please can any one tell me whot to put down in my chicken run, as its winter and my chickens have been diging now the rain has came , the holes have filled up with rain ,whot can i put in the run as thy are wet , I have put them in there house but i like to see them out ,
Thank you weimac
help my chickens
The holes they dig start to fill here in my yard as well. First any spot I find that starts to hold water or get slushy, I turn the soil with a shovel. Sometimes that top layer will have poo that is clogging the soil draining properly. Once the ground is frozen that doesn't work anymore.
I have used the big bags of pine shavings to help with problem areas as it will absorb the water and when things dry out they will dry as well. I also find I am putting more straw down in the run area and probably will on and off thru the winter months. It gives the girls something to "dig" in when the ground is frozen.
Come spring I will rake it all out and put it and the litter from inside the coops on my compost pile. I am doing the deep litter method this winter inside their houses.
Sometime during the next month I plan to put up tarps or heavy plastic along the fenceline on both sides (only about 1/3 of the length of the run) of the run starting at the coop/houses to give more of a wind break against slashing sleet / wind/ snow. I hope it will cut down on some of their "outside" discomfort and they won't get as blasted by mother nature that way. I don't want them to have to spend all their time inside. They have plenty of indoor shelter.
Julie
Hi, I put straw down, then pine shavings. Actually, you can put them down in either order, but I find straw to be cheaper and whatever goes on the bottom is going to fill the holes as well as absorb moisture, so you end up using more of it. That way the top layer stays nice and dry, plus when you clean the pen all that organic matter plus the poop is great for the compost pile.
I've been using pine shavings, but I think I'll go get some straw and add that, too. It seems to keep the chickens and guineas from being wet, and it makes everything smell good! I will put it all in the compost pile in the spring - I'm also trying the deep litter method, and so far, it works well!
Beth_donovan, what a pretty Barred-Rock you have!
Thank you, saanansandy! His name is Rocky (not terribly original) and he comes running to me everytime he sees me. Rocky is just now learning how to crow - he gets better every day, but his first few attempts were embarrassing!
beth_donovan - How old is Rocky? Cruiser's grandson is about 5 months now and haven't heard one crow out of him. I'm beginning to think it's because those darn Sex-links have all of his tail feathers pulled out and he doesn't want anyone around to see how bad he looks without tail feathers. He's embarrassed. LOL No pun intended.
Formerly gardener34
This message was edited Nov 27, 2007 8:44 AM
weimac - Have you tried straw? They love digging in plus it absorbs the water and you can take it out after it gets too wet.
gardener105
Formerly 34 -
Rocky is probably 6 months old. Satchmo, the little Polish, started crowing about 3 weeks before Rocky did - Rocky's first crows sounded like something dying! Scared the heck out of us -
but after about 10 days of serious practice, he now sounds just awful instead of something dying!
I know what you mean, that was our reaction the first time our first rooster crowed. We thought the dog or something got it. Now whenever we have a new rooster that's raised from a chick I tend to forget how long it takes for them to start crowing and after they start sometimes I wished they HADN'T! Rocky's a nice looking rooster, that's what my roosters daddy is.
I got a load of free wood chips from a tree trimmer working in the neighborhood. They are larger than shavings and I find that they don't get mixed into the dirt as fast. They drain really fast too. I probably have them about a foot deep in there with one ares left open for dust baths. I've also put "flying sauccer sleds" filled with sand for them to dust in in the winter. I just fill it up when it's empty.
well myy silkie is starting to its awful and then you havethe adult rooster who struts his stuff he is up to mating with his great granddaughter gros because he is the father of his daughter,grand daughter and his great grand daughter talk about insest
luckycharm_1 - Don't you know they call that line breeding now, not insest. I don't care what they call it I'm with you it's gross! I have the same situation with my rooster and his 3 sisters and MOM! But what's a person to do. If you were raising them for chick stock that might be a problem but just for eggs to be consumed I guess that's okay?
Several years ago they built a small sub-division next to us. Well, we had a young rooster who was just finding his voice and one of the neighbors heard it and thought something was killing our chickens! He came over in a panic banging on the door; boy was he embarrassed when I thanked him for his concern but it was only the young rooster crowing!
saanasandy, good story! LOL!
saanansandy - I have to agree! Good story! LOL
Hey all! My rooster is starting to CROW!!! And it sounds like a REAL CROW I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!!! LOL
That's great gardener105! Cock-a-doodle-doo this morn!
Thanks saanansandy! I thought I was hearing things! LOL