More questions....about straw this time

[Anonymous]

We are still working on our plans for our little small holding.
Our planning application requires us to show all inputs and outputs.
It seems the best breed to have would be Cuckoo marans.
We would have a yearly cycle with a 'stock' of about 15 ramping up to around 25 chickens after breeding and back down again to the 15 after we have eaten the others.
I was wondering how much straw people with a similar number get through in a year.
Our chickens will be as free range as possible with plenty of foraging space so will hopefully be out of their coop as much as possible.

Rob

 

[victorias poultry]

The amount of straw that you would use depends on the area that you intend to cover it with, I use straw for the ducks only, one bale will last a week.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi,
We would be filling the 22 'boxes' in the coop and was wondering if this stays clean or if the chickens soil it and require replacing often. This coop and the broody hen / chick coop would be the only places we would would use straw for the chickens
I guess the chickens are fairly clean animals and I was hoping they only need a little soiled straw removing as and when required.

Rob

 

[Sue]

I don't know what everyone else thinks, but I wouldn't be using straw for chicks. They will just get tangled up in it and risk breaking legs etc. Unless it's small pieces of chopped straw I suppose. I would have thought soft shavings would have been better.

 

[darkbrowneggs]

I use chopt rape or hemp such as Rapport Bliss or something similar on the hen / chick / growers house floors it is easy to remove and looks clean and tidy. I suppose wood shaving might be cheaper but they are not good for the compost heap

The droppings boards beneath the perches are sprinkled with ash to keep down the ammonia in the droppings, and most of the poo should go on those. The nest boxes are rollaway plastic ones, which only need a bit of straw to train them to lay early in the season with a rubber training egg.

The outside scratching runs (covered) have a bit of straw as and when needed and If you throw in a bit of grain they will fluff up the bedding themselves

Mine also have outside net runs to protect the little ones from the buzzards and crows, but they have made such a mess of the grass in those I will probably put down gravel next year, but the big birds go out to free range though still have to be in electric netting pens because of the wretched daytime foxes.

All the best
Sue

 

[Anonymous]

I don't know what everyone else thinks, but I wouldn't be using straw for chicks. They will just get tangled up in it and risk breaking legs etc. Unless it's small pieces of chopped straw I suppose. I would have thought soft shavings would have been better.

We would be using chopped straw for the bigger chicks. We have a big old chaff cutter which we would use to do the chopping. We would also be using the chopped straw in our compost toilet too.

I should think we would have sufficent saw dust around the place for the small chicks. I will put that in our plans so we remember to dry and store the saw dust.

Rob

 

[darkbrowneggs]

I usually make sure the young chicks are eating well before letting them near somewhere they might eat instead of food. Sometimes they are not all that bright and it is a pity to loose them unnecessarily

All the best
Sue

 

[chrismahon]

We use best quality (softest) shavings for chicks. Tried Aubiose and it cut their little feet to pieces. Ever tried putting bandages on a chicks toes? Use a 4mm or so drill bit to wrap bandage around. Then slide over toe and hold in position with low adhesive tape. Problem is when the toe is cut the others peck at it and make it worse. Waste shavings go in brown (compost) Council bin. Staw could contain bugs as well but the biggest problem is spores that may cause repiratory problems. We have found Buff Orpingtons very suceptable to chest problems with damp bedding. We find straw fouls easily and works out far more expensive than a big compressed bail of woodshavings anyway. It does compost but takes 3 years.