Talk to me about chicken poo!

[Swordfishtrombones]

I would dearly love to keep a couple of chickens but I keep coming back to thought of chicken poo all over the garden! If I had an eglu with 2 chooks and moved it about the lawn every 5 days to a week, do you think it would be manageable to pick up most of the poo? (have several small DDs running about)

I also keep hearing about how they ruin the grass.....is this when they free range a lot or just from moving the coop around?

And finally, there are lots of foxes where I live so are eglus really foxproof? Obviously if I am around I will let them out to wander, but otherwise they'd be in the eglu and run.

Please convince me! Thank you.

there'll be a lot of poo!
we clear ours up daily with a fire shovel and stick.
fills a shovel between 5 girls, so not too bad and doesn't take long! do it in the morning when you do their bedding and at night when you've locked them up and it'll be fine.

eglus are as foxproof as the run you put them in: when they're closed for the night a fox can't get in, but if you don't have a proper run, then a fox can get in.

We have 2 chickens in a wooden house/run (not an eglu). We move it round our grass every couple of weeks.

They do poo a lot but it is manageable. We haven't let ours out of their run yet but I go in every week to pick it up.

Our grass hasn't suffered too much and seems to recover quickly once we move the run - even through the winter. Our chickens scrape the grass with their feet and pull all the moss out.

I wasn't too keen to get chickens - my daughter persuaded me but I love them now - they are so entertaining. And unsurprisingly I am the one who does all the cleaning out, feeding and poo picking up.

we didn't even bother with grass in the run! it's built on soil.
we let them out for a couple of hours in the day (closely supervised because we did lose one to a fox when they were out and about) and they eat grass then and fertilise it! but they don't make too much mess because they're allowed run of the whole garden.

it's basically down to how much space you give them.

There is a lot of poo. Moving your eglu every five days or so will mean that you have no lawn in a shockingly short amount of time. If you want to keep hens in the average garden, I would always advise siting your run on slabs and putting down a layer of horse bedding (absorbs poo and smells really well). You can then clean it out and replace it as needed. A permanent site for the hen house makes managing poo a lot easier. My girls free range daily, and in the summer I poo pick three times a day.

What is horse bedding?

I use one called easibed, but there are many types. It's the stuff they use in stables for the horses to sleep on. Sometimes its hemp based. It's very cheap (about 7 pounds for a bale) and lasts for a good six weeks in my three metre by one metre run. I use half a bale at a time. It gives the hens something to scratch about in.

Thanks for all the replies. Hmmm, I'm really not sure I want to sacrifice the grass as having a garden with greenery was one of the main reasons we moved house. That's really interesting about siting it on slabs - thanks for the tip.

We have an area at the bottom of the garden which is sort of rubble and weeds so maybe I could site it down there and then let them have a wander each day whilst I'm there to keep an eye out for foxes.

ChickensLoveMarmite (do they really?) - do you leave yours in the run if you went away for a weekend say, or would you move it onto grass then?

Thanks again for all your thoughts. I'm just about convinced they are a good idea. I have children, I'm used to poo

Yes, if we travel we leave them in the run. I have a lovely neighbour who feeds them and cleans them ut when we're away. I don't like them free ranging when we're not here, too risky. The other benefit of slabs is that nothing can dig in, so fox attacks are unlikely if they're in their run.

Mine love marmite on toast It's supposed to be good for them during a moult, but tbh they are just greedy beggars , and I spoil them I aore my hens, and wouldn't be without them I'm also a keen gardener, and I manage quite well with the run on slabs.

I have a fixed run too, I intended to move it about the garden but the 3 hens destroyed the grass in the run within a couple of days so now it stays in one place with a soil/hardwood chipping floor. I have an eglu too, its fab, we've had a fox spray up the side of it (either that or a cat with veeery long legs) but the chooks were safe

Bit of a hijack here though (sorry), ChickensloveMarmite, I have just bought a cube to upgrade () and we're going to put it on a concrete base rather than straight on soil - would the horse bedding work better than the hardwood chippings? Does it have to be kept totally dry? Thank you!

I know I've come to this thread late, but I'm planning on getting an Eglu and also to move it around the garden, interesting that you say its best to have a fixed place - will look into this more - thanks

Yes, they poo for England! Even my kids are used to stepping over small piles of it when they're on their way out to school. I clean up 3 times a day and then swill down with water and Jeyes fluid before I go to bed each night. My chickens are free ranging around the backgarden and concreted area all day - they even come into the kitchen and lounge given half the chance.

You can pick it up off the grass, but chickens are well known for destroying grass, so if you want your grass protected then keep them off it with chicken wire or something.

IMO chickens make such lovely, entertaining pets that the cleaning is worth it and chicken poo is much less smelly and offensive than dog or cat poo any day!

Needanewname it's best to have a fixed place because then you can make sure the run is fox-proof (by digging mesh into the ground, having it on slabs etc) - with a moveable run, you'd have to do all that rigmarole every couple of months.

if you worry that the ground's getting a bit yucky, you can dig it out and throw some new in. (we use dead leaves etc)

Hi sorry I know this is a zombie thread but I just wondered how people pick up their chicken poo? We just for 4 chickens and looking for poo tips! The free range when we are home and in the run they have wood chippings and in the coop hemp beding. Any tips? Thanks :)

I don't know if you can get it there because I live in the U.S. but my feed store had me try coconut husk (coir) bedding and it has been FABULOUS. I haven't picked up poo in six months, it just composts into the ground. When I'm in the coop I kick some bedding over any poos I see. Every few weeks I add another ¼ bale (they are big bales like half the size of a straw bale and a ¼ to ½ a bale adds several inches). My friend was amazed that my chickens don't smell and I don't pick up poo. It just keeps composting. It does smell if they've just dropped one but otherwise no.

Off to Google coir bedding... :)

www.amazon.co.uk/CHICKEN-HEN-BEDDING-60-LITRES/dp/B00GQGR6CC

ohh moving the coop about every week sounds like hard work!

Our garden has a patio, four brick flower/vegetable beds, a gravel area at the back and three lawns. We used one of the lawn areas as a permanent chicken enclosure which houses the coop and is fenced off with wire and trellis (to make it look pretty!) There's no grass left in the enclosure, they've scratched it all away it becomes a complete mudbath after rain so stepping stones t get to food and water are a must. I let them out to wander the entire garden every morning but they have no access to the patio area.

Poo is awful in this weather, the flies are a nightmare.