The Dinosaurs in my Back Garden

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KarenE
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Re: The Dinosaurs in my Back Garden

Post by KarenE »

Happy Henniversary SD :-D It's a rollercoaster, I remember my first year so well and it's still a bloomin rollercoaster now!

Don't forget that as well as virtual, you can come along to the 9th sept meet up in Wisley if you want to, and you can make it. The more the merrier!
Karen
Alpha chick to: Smudge, Matisse and Bluebell
Chief servant to Marley the cat
Remembering Weeps, Rexie, Sage, Cassie, Toffee, Captain Gabby, Commander Nugget, Ronnie, Juno, Special Poetry and Reading Casper, Tigger, Tophenanall Rembrandt, Chestnut, Tiddly, Willow, Mango, Coco, Dorian Grey and Pokey.
Also my lost furries Charlie and Jasper

stripeddonkey
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Re: The Dinosaurs in my Back Garden

Post by stripeddonkey »

The meet up is just too far away for me this time round. I'll try for a future one though. I'd love to meet you guys face to face. Here's to the next year and beyond. )c(
stripeddonkey
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Re: The Dinosaurs in my Back Garden

Post by stripeddonkey »

Here's a question for you all. Hope I don't sound too ignorant asking it. There was a question on a Facebook chicken group I'm in recently asking about how we clean out our chickens. Just about everyone did it differently and of course there are various permutations of bedding used. Below I have detailed my cleaning regime and would appreciate input as to whether it sounds appropriate or not...

I have three areas that the chickens live in (excluding the garden for the purposes of this discussion): their coop, the nest boxes and the run.

The coop: This has Easichick bedding on the floor. This is wood shavings. The floor of the coop doesn't get very dirty at all as the girls are basically just in there to sleep overnight. The sit on a roosting bar and their poo is in a line under them. I remove the poo in the morning and thats about it. I empty the coop each month and spray with a poultry housing spray and then dust everywhere with DE before putting down bedding again. I scrub the perches with Virkon solution to remove any caked poo but there is no caked poo anywhere else.

The two nest boxes have Dengie Fresh Bed (pine scented straw) in them. I empty all straw each week or sometimes two. I clean as per the coop and again put in plenty of DE on the wood before putting in fresh straw.

The run has a base of sand and a topping of Dengie Fresh Bed. I remove any soiled straw each day and then every couple of weeks remove all straw and replace. I have a little DE through the straw too. One corner of the run has no straw topping and has some soil added to the sand so they can dust bathe.

Well that's it. Does it sound OK?
Cheshire Chick
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Re: The Dinosaurs in my Back Garden

Post by Cheshire Chick »

Sounds like a very good cleaning regime you have there SD. My set up is a coop with attached run underneath and this is placed inside their main (homemade) run. The nest box does have a perch in and I fill it up with straw. Each morning I take out any soiled straw and if necessary add fresh straw (depending on how much is left in the box). I change all the straw probably monthly. The underneath "run" part of the coup I put down sawdust. We put wood down in this part on top of mesh (for security and for ease of cleaning). I change the sawdust every morning and put down fresh. Once a week I will scrub it out with some animal friendly disinfectant. The main run where the coup is situated has a soil base. We left it like this because the girls like to dig in it and dust bath. Each morning I literally "poo pick" this area. When the weather is hot I tend to use a ground sanitizer - can't remember what it's called but I just sprinkle this throughout the run. That's about it for me apart from the obvious feeder/drinkers cleaned every day. I would imagine we all pretty much do the same chores, depending on our set-ups.
stripeddonkey
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Re: The Dinosaurs in my Back Garden

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Cheshire Chick wrote:Sounds like a very good cleaning regime you have there SD. My set up is a coop with attached run underneath and this is placed inside their main (homemade) run. The nest box does have a perch in and I fill it up with straw. Each morning I take out any soiled straw and if necessary add fresh straw (depending on how much is left in the box). I change all the straw probably monthly. The underneath "run" part of the coup I put down sawdust. We put wood down in this part on top of mesh (for security and for ease of cleaning). I change the sawdust every morning and put down fresh. Once a week I will scrub it out with some animal friendly disinfectant. The main run where the coup is situated has a soil base. We left it like this because the girls like to dig in it and dust bath. Each morning I literally "poo pick" this area. When the weather is hot I tend to use a ground sanitizer - can't remember what it's called but I just sprinkle this throughout the run. That's about it for me apart from the obvious feeder/drinkers cleaned every day. I would imagine we all pretty much do the same chores, depending on our set-ups.


