Sorry guys, it's me again with yet another question.
We've had our hens 3 weeks today. They are doing brilliantly and are going from strength to strength. They have a large enclosed run with a roof, with a ramp up to their coop and nest boxes. They have access to a large securely grassed area of the garden all day, when they are feeling brave enough to venture outside (little and often but I'm sure this will change once they've gotten stronger and more feathered).
My question is how often should I clean out their run and coop? I currently remove all soiled newspaper from the coop every day. I do the same with any soiled straw in their nest boxes. I have been liberally dusting both coop and boxes with diatom, but as yet haven't given it a good clean out with poultry shield.
Also, their run has a base of aubiose which has been gradually built up on top of grass since they arrived. There is one bales worth now down on the floor. Other than a liberal dusting of diatom every week, and cleaning out of any old veg and feed they've thrown around, I've not touched it. I have some stalosan f which I want to use. Should I remove all the aubiose first then apply the stalosan and new bedding?
I'd appreciate your suggestions please as I'm a newbie and want to get this right for our six girls.
Many thanks.
We've had our hens 3 weeks today. They are doing brilliantly and are going from strength to strength. They have a large enclosed run with a roof, with a ramp up to their coop and nest boxes. They have access to a large securely grassed area of the garden all day, when they are feeling brave enough to venture outside (little and often but I'm sure this will change once they've gotten stronger and more feathered).
My question is how often should I clean out their run and coop? I currently remove all soiled newspaper from the coop every day. I do the same with any soiled straw in their nest boxes. I have been liberally dusting both coop and boxes with diatom, but as yet haven't given it a good clean out with poultry shield.
Also, their run has a base of aubiose which has been gradually built up on top of grass since they arrived. There is one bales worth now down on the floor. Other than a liberal dusting of diatom every week, and cleaning out of any old veg and feed they've thrown around, I've not touched it. I have some stalosan f which I want to use. Should I remove all the aubiose first then apply the stalosan and new bedding?
I'd appreciate your suggestions please as I'm a newbie and want to get this right for our six girls.
Many thanks.