Chickens runs on concrete bases

[valeriebutterley]

Comments and suggestions, please.
Try as I do, I cannot keep my girls smelling anything to halfway decent, when the torrential rain hits the straw and food and chick poo strewn concrete floor of the runs, and the ones on grass and dirt do not fare much better. Cleaning out and scrubbing is the obvious answer - and I do!
Also, do all chickens waste as much food as mine?, I certainly throw away much, much more than they eat, and chicken feed is no longer cheap and it STINKS when it gets wet.
I have tried several different feeders, each one bad as regards waste, hanging them does not seem to solve the problem, either.
How do other people cope with, and have sweet smelling girls? I'm beginning to wonder if I've got any of
my methods of keeping chickens right - I do not know any other chicken keepers, or how they do it.
Despite all of the above, my girls are contented, very friendly and healthy, and produce a phenominal a mount of eggs. Regards, and thanks for suggestions or answers, Valerie.

 

[Sue]

I have a concrete base to my undercover run and I have hard wood chip on the floor. There is no smell at all, but I do pick up most of the droppings twice daily. This is not bark, which breaks down, but much better as it doesn't go moldy. The girls don't smell and neither does the run. They have dust free wood shavings in the house, where I also pick up all droppings in the morning. They don't waste any food, I have one of the feeders with the small divided sections so fresh food doesn't drop down until they've eaten what is there. It's hung up about 6 inches from the ground. I only have 6 hens, so relatively easy to keep clean.

 

[valeriebutterley]

Sue,thanks for your reply. Straw, rain, food, poo is not a good combination, my run is not undercover as such, it has a roof, obviously, but the rain gets to everything. I am about to try some flooring/ bedding which is 10cm woodchips, I did try some other woodchips but with r, p, and f, that was not good either.
Can you please tell me a bit more about the feeder, I hate waste, I have small ones that simply clamp together for chicks, with dividers, do you mean those? red/white - 1 ltr.
Again, thanks, regards, Valerie.

 

[Marigold]

Have a look at this, http://www.solwayfeeders.com/products/25kg-outdoor-ascot-feeder-with-rain-guard-p1818-c397.html ie the Ascot feeder from Solway feeders. Available in 2 types, one with a smaller lid for undercover use and one with an additional large 'umbrella-type' lid, for use where it might get wet. I find the hens can appraoch the feeder from all directions, head towards the middle, which helps prevent bullying if there is a new hen Mine is hung up about 6ins above the ground, and there is absolutely no waste as the hens just peck a few peelets out form the small 'pockets' which re-fill from the central tower. The legs are useless but the rest of the feeder is strongly-made and a good design.

To prevent rain blowing in the sides of the run, I've nailed up clear tarpaulin round 3 sides of the covered end of my run. The clear or white tarp gives good protection from driving rain and also wind, and lets light through, so the end of the run is really like a sort of large open-sided henhouse shed. In summer it provides filtered shade, and in winter it's much warmer and more pleasant for the hens, and for me when I'm cleaning them out etc. there's a long perch in there, where they all congregate for their afternoon snooze or for shelter when it's wet and blowy. Just Google tarpaulins and there's lots of choice and they're not very expensive.

PS Sorry i forgot to paste in the link to the Ascot Feeder, have now done so, above.

 

[bantiekeeper]

Hi there, My set up is similar to Sue's. I just lay newspaper under the perches in the coop and remove and burn every day. Remove poo from woodchip litter in the run every day. The pvc panels which can be clipped on the sides of the run are great at stopping the rain blowing in.The run is 2.4m square x 2m high.The 6 banties free range on the allotment every afternoon.Attach pics.

 

[Sue]

The feeder I have is similar to the small Solway feeder. I also have the hard wood chips in the outside part of the run. The base here is soil and the chips stop it getting muddy and it dries out really quickly after rain. They love scratching around in it, especially after the rain as I expect there are new insects in it. It's easy to pick up the poo from it and if it gets really dirty you could hose it down. As I said it doesn't go moldy when it's wet like bark chips. I bought mine from www.mjgiddings.co.uk you can buy it in large dumpy bags ~(this is cheaper) or in smaller 70 ltr bags (minimum order is 15 bags). You can buy in smaller quantities from www.flytesofancy.co.uk . To shelter my outside run I have attached lengths of the green plastic wind/rain protector you can buy for plants. This gives a dappled shade area when it's sunny and also cuts down on the rain entering the run.

 

[foxy]

lovely set up Bantiekeeper! 17