[Dannii]

Hi!

I am just building my chicken enclosure at the back of the garden, I have ordered a chicken coup which is being built at my local chicken retailer (Thornes rare breed poultry centre, Letchworth) my question is, I am converting a flower bed into the enclosure so there is no grass there, I was originally going to lay turf but was advised to save my money as the chooks will rip it up in a couple of weeks anyway and to instead invest in a different flooring material such as sand/bark etc what would you all recommend? I plan to let the chickens roam around the garden during the day if I'm about but the actual enclosure will not be moveable.

Any advice will be gratefully received the area of the enclosure is 12ftx15ft for 3 hens.

Thanks

Dannii

[mumsy]

Hi & welcome
I personally use bark.....( I change it though when it goes stale)....you're right no point in turfing, if you can give them a roam about then great, if not they'll enjoy your cut grass, if you have any, & greens etc.

[Dannii]

Thanks Mumsy,

I was thinking bark too, think it will be more interesting for the chooks, especially if I hide things under it. How often do you change your bark?

Dannii

[Porffor]

I had a shingle area in my garden (not laid by me) that needed to be tidied.. well it's perfect for the chooks and we built the run there after learning they'd kill the grass.
I have raked it back a bit so it's not too thick and they love shuffling around in it. I do put down grit though as it's too big to be of any use.

[scott bell]

Hi We are new proud owners of 3 chickens and we bought an eglu so that we could move it around the garden to give the grass a rest every now and then - the grass was gone within 3 days!!!  We cleared the grass away and put bark down and seem to be replacing it every 5 / 6 weeks.  The chickens are quite happy every morning pecking away at it every day to see if any insects are hiding there.

Good luck with your chicks  

[mumsy]

Over a year I have dug it all in & re barked  & limed (every couple of months I guess, a large bagful) Probably the same size as your run, but mine free range all winter, as they can't do too much damage then.  But have to stay in most of the time in the summer cos of the veg etc!! Only out when I can keep an eye on them.

[peggyprice]

Over a year I have dug it all in & re barked  & limed (every couple of months I guess, a large bagful) Probably the same size as your run, but mine free range all winter, as they can't do too much damage then.  But have to stay in most of the time in the summer cos of the veg etc!! Only out when I can keep an eye on them.

How often do you use the lime, Mumsy, and how long do you keep the birds off afterwards?  And is it ordinary garden lime?

[mumsy]

Yep, garden lime, dig ground over, lime, water in, rebark, let them back in   Werks for me
I'm sure Munty said it was ok to water it in & let them back on to it. ( I hope anyway.....not had any probs)

[too many girls]

can anyone tell me if sand is bad for hens, i let some out for the first time today and they spent a lot of time in the riding arena which is all sand pecking and scratching, will it harm them?

[Porffor]

I'm no expert, but i thought they liked sand.. so am watching with interest.. i have a washing up bowl of sand in my run now for them to use as a dust bath.. they don't yet, but have caught one chook having a half 'roll' in the shingle! she looked all dusty then got up and had a good shake much like watching our ponies.

[Bear]

Hi Dannii

Whereabouts are you - I'm in Baldock. I'm also preparing a spot in my garden for chooks and I was about to order my coop from the internet.

What do you think of Thornes - I haven't been down there yet. didn't know they built coops - are they expensive?

[Dannii]

Hi Bear,

I am about 15 mins from Baldock in a village called Guilden Morden. Thornes are excellent, I goggle'd them and found lots of forums talking about how EGGcellent and clean they are and that some of the forum members travel over 150miles to get there things from there so must be good! Every time I have been they have been really useful the best person to talk to is an old guy called Frank not sure if he only works weekends tho, the owner is very knowledgable also but he loves himself a bit and plus doesn't go that in depth. All the other staff are FANTASTIC there. They have lots of Rare breeds but also Hybrids and fertilised eggs plus all the extras and they build their own coups etc on site.

The coup I am buying is called the Stevie and it is the one they reccomend and most of them have themselves, it is the less fancy of them all but very practical in the way it is designed (easy maintenance etc) of the top of my head I think it was £275 but VERY good quality. I was looking at country homes and gardens (garden centre on A10) at a couple they have there and although they are prettier they are nowhere near as good quality.

They also sell the 8ft round posts to build the enclosure at a much cheaper price than anywhere else (£4.50each) plus all the wire etc very reasonably priced.....although I found out who their supplier is last time i was there(JB fencing, Hitchin) so am buying mine from there as they put about a 50p mark up on everything (it all counts )

[Bear]

Thanks Dannii - I know Guilden and Steeple quite well.

I think I may need to pop over to Thornes at the w/end to check them out.

Are their Chooks expensive?

[Dannii]

their rare breeds are £20/25 and Hybrids are £12.50 or £15 I cant remember!!

Thanks to everybody for your responses, I think I am going to go for bark, is this option an expensive one a it needs to be changed frequently?

Thanks

Dannii

[Bear]

Just had a quick search and you can get 80 litre bags of bark for £10 - £15.

That's a big bag but I would have thought you'll need 3 of those. £30 - £45. OR you can order a cubic metre bag (the sort that builders get sand etc delivered in) for about £70. That'll be plenty and would probably cover your run 3 times over!