Pens

[roadkill]

Been a look round the three pens tonight with the land owner and he was saying that i need to spray yhe nettles , but reading up on a few bits i have read that the young poults like nettles in the pen so now i'm thinking of leaving them, is there anything i need to control inside the pen that the birds wouldn't be keen on?

 

Also the old keeper use to drag drinking water to the pens on a daily basis to keep it all topped up, looking around tonight each does have a big cubic meter water cube on a pallet with the blue pipe running down the pen, i was thinking of plumbing drinkers off these but before i do how would you go about cleaning the large water containers as they have been stood for quite a few years not in use

 

many thanks

 

roadkill

[Paul223]

Nowt wrong with nettles

 

If you can easily fill the ibc containers with water then add a couple kilo of Virkon S, leave stand in the full tank then pull through the pipe work, it'll disinfect the lot and remove most slime type rubbish

If the pen is just nettles then spray area's off and sow with grass seed

Think about the areas where birds can catch the sun

[kennett]

Always been happy to have nettles in my pens, they are good over head cover and easy for the birds to move through, I do usually strim plenty of tracks and a central ride for them to sun on, and so the poults don't get lost. Did he possibly mean spray the perimeter off? I always do that so I can run any escapees back to the pop holes and see any breaks in the wire.

How about a petrol pressure washer or one run off a gen for the ibc's? If you dunk a length of hose into a barrel of water, they will pump their own water

Edited April 13, 2016 by kennett

[Nmb]

I used to tie up bundles of nettles if the birds were pecking in the pens. It worked well although they stripped them in a couple of hours.

We usually pressure wash our IBC tanks a couple of times to make sure they are clean.

Nick

Edited April 13, 2016 by Nmb

[tiny tim]

I,d be happy if my pens had nettles in them

[scolopax]

As above, just strim some sunning areas and tracks if the nettles are that thick. If you do it now and keep at it the cut areas should grass up on there own. I think an ideal pen is supposed to be 1/3 roosting cover, 1/3 ground cover and 1/3 open area.

[ColinF]

I would pressure wash the IBC's and then disinfect with Virkon S, especially if they haven't been used for a few years, I would also replace the water pipes.

 

The poults will take care of the nettles themselves, as above just clear a path and spaces for your feeders and drinkers so the birds can find them easily.