Do I Need An Earth Box

Its worth putting a dust bath in the run for them if nothing else it slows them down from trashing the ground. A box about 2 foot square with 6 inch high sides filled with peat moss, compost and coarse sand works for about 4 hens. Any bigger and it will be too heavy to move around especially when wet.

If you can keep the dust bath dry Diatom can be added to help minimise external parasites.

Thank you that will be on tomorrows list to do after I finish the roof. Think I have an old fish box that will do. When the roof is complete it will be dry. Is it worth putting a perch in the run?

mine love their dustbath, as soon as they see me clean it out and refresh the dust its a mad dash to see who can get there first. 10 mins later and most of the dust has been kicked and shaken out, its very amusing to watch

Play pit sand, potting compost and  normal garden earth. They love the fine dry mixture to run through their feathers.

Hi

Like the sound of the compost bin in the run . I am going to extend the run to give them a bare earth section will think of putting a compost bin in the middle. Since i have been putting chicken muck on the heap the worms have increased  :)a lot. Does anybody see any snags with compost bin in run?

peter rooster

If your birds and coop suffer at anytime in the future with red mite...DO NOT put any used bedding on your compost bin if your hens have access to them as the mites will simply climb aboard again and back to the house and the cycle of infestation with never be broken.

Our compost bays were there before the girls, I just built the run round them.  As you can see the girls love them, treat them like a bouncy castle.  I've lowered one edge for easy chicken access.  Every tubby trug that gets tipped in attracts a crowd as it all has to be sorted through.  They really do enjoy a good rumage for bugs and for any bit of vegetation that might take their fancy.  For that reason I separate things like fox gloves or monkshood.  I have a separate 'poison' compost bin outside of the run.

However, must make the point that I don't put fresh 'chicken debris' on these heaps, I have 2 plastic darlek bins (just out of picture within the run) with close fitting lids, and that that's were the fresh poo goes.  Only when it's composted down does it get mixed into the the main heaps.  I wouldn't like the idea of the girls digging about in fresh poo, and also got to think about flies and smells in summer.