Keeping Chooks on the same ground????

[Glutton4...]

I've had a quick search round, and decided to post a question, as I'm not sure of the best thing to do.

My Chooks have a large dirt run, about 30 x 40 feet, surrounded by Heras type fencing. They have been on this for nearly a year now, so I guess some attention is needed, and I was wondering what is the best way to 'treat' the ground?

I can section it off in order to treat different areas, but cannot take them off it all totally, as their feed and water is in this area, safe from the Geese, and also it provides them access to the paddock, at the other side.

The ground is clay, and periodically, when it's wet but not too windy, I give them a bale of bedding to 'play around' with. There isn't actually a top layer, as such, that I can scrape off. So, I was wondering what my best course of action would be?

All advice gratefully received!

[polo]

Great question - I need to know too!!

[petal]

lime, my dad says.

[RichmondHens]

If you are unable to move them to fresh pasture, then the alternative is to lime the ground (slaked lime I think it's called), thrown in handfuls over the used area. You cannot allow chooks on it though for at least a month so you would have to treat the land in (maybe) two halves - put the birds on one half while you treat and rest the other, then swop over. When both sides are done they can return to using the whole area again.

[Glutton4...]

lime, my dad says.

Lovely concise answer!

I have heard for and against, hence my post...

[OverWyreGrower]

I've heard that you can use Stalosan F to treat the ground, however, I'm not sure whether this is any better/worse/more effective/different from lime?

[Snadger]

Rightly or wrongly I just keep forking mine over to relieve surface compaction, bury any surface poo and give the chooks something to scratch at.
I did used to add straw and suchlike (herb prunings made it smell nice for a short while) but found it made the area worse although it was full of worms which the chooks enjoyed when I turned it over.
I've heard of using lime also but as chooks poo is supposedly alkaline anyway, can't see the point?

[Glutton4...]

... I've heard of using lime also but as chooks poo is supposedly alkaline anyway, can't see the point?

That's what confuses me! Or does the Lime do something else to the ground?


*off for a Google...

[frias]

I think fresh poo is acidic and lime sweetens the ground and kills parasitic worms. (This is what my old aunt used to say anyway and she kept several hundred chickens and was a market gardener.)

[Suechooks]

I have 2 runs on one of my coops which I use alternately. When the hens move out I take off the top layer (usually mix of straw, tree surgeon chippings and soil) then rake it over with one of those lawn rakes and water it with ***** fluid in a watering can. Let that drain away or dry if its summer then sprinkle garden lime on it very randomly. I'm able to leave it for several months but the lime is well washed away after a couple of weeks as long as we get some rain! The other run is permanently in use so I just dig out a few inches as there's always a deep layer of wood chippings in it. Hard work though!

[Snadger]

I think fresh poo is acidic and lime sweetens the ground and kills parasitic worms. (This is what my old aunt used to say anyway and she kept several hundred chickens and was a market gardener.)

Poultry manure / RHS Gardening Advice
Poultry manure and ericaceous (acid-loving) plants

The pH (acidity or alkalinity) of poultry manure varies according to its age, the diet fed to the birds, the age of the birds and the litter materials used. Most poultry manure is in the range of pH 6.5-8.0, being neutral to moderately alkaline. Because of its tendency towards alkalinity, poultry manure is unsuitable for lime-hating (ericaceous) plants, such as rhododendrons, azaleas, camellias, blueberries and heathers.

[Snadger]

That's what confuses me! Or does the Lime do something else to the ground?


*off for a Google...

Not sure but when animals used to be buried they always had a coating of lime put over them before replacing the soil methinks? If so it could possibly be that the lime somehow sterilises any nasties?

*off to google too......

[Snadger]

Right.........after Googling I've found this is the most informative site!

British Lime Association - The Trade Association for the UK Lime Industry

Didn't realise that lime had so many uses! Some good reading here if you can be bovvered!

[Glutton4...]

Right.........after Googling I've found this is the most informative site!

British Lime Association - The Trade Association for the UK Lime Industry

Didn't realise that lime had so many uses! Some good reading here if you can be bovvered!

Ta, Snadge!

I didn't actually get round to doing a search - I'm doing about four things at once, currently. Plus listening to the TV and holding a conversation, albeit disjointed, with Mr. G! Multi-tasking - Yay!

[Bramble-Poultry]

poultry manure is generally acidic. this is why lime or wood ash (wood ash is very alkaline, they use is to make lye, and hence soap) is generally added to the ground to restore balance.

PLEASE - on an 'elf and safety' note, make sure you wear goggles, gloves and mask when you apply lime as i have seen (and experienced) burns to my hands and face using lime as it can be (depending on producer) very caustic. This is why you must rest the field for a while before introducing the birds to it.

On clay, you will develop a capping layer as the water from the rain and the scratching will rotovate a certain level but beneath that it will be capped. In agriculture its called a "pan" these pans stop nutrients and moisture from going any further. This is why commercial farmers vary their ploughing depths each year on farms to ensure that a pan doesnt develop on their fields otherwise root crops and the like suffer.

You should therefore be able to get at at least the top couple of inches, remove those and replace. If it were me, i would remove the top litter, wood ash (as i have loads of it from my wood burner) the base, then replace with fresh litter and leave for a week or two maybe longer and then reintroduce the birds.

The issue you will have if you confine your birds to a smaller area whilst you clean this one, is that you will compund the problem as if these birds are making a large area messy, then the same number of birds in a smaller area will make it just as messy in a shorter time so it will become a viscous circle.

A long term method of delaying such issues would be to "Balfour" the chooks. This means that the birds have one large coop with two doors and the run split in two, each half accessed by one door. Then you can let the birds into one half for 3 months resting the other ground, then switch over. This allows you to reseed the ground if needs be as nothing looks so awful as a chicken run full of bare earth, scratched up old tin cans and nettles!