[greeneyesgreedy]

Dear all.

Girls arrived on Sunday, and were promptly dispatched into new home for the night. All went well.
Have poo-picked religiously every evening when  the four ladies go to bed, but its nearly impossible to get it all up.
So. tonight, after the poor soaked chooks took themselves up the ladder, I went in and did my best, but to be honest, even after picking up the biggest bits of poo, I feel that the entire run is now a soggy, muddy, poo-ey piddley mess.
So here are my questions:

How can their eggs be 'clean' if they are foraging all day on pooed on grass/soil? ie are they safe to eat?

If I put wood chip down in the run (12 foot by 3ft), might that help?

Do I Need to cover over the run too?

I'd be grateful for any replies/suggestions. Am still finding my way here
 

[Foxy]

Hi, dont panic! Woodchip is a great idea, I have a winter run which has gravel base for drainage and a good few inches of woodchip on top. Maybe if you could cover part of your run that will help?

[Ice]

In my extremely limited experience I think you need to cover the run.  My hens dig around in the soil and If I put wood chips in as well it would all get mixed up and cost a fortune to keep replenishing.

[Aunt Sally]

A roof on the run is a big advantage.  My chooks run is always snice and dry which is much healthier for them.

How many hend do you have in the run.  My run is about 8 ft x 6 ft (so slightly bigger than yours) and I think it only suitable for 2-3 hens if they have to spend most of their time in there.

[greeneyesgreedy]

I have 4.. but getting an electric fence soon so that they can free range a bit more during the day..I really thought the 12 by 3 run was enough...

[joyfull]

If that is 12 feet by 3 feet then that is just the bare minimum for 4 birds (1 sq yd per bird), however if you can get the fencing sorted out soon then they will be able to roam a bit. If you cover your run they will then have somewhere dry for their feed and to get out of the rain 

[grumpydad]

a roof is a good idea, especially with the rain we have had, mine is covered and keeps the floor dry.
i have had bark down, but have now gone to wood chippings from a tree surgeon, they were free, always good, and are down to a depth of about 9", which gives the girls some real digging depth. just rake it all back level every night.
i still poo pick as much as i can, and spray with vikron weekly,
my run is about 12' x 12', for 4 bantams and 2 full size

martyn

[greeneyesgreedy]

Thanks so much for that.
One final question.. to roof only,  or cover to the ground??

[chickenlady]

my big run isnt covered but is under 2 HUGE laurel trees which give shelter from the sun and rain, the floor is a mix of soil, gravel and bark chips and this mix has seen my girls through a summer, autumn, winter and a spring and works well! i dont have to poo pick, it never smells and all i do is every 6 months,i lime the run and turn it over (watering it in 1st) and sprinkle on some stalosan (powder disenfectant) even  in summer we didnt have any problems with flies etc!(which i was worrying about) the bark chips stop the mud and the gravel helps with drainage so this also prevents mud! my banty run is covered but is on paving slabs, so i use easybed wood chips on the floor and change them weekly!

Debbie

[battychicken]

hiya i know how you feel its amazing how much mess they can make !! , i covered our run with some pastic corrugated sheets from wickes very quick and cheap , the girls are free range for most of the day if i'm home but some days they have to spend in the run. i started with bark and this ended as a big smelly mess, then tried wood chip,then a filled half the run with sand ( which they adoreded) now using hemcore bedding in half run , the other half has the remains of sand and gravel  and dirt and they love it. 

After the first couple of weeks i thought i had made a huge mistake getting hens cos they seemed to create so much extra work , but thats cos i was still learning . I do two quick poo picks a day and a blast with the hose if needed, a weekly scape with jeyes and have lovely nosey hens who always want to know what i'm up to !
As for what hens eat and if it makes for good and safe eggs , i am still fairly new but some of the things my girls eat turns my stomach , there was lots of excitement a few days ago and stella was being chased round the garden by the others with a frog hanging out of her beak , she wasn't going to give it up though   gross !! Anyway the eggs are all lovely and i'm still here i just try not to think bout it .

[Aunt Sally]

You only need to cover the roof of the run if it doesn't have the prevailing wind blowing rain into it from the side.

[andymac]

Hi.
I had a similar problem.
This was my solution.
First I levelled the run floor and put a layer of gravel down.
Then I bought a sheet of 3mm exterior plywood and cut it to fit the floor of the run.
With POL chucks they have probably not had a nesting box before so they started to sleep and poo in it profusely, so, I cut another sheet of ply to block of the nest box to persuade them to perch for the night. Later just before I go to bed I quietly remove the nest box ply so that in the morning they have access to the straw filled nest box to lay in.
When we get home after work we let them free range in the outer enclosure. The days poo can easily be cleaned out of the run and then a quick spray with the garden hose makes it nice and clean again. All eggs are collected, and the nest box is blocked off again for the rest of the evening.
We will repeat this until they get the message to use the perches to sleep on. It's then easy to clean the poo out of the perch poo tray.
Hope this is of help to you.
Andy.

[greeneyesgreedy]

Thanks Andy. Will get hubbie onto some construcyion work this w/end. 

[Flowerpower136]

Girls have a big coup and as are most are still insisting on sleeping in the nest boxes, (they are ex batts, so if that's what they want to do, fine by me), it does mean a lot of poo in the wrong place.  I've changed the wooden internal nest box to plastic, just for ease of cleaning.  I'm using the boxes they use in garages to store parts, they hook onto a rack (not the stacking ones).  Since then its been a doddle to clean.  In the coop itself wood shavings absorb everthing, and I pick out the soggy soiled bits every morning.

Re the pen, was determined that this would only have a mesh roof, I'm a real fresh air fiend, and didn't like the idea of them in a covered pen (they can't free range in the garden - ferocious dog).  However, wet hens are not happy hens, and soggy earth can be a problem as it aids the life cycle of various parasites.  So I've covered the whole pen with corregated plastic, quite a job, pen is 20 m2.  Would recommend it though, so much nicer in there, dust baths have resumed, and its lovely to sit under shelter, but still out in the garden, when its bucketing down on the other side of the mesh.  I used softwood chippings on the earth floor of the run, they love digging it up and moving it around.

Sides of pen are welded mesh, though on one side it joins an existing outbuiding.  On 2 other sides trees provide some shelter.  I wouldn't like to close them in completely.

[LittleRedHen]

You can get corrigated plastic sheeting at B&Q for around £12 for two sheets.  Very reasonable and works great.