Thanks CC. Good to know I'm not doing anything weird. :-D
bikesandbirdsbob
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Re: The Dinosaurs in my Back Garden

Post by bikesandbirdsbob »

Hi , if you do/did it would only mean you keep chickens .
bob
stripeddonkey
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Re: The Dinosaurs in my Back Garden

Post by stripeddonkey »

bikesandbirdsbob wrote:Hi , if you do/did it would only mean you keep chickens .
bob

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sandy
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Re: The Dinosaurs in my Back Garden

Post by sandy »

All I can say is can you pop around and do my girls too {rofwl}
and of course The Peds
The Pink Ladies..Audrey,Ingrid-Bergman,Madeleline,Norma-Jean,Dora,Janice,Jo,Robyn,Chrissy and Joyce
The Peds…Mork,Mindy,Bell,Saphire &
Vorky ,Blueped,Ginger,Ninger &Linky

Sunny Clucker was ere July 12-21 2012
Sunny Clucker was ere July 6 2016 to Sept 9th 2017
Sunny Clucker is here , rehomed Aug 18th 2018/
stripeddonkey
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Re: The Dinosaurs in my Back Garden

Post by stripeddonkey »

sandy wrote:All I can say is can you pop around and do my girls too {rofwl}
and of course The Peds


:-D
stripeddonkey
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Re: The Dinosaurs in my Back Garden

Post by stripeddonkey »

I've decided to extend the girls' run. I want to add another 3.5 x 5 feet onto the end. Unfortunately the person (a relative) who built the original run isn't available. I'm not up to the challenge, I wish I was, and neither is my creative but not practical hubby. Was thinking of trying Rated People to see if someone is interested. What have you guys done to build a run in the past - done it yourself or paid someone?

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sandy
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Re: The Dinosaurs in my Back Garden

Post by sandy »

Rated people is good I had a good carpenter to extend my run , it was a big job, he has moved away now and I have two botched jobs since by word of mouth }hairout{
Check a trade dot com is good too, unless you are a carpenter I would leave it to someone more skilled so you are not forever repairing {rofwl}
The Pink Ladies..Audrey,Ingrid-Bergman,Madeleline,Norma-Jean,Dora,Janice,Jo,Robyn,Chrissy and Joyce
The Peds…Mork,Mindy,Bell,Saphire &
Vorky ,Blueped,Ginger,Ninger &Linky

Sunny Clucker was ere July 12-21 2012
Sunny Clucker was ere July 6 2016 to Sept 9th 2017
Sunny Clucker is here , rehomed Aug 18th 2018/
stripeddonkey
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Re: The Dinosaurs in my Back Garden

Post by stripeddonkey »

sandy wrote:Rated people is good I had a good carpenter to extend my run , it was a big job, he has moved away now and I have two botched jobs since by word of mouth }hairout{
Check a trade dot com is good too, unless you are a carpenter I would leave it to someone more skilled so you are not forever repairing {rofwl}


Thanks Sandy. Yes, when it comes to thesafety of the girls I won't compromise.
>ch< >ch< >ch<
stripeddonkey
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Re: The Dinosaurs in my Back Garden

Post by stripeddonkey »

A shockingly sad day today. Florence was fine last night but dead this morning. Just over a year old she was big, bossy and beautiful. She had been ill on Monday but seemed to be well again and was back to her hungry happy self by Wed. No idea what happened. Devastated.
amber66
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Re: The Dinosaurs in my Back Garden

Post by amber66 »

So sorry Stripydonkey your girl Florence has passed over the bridge. Fly high little one. {hug} {hug}
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KarenE
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Re: The Dinosaurs in my Back Garden

Post by KarenE »

I'm so sorry to hear about Florence. A small consolation I know, but at least she went quickly and peacefully at home {hug} . We have all been heartbroken at the loss of our girls and boys, so do feel you can talk about it here if that would help, we will all understand.

Just for information, did Florence have any symptoms you may have noticed for the few days before? Just thinking precautions. I hope your other girls are doing well, and not missing Florence too much
Karen
Alpha chick to: Smudge, Matisse and Bluebell
Chief servant to Marley the cat
Remembering Weeps, Rexie, Sage, Cassie, Toffee, Captain Gabby, Commander Nugget, Ronnie, Juno, Special Poetry and Reading Casper, Tigger, Tophenanall Rembrandt, Chestnut, Tiddly, Willow, Mango, Coco, Dorian Grey and Pokey.
Also my lost furries Charlie and Jasper

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