The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: Susierw on November 02, 2018, 11:31:17 am
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I keep about 30/40 chickens in 5 different houses all in small electric fenced paddocks so they can free range. At the moment i use wood pellets for bedding - i had used it for the horses and it worked well. I sieve it with a garden sieve each week and add more soaked pellets when needed. This works really well in the summer but not so well in the damp weather as it tends to stay damp from the air and gets quite compacted.
I was thinking about using a piece of artifical turf in the bottom of the house maybe with a sheet of plastic underneath which i could then take out and shake into the muck heap and then hose down before drying and putting back in the house.
Has anyone else ever used this. I have seen people using very soft astroturf in nesting boxes to stop hens kicking out the bedding and then breaking the eggs.
Any thoughts gratefully received. Thanks
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It could work.
It is definately worth considering with the number of birds you have. Any bedding would get expensive very quickly.
I know they sometimes use astro or artificial grass in falconry, but mainly on the perches.
From a hygiene point of view it would be better as the stiff grass would be used as a sort of doormat for the chickens which keeps the nestboxes and therefore the eggs cleaner
Always useful that...!!! :)
Please let us know how it goes :thumbsup:
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Why not wood shavings? They don't need soaking like the pellets, so your bedding stays dry. I would have thought that with artificial turf you will get a build up of droppings under the perches as there's no loose bedding to cover them. With hosing down once a week, not only are you making yourself extra work now that the days are shorter, but you will also have the same problem of it not drying out. The dry shavings will be moved about over the droppings by the poultry and will keep their feet a lot cleaner. You can also just add a few more shavings each week to keep the floor clean, and have a deep litter system over winter, which again saves time.
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Yes thats all very well, but with that many chickens it can get pretty messy and expensive pretty quickly.....???
Or not...?? :-\ :thinking:
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And then u hv to dispose of a whole load of dirty wood shavings in the spring...??
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I’ve got wire mesh under the perches. Its thick, galvanised, welded stuff (not like the hexagonal chicken wire). Poo mostly falls through. Chickens feet stay clean. They’re in a stable, with the weld mesh shelf (about 2m x 1m and 1m high) then their perch and nest boxes are on/above this. I can sweep out the underneath as and when and like that the moisture from poo is quite far away from them and its well ventilated. Although we’re moving in a few months, so they will be reduced to a little wooden coop, I think I’ll install wire mesh in it as it works well.
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Mine are in a cage in the polytunnel, they jump up a level via a shelf onto weldmesh, where their food and drink is, and a perch runs off from that level. Droppings drop through to ground floor. No bedding needed.
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I bought a roll of artifical turf for about £30 and tht was enough to line five hen houses. It is working ok ish. On a dry day it is easy to knock muck into barrow and then hose and hang out to dry. Not always easy to find a day when they will dry well though. The muck does stick a bit to the turf but have cleaned it off ok with a broom and a hose. I have adapted a bit by putting a bit of wood pellets on top so muck doesn't stick so much. Will see how that goes. I don't want to use shavings as they don't compost very well.
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And then u hv to dispose of a whole load of dirty wood shavings in the spring...??
No!!
You make a pile and it rots down and you have an amazing manure for your garden. When I say "rots down" - you will find the pile reduces in size and never gets beyond a certain volume. It turns from "a load of dirty wood shavings" to a pile of brown crumbly fertiliser.
Good as a mulch also for round plants. Smothers and kills weeds and fertilisers the plants you want to keep.
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And then u hv to dispose of a whole load of dirty wood shavings in the spring...??
No!!
You make a pile and it rots down and you have an amazing manure for your garden. When I say "rots down" - you will find the pile reduces in size and never gets beyond a certain volume. It turns from "a load of dirty wood shavings" to a pile of brown crumbly fertiliser.
Good as a mulch also for round plants. Smothers and kills weeds and fertilisers the plants you want to keep.
Quite agree, I put it onto raised beds over winter, then a layer of compost on top, and then when it's time to plant out it's a great medium for the plants