The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: lord flynn on September 28, 2014, 03:03:24 pm
-
hi,has anyone tried hardwood chip, on top of mesh, on top of soil at all? or sand on top of weed cloth? I need to make a bachelor pen for the winter and preferably one that will stay up. So wanting to use fence posts, release pen netting but also something on the floor as I know what that part of the garden is like (i.e. marginally worse than the rest of the garden).
I've used heavy weight galvanised panels on part of the floor of the duck run and they are working very well (grass is growing up through them, they are pegged down securely and smooth-the ducks can and do still root about but not dig massive holes and it's stopped it turning into mush around their trough). However, poultry obviously have different needs so just wondering what might do. I have some 19mm think plastic mesh which I thought might do under some hardwood chip-if I can find any!pea gravel is another option-I do really like sharp sand in runs as well but obviously it would all disappear.
-
How big is the run? Can you put in a raised "floor" of wood raised on battens? Could be external ply with holes drilled through for drainage on bits of pallet, with leaves, old straw or anything similar to scratch in, cleaned out as it becomes mucky.
-
oh, thats an idea-have lots of pallets-run won't be roofed except with bird netting. Its so windy here its difficult for me to build something roofed that won't end up on the Pentlands. I have moveable pens I use in the summer but learned last year they won't do during the winter.
Haven't decided on size of run yet, probably around 8 x 16ft and 5ft high for three birds. The Scots Greys aren't diggers although obviously they like to scratch about.