Re: Chickens on the run!

Jill wrote:
keith kent wrote:

Hi , I have just finished their new home & in the process of making
the enclosure, then i will start to think what to do will the barren
soil about 4 m square in front of house/run?


The best option is to cover it with permeable ground cover membrane to prevent the soil coming up and mixing.
Then cover this with 4-6 inches of the coarsest bark you can find.
You can then use this area to create a "play pen" for them with logs, branches, hanging veggies etc.
>
Never leave veggies or any quickly decomposable material on the ground for more than a day --its one of the surest ways to attract vermin and can cause botulism in the birds.

*So far* - fingers crossed - that hasn't happened here because they scratch it around too much. Any part that looks like it's got trodden-down material I turn with the garden fork or a stick to loosen. Will have to see how things go in winter of course, could be different. I'd probably do well to buy in a trailer of coarse bark too, it's certainly great for keeping them amused. Easily scratched aside to see what's underneath, and good drainage.

Anyway with your warning I'll be keeping a careful eye on left-overs in the run and adjust feeding practice to deal with what happens as the season progresses.



Bare soil and chickens is a BAD idea, except in desert like conditions. Bare soil and chickens in the winter is a very bad idea. Its the recipe for bacterial soup. YUCK


Bare soil packs SO hard! When my parents first built their covered deep-litter hen house with a big wire-netting window across the front, I think some of the locals thought it was a poor deal for the chooks. Theirs had houses for roosting and a big netting run "out in the fresh air" where it was bare and hard as concrete, apart from the times it was bare and muddy! Ours always had great dust-baths in the straw and dried greens that got gradually scratched to dust.

A L P

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