Recent content by RebsChooks

Last May we got our five lovely bantam girls. As summer approaches I am very heavy-heartedly thinking of re-homing them. The fly problem we had last year was horrendous. Not so much in the coop or the walk-in run (which has a thick layer of sand in the bottom) but around the patio outside our...

Hmmmm, I have no experience of another plastic coop but I am not overly impressed. Problems are: 1. No instructions for assembling the base and putting the coop on it, so we had things the wrong way around first time, which meant the ladder would not attach. 2. The nestboxes have a lip so you...

The dunking does work for a few hours, and tbh they really don’t seem distressed by it. The wire cage I hate using as they look so very uncomfortable in it. I use an old hamster cage that I turn upside down and prop up on bricks so that they are standing on wire rather than the plastic bottom...

I have two pekin bantams who go broody at the same time. And what they do is sit on top of each other in the nest box, or one with the head buried into the others’ feathers. They started up with it again today. Why do they do this? The others go broody singly and try to sit in separate nest...

If you have an Arkus coop, I wonder if you could help. Our new Arkus arrived yesterday. I am already wishing I got the poo tray but hoping I will be able to bodge something ongoing... However I am wondering what you do about daily removal of poo. It seems like the whole roof needs to be removed...

No but the wire of the run is too close to let any wild birds or predators in.

Ah, thank you for the encouragement and reassurance :-) I started out all gung-ho and “the red mites are toast and I am going to throw all my energy at this” but they have worn me down! While I have your ear... what is your cleaning regime? Do you mean you clean fortnightly with vinegar when...

Had one crawling on me as I type. No idea how they get on me just from unbolting the run door, bunging in their breakfast and coming back inside. All the ones I see on me are grey though. No bites. For a while I showered after every single interaction with the coop, but I cannot keep showering...

I don’t have a jet wash and after all the expenses of the last month in products and the new coop, I don’t really want to spend any more on a jetwasher :-/ is it essential, do you think? I have a pump spray for Smite spraying, and a regular hose. Will this not be sufficient? I am going to...

Thanks, Matoes! It is good to have my expectations managed. I already can’t believe how resilient and ubiquitous the red mite are. I do worry, though, that having them around even in small numbers that don’t affect the chickens’ health is still uncomfortable for them?! What is the...

After battling red mite for a month I am getting a new plastic coop today. Our old wooden one has just got too many places to harbour the red mite, and we still have them despite thorough spraying and cleaning and dusting every other day. I know plastic coops do not stop the red mite but I am...

Maybe I just take issue with the word “bedding” as it implies they sleep in it, and they don’t. Poo-catching material, maybe?! I have always used bedding but after recent red mite infestation I have changed it so frequently for repeated treatments that I feel it is all a bit of a waste of money!

My new Arkus plastic coop arrives tomorrow, and unlike in my current wooden coop my hens will have to perch. Right now they can either perch or sit on the floor in the bedding just underneath. So I am thinking, why bother with bedding material? To save cleaning tasks yet keep it clean, could I...

Giving up on our wooden coop we are getting an Arkus this week so that we can eliminate red mite easier. Time to lay down a good cleaning regime. What tasks do you do weekly and monthly in your plastic coop?do you clean it in situ usually, and how often do you haul it out of the run onto the...

So when you found oneon you you just squished it and never worried it might take hold? I find them on me several times a day.