Oh no, they are not over-crowded by any means. Upon my innocent questioning hubby readily admitted that our cop could probably handle another eight to ten birds quite comfortably. Foolish hubbyHe pretty much issued me with a free pass to go and get more hens at some point!
The run is massive, yes. Plenty of space, and aside from this recent issue it was relatively clean. I don't know if the left over vegie scraps have caused the problem per se, but they certainly provided fodder for it once the problem did arise. I have had chickens for nearly a year now, and yes, they do poop in the run, but it's not a run overflowing with manure by any means. It sort of just breaks down in the soil and 'disappears' if that makes sense.
Things do seem to be improving now though. We had a couple of days with slightly cooler temps, some wind and another dumping of rain. Upon inspection this morning I can't actually see any mould at all which is great news. I know the spores probably linger but I am confident the birds should be relatively ok in there now. I aim to keep on top of the scraps each day and if they don't eat all their vegies I will rake them away. Interestingly, they do enjoy digging through the compost heap, and I'm sure the food in here isn't fresh!
- Krista
I was kind of following this thread not knowing any helpful answers myself. I am glad things are working out. I have not seen any thing like it here in my dry climate so I was curious.
I had to respond with a little laugh since the hubby unwittingly gave you a big green light to get more hens.
Best wishes
Babs
