Chicken run

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stoko

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Chicken run
« on: February 18, 2009, 18:01 »
Hello,
We are beginners with keeping chickens. Have got five at the moment. We will be building an enclosed permanent run which will be about 10ft x 30ft. How much of a problem will we have keeping the soil sweet so that the hens are happy and disease free? We will have about 12 hens in this run. Do we need to put litter down and if so what is the best material and how often does it require changing? Any advice would be appreciated,
Best regards,
Stoko

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karlooben

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Re: Chicken run
« Reply #1 on: February 18, 2009, 20:37 »
is there grass in the run at the mo or is it all soil.

my run is 10 m by 6 m was is based on one of my allotment plots so its all soil, if u dont want mud an yukky muddy smelly puddles then i suggest u use woodchip or woodbark any local tree surgeons should be able to help u out with getting hold of some .
before i put down lets say lots an lots of last week my run was so smelly an so disgusting that i was ashamed of it but now its dry an the girls love srcatching around non stop in the bark looking for  bugs that can live in the bark and also theres now no such thing as muddy chicken feet .
"Until one has loved an animal, part of their soul remains unawakened."

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poultrygeist

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Re: Chicken run
« Reply #2 on: February 18, 2009, 21:08 »
What Looby says  :)

Welcome in stoko.  :)

If you can get any of it roofed over, it'll save you a lot of heartache. The worst thing for the soil is getting wet. It ferments and goes smelly. Dry, it stays sweet a lot longer.

Best of luck.

Rob 8)

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SnooziSuzi

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Re: Chicken run
« Reply #3 on: February 18, 2009, 21:16 »
are you able to section off an area so that you can put them onto fresh greens at all when they have eaten off the existing bit?  if so, it might help the previously eaten bit to recover and keep the soil nice whilst the rest recovers.

My run, which is about 10m x 8m, has 10 hens running in it currently and they have stripped it bare so I'm going to move 4 of them out onto a new area of land and leave the rest in the big run.

I've heard that to stop the soil from going sour you should keep it dry, but that would involve having an area that is covered and this may not be practical, so perhaps just having an area that they don't poop/dig up on would be best.

hope this helps,
Su



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