Oh my gosh they poop alot!

[BabyDubsEverywhere]

Well i got my ladies yesterday and my gosh they are poop machines! what do you all use to get it off the grass and where do you put it? should i just pooperscoop like a dog and put it in the compost bin?

Also is the run better off coverd, as in the whole thing all the time? I was thinking of clear perspex across the roof letting sun through but not rain, or is the rain better to wash the ground?

hmmm, thought id coverd all my questions but obviously not

Chicken poo is great for compost bins.

If you cover the run then you can put auboise (horse bedding) or similar in the run which keeps the smell down and composts easily.

Have you enjoyed your chickens today, BDE?

i have

Just been nipping out lots today, but have a whole day planned out there tomorrow and im really looking forward to it. i have been suffering from a type of agraphobia for the last few years, this has given me a real reason to go outside and im suprised by how much i want to go out!

Love my chooks!

From a bird flu point of view, it should be covered, you could use that corrugated clear plastic stuff, but they do like a bit of drizzle now and again, so its what you want really. If your run is static, the ground will turn bare and sour fairly soon, you could put bark chips down to help this and prevent mud.

i'm pretty sure that no one's worried abou the bird flu thing any more.

you can cover the run for rain protection (or the ground hums a bit...), but you probably shouldn't cover all of it as it can get really really hot in there in the summer.

our run is in a sheltrered area (tall pine trees) and it still gets really hot. we have clear plastic onduline on the roof of the run, which is slightly raised wit hwooden blocks (helps the rain run off too). our run is also about 7feet high, so a lot of the heat goes upwards.

I cover my run, it stinks if it gets wet, I have wood chip down, just sprinkle some lime down and rake over occasionally.

My run is covered, but I also have my set up on concrete slabs with horse bedding in there for them to dig about in. Hot chicken poo smells bad.

we pick up lumps of poo at the end of every day as well, when we put them to bed (it helps to have a light)
that's the beauty of chicken poo - it's all solid (apart from the coecal ones, but they're okay if you cover them in soil first, then scoop!)