[janeheritage]

Apologies for muddling up earlier. Anyway, here goes with pictures of our lovely new run, courtesy of my husband Steve and hazel branches from our local woods: and our new girls, Bessie the Bovans Nera, Enid the Skyline, Ethel the Light Sussex hybrid and Jean the ISA Brown. Aren't they great?

2 questions for you chooksperts out there.

(1) We bought the girls as POL but they don't seem to have much in the way of combs and wattles at present, so I expect we'll have to wait a while for eggies. Would you think so from looking at them? Can you, in fact, tell?

(2) The run is about 4.5m square. Should we expect them to denude it completely of grass etc unless we let them out to free range a bit, or will it be big enough to stay green?

Many thanks for all your support, chickpeeps.

Jane, Steve, Bessie, Enid, Ethel and Jean

[treacleminer]

Hi Jane & welcome to the joys of keeping hens!

At a guess, you'll be waiting a couple of weeks at least for eggs - may be more but if you're lucky it may even be less

With the run - again I think it's probably a wait & see situation, depending on how addicted they are to digging new ground.  You may find it stays green during the summer but come the winter when the grass isn't growing .....

If you don't mind them free ranging in the rest of the garden I should let them out now and again - and get used to them looking at you like you are cruel and mean whenever you are in the garden and don't let them out!

[kimT]

Hi Jane

I think you will have to wait a little bit for eggies too as for the ground you have them on there won't be much grass left I'm afraid they will just hoover the lot and leave you with bare ground but they will love you to dig it over for them so they can do some serious worming!!

Letting them out to free range will help the run grass survive a while but as you haven't got a top on your run it will soon turn to a mud bath.

Oh the joy of keeping chickens!

[poultrygeist]

Hi jane. Lovely looking ladies.

I'm guessing you mean the run is about 4.5m x 4.5m rather than 4.5 sq. metres ?

It looks quite large (which is obviously a good thing!) 

Also, I'm guessing you're aware that the chicken wire is not predator proof. It keeps them in but not any foxes out.
They will undoubtedly turn the run into a battleground within a few weeks and without a solid roof over it, when it rains, it will start to smell after a while due to the ground becoming acidic and fermenting. You may do better to let them move around a bit so the ground can recover and you can dig it over and lime it occasionally (without the hens on it).

Rob

[andreadon]

they're beautiful!
the brown one on the right looks closest to being ready.

i agree with rob about the wire - get a roll of weld mesh from your local hardware store and cover the bottom of the run with it - that should be enough for predators when the chicks are in the run - the theory being that when chickens are scared they try to run and the best way for them to run is by sticking their heads through the wire holes - and then get them snapped off by foxie. the weld mesh up to about a metre high will prevent that happening.
i would also recommend putting concrete slabs or something similar around the bottom edge of the wire to stop the pred. wanting to dig under (if you have dug the wire into the ground it shouldn't be necessary)

re: the rain thing - it really will smell after a bit of rain, but we usually scoop up all the ground poo every night and throw it in the compost, which delays the likelihood of it making a whiff. and then we turn the ground over every couple of months and throw in some new stuff.

[shiatsusu]

You could also put chips down if the ground if becoming tired- the girls will love scratching and pecking in it - the grass really won't last long if they're in it all the time, or even if out part of the day. They don't look ready to lay to me yet- our POL took between 6-8 weeks after getting them. 

[Rubellite]

Hi Jane (that's my real name too)

Congrats on your girlies. Just want to say that I love the way you've used natural twigs and branches in your garden and the chicken run! 

[stoko]

Hello Jane,
We have had five P.O.L. chicks sinc 12 Feb and only one is laying at the moment. We have a small house and run so let them free range at the moment but allthough they are very happy doing this its obvious they are determined to destroy the garden so we will be building a large permanent run for them and only let them in the garden once in a while. We will put a roof of some sort on to keep them dry and clean,
Regards,
Stoko

[Vic K]

Just wanted to ask Rob about his comment about garden lime. If you're just digging it over and adding new chippings rather than moving the hens elsewhere on rotation, can you still add garden lime? Is it actually harmful to chooks?

[poultrygeist]

Hi Vic. When you add lime, you're meant to keep the chickens off for a few days at least after you water it in.

I have limed an area of our run, dug it well in and covered it back over with deep straw.

I don't know if this will actually do any good to the ground being dig in so deep but I had the opportunity so took it.

Rob

[janeheritage]

Thanks for all your advice! Just to say, we have Weldmesh at the bottom of the run dug in between 30 and 45 cm, which we hope will stop Mr Fox from digging his way in.

Other advice noted, and thank you!