'm beginning to get a picture now - either pallets or mesh down deeper, stuff for scratching in above.

Thanks all for your input!

[Suechooks]

Hi Flum, was chatting to folk in the local ag. suppliers before Christmas and they recommended Easibed.

I know I've read somewhere not to use straw because it pretty much guarantees you'll have mites - don't know if this is true



Sue - how often would you do the *****/lime treatment and how much lime per squard yard (sorry, I am too old to happily do metres!)

Bilbo

Bilbo - I give a fairly good clean when it looks like its getting saturated - maybe around every 10 days, just turning it with fork or rake in between. I lift the pallets about monthly. The ***** treatment and the lime are done when I move the girls into the other run so each run gets a good rest. I leave them in one run about 3 months or maybe longer, it really depends on the state of the surface. The general idea of the lime and ***** is to kill any sort of parasites so I generally worm them and then move into fresh run so I can "bottom it out". Quite honestly I just buy a bag of garden lime - about 3 kilos I think and chuck it around the whole run! One run is 40' X12' and the other is 30' x 12'. Like you I work in old money but there's nothing very scientific about my methods! The main thing is the hens are ok and don't seem to have any sort of parasite so something's working. Hope that helps.
Sue

[dozey1]

Only a layer of 20mm then 10mm bags and a layer of wood chips from Tree fellers. To be flummery it does get a bit wet but i have two thirds of my run covered with plastic corrugated sheeting. so that stays dry the birds love it and use it like a dust bath. But i do turn it over when it gets wet and then occasionaly top it up with the dry stuff. They have been with me since october and they don't smell. I have only topped it up once with a bag of gravel andf wood chip. I am going to take the top layer off in spring and top it up with fresh. I also occassionaly put down some easibed to help it stay dry. Hope this helps.

[Flummery]

Helps a lot, thanks.

[BilboWaggins]

The chooks themselves decided they'd like the straw scattered around when they found a new game called "Let's destroy the straw bale"

Oh that sounds like a fun game, can anyone join in?

Bilbo, I think it's more likely hay that harbours the mites rather than straw, I may be wrong though

Thanks Maureen, as far as keeping chooks goes, at present "I know nuffin" ... apart from what I am learning here and on another forum and through books and WWW. Oh yes, and from watching Mrs Flummery . . . who is a very smart woman and therefore realises I'm letting her get her girlies first so I can watch what she does!

Bilbo

[angelat]

Run floor

hi flummery

I have a covered run which is attached to their house with a door. they only use it really for shelter, as they have a fenced off quarter of the garden with bark chippings, and also let them free range when i can. for the run i initially had grass, but soon disappeared, so now i put straw down, it absorbs water and think its a change from the bark and soft on their feet, they seem to like it. my nephew says that my set up looks like a bethlehem scene!!! i just change the straw when i do big clean on their house once a month.

[BilboWaggins]

The ***** treatment and the lime are done when I move the girls into the other run so each run gets a good rest. I leave them in one run about 3 months or maybe longer, it really depends on the state of the surface. Sue

Thanks Sue, that is brilliant and far more helpful than you could have known. We've got a large garden and I have room for more than one run but no need for more than four chooks (two of us are unlikely to eat a couple of dozen eggs a week which is what I might expect from four happy hens). However, I've been thinking about having a second run (a) to rest the first just as you suggest and (b) to give me a quarantine area in case I ever need to separate one bird.

thank you!

Bilbo

[Flummery]

You could consider one house with two doors then Bilbo. I've seen photos of this sort of set-up - but unless I lose ALL my veg plot I haven't room to do it here. You just use one pop-hole for a couple of months then shut that and use the other. The one I saw had the runs at right angles and pop-holes in two adjacent sides.

Thanks for the Easibed email btw - I have stockists as close as 2 miles away!

[Suechooks]

You could consider one house with two doors then Bilbo. I've seen photos of this sort of set-up - but unless I lose ALL my veg plot I haven't room to do it here. You just use one pop-hole for a couple of months then shut that and use the other. The one I saw had the runs at right angles and pop-holes in two adjacent sides.

Thanks for the Easibed email btw - I have stockists as close as 2 miles away!

Yes - I have 2 pop-holes so they just go out to the appropriate run. Makes life easier!

[BilboWaggins]

Hi Flummery, are you feeling sorry for my Husband yet? You know, the one who didn't think getting chickens was a good idea at all until he realised that his sister was successfully keeping 4 in her back garden, and if younger sibling can do it then HE certainly can!

I think I'll leave the 2nd run idea (whether it is attached to the same house or not) until we've got the first nicely settled. Don't want to give the poor chap too much to worry about

Bilbo

[Hilary B]

The set-up I never got around to was one permanent run (small, with concrete floor and loads of straw to scatter about) which the house opened into, and 2 'exchangeable' runs opening from the concreted yard bit. If I had an allotment, and could be bothered with all the necessary fencing, I would make the 'permanent' run a path, and have as many 'exchange' runs opening off it as I could. That way the chook house would be fixed, but the chooks could be 'rotated' across the growing space like the crops.
That was one of the 'dream plans' when we got a big enough space, but somehow we never had the time, the money AND the enthusiasm all at once....