[karlooben]

call me looby everyone else does  i wish u luck with the new project

[dizzylizzie]

they will love it under a tree! looby is rght, its good that your asking so many questions . The way i do things is right for me, in my circumstances,it wont be right for you, but seriously tho, the girls need as much room as you can give them, its good your looking at ways to increase the space

[beulah59]

Think about a way to rake out the run ... moveable side panels? And consider where to store the rakings to rot down and make lovely compost ... you'll want to put them on fresh flooring from time to time ... can you track down a supply of woodchip from a local tree surgeon, for example?

And you'll want to rake it over at least weekly to lay a disinfectant like Stalosan or Bio-dry ... just to keep the smell down for the neighbour's sake if nothing else! If they're on the same ground all the time, you need to consider the build up of pests and disease. Worms especially.

HTH

[karlooben]

beulah  u just posting about using disinfection sprays to keep the smell down etc well i have just dug my whole run over and omggggggggggggggggggggg the smell { unless its from my clothes i have showered } stinks hehehehehehehe i do hope it aint coming though the windows my neighbours will kill me and ohhhhhhhhh i can feel complaints coming on , i did go to use jeyes as thats all i have but the pump bottle paint sprayer was blocked with ice .

[dizzylizzie]

.......and you have a large run too, i dont think people realise how much room these girlies need, or how much poop they do.  They can turn even a large area into a mud bath very quickly  cant they?

[neil9797]

Well I read that they need >1m² per bird. If I get three hens then they will be getting 2.4m². Won't that be enough to dilute the pong along with all the chemical warfare you've recommended?

[joyfull]

No. the minimum is 1sq m per bird and most on here recommend 2 per bird but ideally even more if that is possible because when you have their feeders and drinker down plus a dust bath are plus logs or similar to give them variety and perching areas they are not left with much space at all.

[dizzylizzie]

I agree with Joy, that is the minimum, but who wants the minimum?
Alo, i can help feeling that as its only 2foot(ish ) wide, the birds will have no choice but tho walk up and down in the same line because there isnt anywhere else to go. It will be a mud bath in no time. Anyway, you asked for advice and opinions, what i have given is just my opinion, 

[karlooben]

my run is pretty large hehehehe not large enough its being extended in the spring   .
i was poo picking when it snowed and it got a bit to differcult to do as it was frozen , some ppl have moaned a few times that it can smell but they understand that when its wet but also they know i will deal with it when its dry for me to get the tree surgeons truck in to add more woodbark .
i know in the spring they way i feed the girls will change as well , instead of feeding them from the ground in trays i will be building a new 8 '4 shelter with guttering right down the middle so i can reach it easily screwed onto cut down fence posts an the rest of the dry ground the girls can do as they please with i just need the dry days to get out there an that wont be happening for a while .

[joyfull]

Lizzie you once posted some photos of your run showing the tyres, logs and other items to break any boredom could you please post again just to give others some idea or do you not have the photo's anymore?  

[dizzylizzie]

I dont think i have them anymore hun-sorry

[neil9797]

Hmmm. OK, don't worry I do appreciate your opinions; my questioning is just me trying to work out how to adapt the advice for my circumstances. Two things:

(1) I'm surprised that you deduct 'feature' space from total floor space; I don't understand why that would be so.
(2) Would it not be fair for me to observe that most people in this discussion have large flocks and lots of space? I'm just a suburbanite trying to accommodate a few pet chooks in a postage-stamp garden. I know several work colleagues who keep a few hens in space far more limited than mine will get, e.g. Eglus. It happen to be quite a trend at the mo and I hear no outcry about hen welfare in such miniature set-ups. Perhaps what you are recommending are 'Rolls-Royce' solutions? I'd love to hear what you have to say about the suitability of keeping hens in suburban gardens.

Rgds, N

[karlooben]

do u have fencing surrounding your garden if yes how high is it ?  would it be possible to extend the run out to maybe 3 foot then build it up as high as your fencing .

[dizzylizzie]

i live in an ex-council house in the middle of a housing estate-no big estates here, just a fellow suburbanite trying to give mt chickens a good life.

[neil9797]

@ dizz - thanks. So how big is your garden and how do you balance the ratio of space for hens:space for humans? Do you take strenuous efforts to de-pong to keep the garden usable? I can't remember if you use  wood/bark mulch; if you do, how often do you replace? N

@looby - I could widen to 3ft but would that really make that much difference? Also, the fence along the proposed run site is just a simple 3ft wire effort. It has lots of tall shrubs along it, many prickly so it would be too much effort to raise it. It would also cut out a lot of light.