[cissie n ada]

Morning guys n gals,

The  2 Girls arrive today  (approx 11mths old) complete with the coop, courtesy of my nephew who is off on his travels and then to uni,

We have built the run, and have used bark chippings on the ground, would this be ok, or is it better to leave it natural earth!

Thanks in anticipation

cissienada

[dizzylizzie]

O.M.G i bet you are soooo excited
im not the best person to give advice as i havent even got my girlies yet, but that is what im using.have a look for a post in the hen house asking what to use on the floor... loads of great advice there! take care and hope today goes well

[RoyMK]

We have the same, our run is half concrete and half dirt and we use bark chippings.  They love pecking and scratching around in it, plus when it starts to get smelly you can hose it down or just scrape it up and use it for compost.  We got 3 bags for a tenner from the local garden centre and it last for ages. 

[poppie]

hi ya,morning to you both,
in my own personel experience chooks just love to grub and scratch about,is there pen movable at all?
bark chips are ok if you have a bit of a bare patch,i do have some in one of my pens where the ground is a bit bare.occassionally i give it a bit of a water to fetch the worms up.
good luck with your girls,you've found a great site everyone is really friendly.

[Debz]

I have my girls on bark chippings and when it gets a bit smelly, I take some out and replace with fresh.  I use the soiled stuff as a mulch on the garden and the rain washes the poop into the plants.  Weed supresant (sp ?) and fertiliser all in one! 

[Roughlee Handled]

Welcome cissie n ada  to the mad house.  

Bark is good. If you can get hold of chippings from a tree (tree surgeons may be able to help) they will have more "things" of interest in it.  I would suggest that you put a roof on your run to stop your run turning to a mud bath.  
How many chickens do you have and how big is your run?

You will get better tasting eggs if the chucks have access to greens (grass, cabbage ....) as this turns the eggs yellow and gives the "farm" taste.

[cissie n ada]

 

thanks for the replies  guys n gals

The run is covered,  used corrugated plastic, its under a trees o shaded too,  approx 5sq mts floor space,   it has 2 solid sides, 1 being the fence and the other the shed and  tall enough to just about stand up in, The wife will have no problem as she's only 5ft       The two open sides are covered with Weld mesh,  the coop hopefully will stand outside the run area,  so the 2 girlies will have all the floor space to root around in. 

Hopefully if they settle ok will add 2 or 3 more  in a few weeks time!

Just gotta get the trailer out  this afternoon  and go and collect them   

[Roughlee Handled]

Do not forget the photos its the law round here.

[cissie n ada]

Some pictures at last!

[joyfull]

oh bless theyre lovely 

[lucylou]

great names too!!  best of luck -hope you have fun with them, they are such amusing little characters!

[cissie n ada]

They are very inqusitive, but I dont think they have been handled much at all, both seem extreemly timid, so its going to be fun trying to catch them,  they will take bits from me with the mesh between us but not keen yet to take from my hand when I get in the run with them,  although with time and regular contact I hope this will improve.

Really need to get them used to people as one of them is a wee bit sparse in the feather department, from chest underneath almost to tail.  I dont think its down to the other bird, they seem to get on fine. 

Do chickens 'self harm' so to speak? 

[Roughlee Handled]

Do chickens 'self harm' so to speak? 

No but they can seriously harm each other.

[raeburg]

One of my ex-bats pulls her own feathers out, I put the purple spray on she was the only one with a purple beak afterwards.  I've seen her pulling her wing feathers out until the tops are bald. 

[Roughlee Handled]

Oh well suppose there is always the odd one out.