Re: Chicken advise newbie.


"Amy Blankenship" <Amy_nospam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:hqDih.4628$AY1.315@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx



We thought fortnightly was often enough to clean our Eglu, which has a
wire floor and removable tray. Last time Spouse did it the droppings
tray had a lot of small (unidentifiable by us) maggots in it :-(

Maggots are welcome.

Not in the coop :-(

When the chickens get out to forage, at least 4-5 go under the house to
scratch around in the compost. This is a great way to aerate it, and a
good source of protein. It makes a bit of extra work to rake the leaves
back under there, but it's no biggie. I've been thinking about adding
vermiculture down there to make it official. Anyone out there with a
bin of red wigglers under their chickens?

These weren't worms, they were maggots - some kind of insect larvae. Hens
will eat some maggots but not when they can't reach them. The maggots
would metamorphose into insects of some kind and we didn't want that.

Yes, I'm aware of that. But chickens love both maggots and insects of
most kinds

But not all. I know a bit about insects but we couldn't work out what these
were, the chickens certainly weren't interested in them, as I said.

I've never seen an Eglu in person, but it looks rather small and
enclosed.

Not at all - as long as it's not overcrowded - the same applies to any
size of coop. It's designed for back garden chicken husbandry, people who
don't want to support the battery egg production industry. It's
recommended for not more than three full size chickens, we only have
bantams and only two roost in there.

Our chicken coop was built more for maximum ventilation than warmth.

The Eglu has both ventilation and insulation.

I'd be worried only cleaning something that air tight looking every two
weeks that the ammonia would build up.

LOL! It's not airtight and the debris falls through slats to a removable
tray below - which can be removed without disturbing the rest of the
structure.

Since the whole point of the way I keep my chickens is to deposit organic
matter in situ, taking it away doesn't make any sense. Your goals are
different than mine.

They're probably the same, I suspect that my scale is different from yours.

Our poultry fertilise the ground during the day when they're ranging round
the garden. The night-time droppings are removed and added to the compost
bin. It works well.

What's more, at the moment the Eglu is placed so that the chickens using it
have to go into the greenhouse when they get up in the morning. the gh door
is opened when we get up, if they want to go out into the garden they do, if
the weather is too bad they stay inside and scratch in (and fertilise) the
borders for the next crops. It's a perfect system, I get the best of all
worlds in an urban back garden.

If my coop gets that kind of smell, I add more pecan leaves.

We've never, ever, had any ammoniacal smell from any of our chicken
houses.

You don't deliberately put your chickens on top of their own waste for
weeks, either. And you don't have 23 in one spot.

I wouldn't do that.

The Eglu is splendid chicken housing for its purpose. It's not intended
for commercial husbandry and it wouldn't be suitable. It's easy to clean
inside and out, needs no other maintenance and the chickens take to it
immediately. The only drawback is the cost but since it's a one-off
(i.e. no repair bills ever) it's good value.

If you don't have 27 chickens. You'd need an awful lot for that.

It's not intended for that sort of number, as I explained. That number of
fowl would also be far too many for our urban garden.

Mary



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