Chicken run, mark two

For the first five months we had the hens we've had them set up in a temporary position to help us clear an overgrown area of the garden. There are a few photos of what this all looks like in my posts about gardening and the chicken coop. At the start of this year we decided it was time to finish converting this area into vegetable plots ready for the spring and the chickens were moved to their more permanent location.

Three months later and the vegetable plots were coming on nicely, but the new chicken run was looking a bit sorry for itself. The area is entirely muddy, smaller than previously, and a strange mix of holes courtesy of the previous owners of the house. The area had been covered in gravel when we moved in and it was only as we shifted this to one side (now that was a fun afternoon) that we discovered concrete, hard core and cables from days gone by.

A new plan was needed.

So here it is. Fence posts rather than sticks, meaning properly tensioned wire, five foot tall rather than three, and a door. An actual door. No more climbing over the fence, losing my balance or getting stuck in the netting for me.

There is another stage - we want to remove the hard core and replace it with wood chippings. However we want to make use of the hard core elsewhere in the garden, so the chickens will have to live with it a little longer until we're ready.

A door problem

I mentioned last week that we've started to release our hens to free-range over the garden when we get home each evening. I also mentioned that they are brilliant at getting themselves back into the coop at the end of the day.

And then we confused them.

The old run, looking all crumpled.

We spent nearly all weekend building a new run for them. We wanted something sturdier and taller. We also wanted something with a door to make it easier for both us and them to get in and out - currently we climb over the fence, and they have a little door that we have to tie up with string and was rapidly showing signs of wear.

Phase one of the new run went really well. We set 5 fence posts into the ground, moved the coop sideways a little to allow them a larger space, and dug three quarters of a trench to allow us to bury the mesh six inches down. In order to get it back into a working run ready for the week we re-fitted the old mesh in the gap that we hadn't dug the trench for yet. The piece of mesh was too long, but instead of cutting it we just sat the excess to one side and used it to fill the hole that is currently the door during the day. The hole that is the door hasn't moved - but the big bundle of mesh sitting to one side does make it less clear.

The new run at the end of phase one

This, I think, is the problem. The girls can't find the door - particularly when trying to get to the coop. One night this week three hens managed to navigate to their way in, but I found Pepper wandering round and round the excess mesh trying to work it out. I gave her a helping hand.

Two nights this week our two bantams - Frog and Fizzy - have clearly just given up. They opted for the next best thing. They've decided to sleep on top of the coop instead!

BST and a new sort of freedom

Three cheers for British Summer Time!

It may not have got much above freezing yet, but the hour of extra sunlight in the evenings is still very much appreciated. It makes such a difference to the feel of the day to get home from work and have a few hours of sunlight still left to enjoy - even if I need a hat and scarf to do so!

For the hens this means a change of routine too. Giving them the freedom of the garden under close supervision at the weekends has given us the confidence to decide that we will do so more often. It gets them out of the mud bath that is their run and gives them access to greens, bugs, dry soil and a bit of space to run and flap.

We'd also noticed that the last few times we'd released them that they would happily wander back into the run to get to water, or to the nest boxes which convinced us that they were settled and that they knew where home was which makes the whole thing a lot easier.

So, from now on the plan is to let them out when we get home from work until they decide that it's bed time. We've done this each night this week and it's worked like a treat. We let them out at about six, they enjoy themselves greatly and then at about eight go back to their coop and settle down for the night. Bingo.

Checking out the odds I have corn hidden behind my camera...

Everyone enjoying preening in the late evening sun

What a palaver!

Our hens are very good at laying their eggs in the next boxes. Once they get the hang of egg laying they don't lay them anywhere else - which is great for us - it means we don't end up scrabbling around trying to work out where they've put them now.

There is one exception to this good news and that is when we need to clean out the coop. This weekend we were due a lot of rain, so I decided to take advantage of a couple of sunny hours on Saturday morning to get the coop all clean and tidy and ship shape ready for another week. We let the hens loose in the garden which is usually quite enough distraction and took apart the hen house.

The coop we bought is really useful as the floor of the main coop removes completely, as do the perches, but it means that once we start cleaning the nest boxes are inaccessible. Lemon decided that this was the moment that she needed to lay an egg. Now. When Pepper or Frog is in this position they tend to hover near the coop with their legs crossed until they can get inside again. Lemon is not this subtle about life. She made a racket and a half. Initially I ignored her, egg laying is not as quick as you'd think and I wanted to get the coop sorted before the rain came. But she kept squawking and squawking and squawking. In the end we quickly sorted the nest boxes and reassembled the not-yet-clean coop to allow her access.

To be fair to her, she did pop straight inside, was quiet, and came out again a couple of minutes later. But she hadn't laid an egg. A moment later she was back inside, and then back out again, and she still hadn't laid an egg. This went on for 20 minutes. In the end it took midwife Pepper to pop in and talk her through it. Finally I thought. Except that they didn't then come back out to enjoy the grass, but decided to both sit in the same nest box on top of the egg. I really hope that this isn't the early sign of a broody hen.

In the end I chucked the two of them out, collected the egg and finally got the rest of the coop clean. What a palaver!

Home, Sweet Home

I recently realised that I hadn't yet given you a tour of our chicken accommodation. When we bought our hens we went looking for a multi-purpose hen house. Our checklist included a secure area with roosts and nest boxes, something easy to clean and an outside area - preferably offering some shelter - that would be big enough for the hens to spend short periods of time in when needed. We decided a sussex coop, or something like it, would suit our needs best and promptly ordered one from the friendly people at http://www.chickencoopsandhouses.co.uk. To treat the coop for outside use we attacked it with some blue paint too.

Our plan to keep the girls in the permanent part of the run for the first few days was foiled when we realised our feeder took up about half the available space! Fortunately, to supplement the coop we'd bought a large roll of fine mesh chicken wire with which to construct any sort of run we liked. We quickly assembled a small run to start with, that has since been expanded considerably.

Our girls are currently in a temporary position helping us to weed and fertilise an area that we'd like to use for veg and seem happy with the run we've made out of mesh, sticks and fruit netting.