Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat

Poultry and Pets => The Hen House => Topic started by: Greasehog on April 08, 2010, 22:16

Title: Chickens on concrete.
Post by: Greasehog on April 08, 2010, 22:16
Hi
I'm looking to get my first chickens later on in the month as i'm preparing their chicken run at the moment. I was wondering if it was ok to put the hen house on a concrete base or would this hurt their feet?
Any tips or info would be greatly appreciated.
Title: Re: Chickens on concrete.
Post by: Kate and her Ducks on April 08, 2010, 23:53
Having the house on concrete has lots of pluses in terms of cleaning and the security of the house but hens reaaly like to have somewhere to scratch about and dust bath in.
Title: Re: Chickens on concrete.
Post by: Greasehog on April 09, 2010, 06:59
Thanks for your reply, so the concrete won't harm their feet will it i was a bit about that.
Title: Re: Chickens on concrete.
Post by: Casey76 on April 09, 2010, 09:00
You can always put a load of wood chip on top of the concrete for the chooks to scratch around in.

having a concrete base would make it easy to remove the whole to spray down with a hosepipe and replace the wood chip to keep the area smelling sweet.
Title: Re: Chickens on concrete.
Post by: joyfull on April 09, 2010, 09:24
I agree with Casey, put some chips down, the chickens will love you for that - it will give them loads of space to scratch around and go bug hunting  :)
Title: Re: Chickens on concrete.
Post by: Greasehog on April 09, 2010, 14:25
Thanks for the replies everyone...  :)
Title: Re: Chickens on concrete.
Post by: marianwhittock on April 09, 2010, 22:23
my run and house is on concrete with a good few inches of bark on the top and the chickens love it.  no messy feet and legs for my delicate laydees ;)
Title: Re: Chickens on concrete.
Post by: Evansent on April 10, 2010, 09:37
My pekins are on flagstones with bark over the top, if you put a wooden "skirting board" around the bottom edge of the run, it stops it spilling out and keeps things a bit tidier. The birds have feathered feet and this really helps to stop them getting clogged up with mud.


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