Its Easter. 4 days off work. perfect - time to sit back, relax, see the family and eat chocolate....NOT.
We have been meaning to extend the chook run for some time to make room for 2 new hens. I woke up early and full of life on Easter Friday (something must have been wrong with me), and decided that this weekend with its forecast of nice sunny days was gonna be that time. First though it was onto a local car boot sale in search of more demijons (can never have enough - theres always something to ferment), and then a french market in town where we picked up some fantastic cured meats and cheese (yum yum). Then finally, having enticed our lodger along with the promise of cider and food in exchange for his help we went off and got paint, wood, screws etc.
So, its now Friday afternoon, we have a fridge full of cider and ........ a plan.
The chook house sits on stilts, which allows the chooks to wander underneath, and there is a 4ft x 5ft run attached to the front. When i originally built the house & run I intended to move it around the garden, but built it too big and heavy so its had to be permanently sited - this means though that with my poor judgement and questionable carpentry skills i never put in a door that would give me easy access to the run area - its also only 4ft high, so when i do manage to get inside i have to assume painfull yoga-style poses to get anything done. So the plan was simple - stand the current run on its end so the 5ft part is upright and against the house, and the 4ft part is on the ground. Then, build a new 6ft high part on the front of this, complete with a door.
It sounded simple.
We built the frame. Well, most of it - i didnt buy enough wood. So looked at starting to put the chicken wire on - i didnt have enough of that either. OOPS.
So Saturday it was down the DIY place again for more wood and then the farm supply shop for some chicken wire. While there I checked the notice board - a local farmer/smallholder had a few POL hens for sale. Excellent - we knew we wanted 2 more but didnt want to spend too much and was just gonna keep an eye out for any that became available - didnt expect it to happen so quickly or easily. Quick phone call, some money changing hands, and we have too new hens. Really really need to finish the run now. Spend the afternoon finishing the framework.
Sunday - spend most of the day putting the chicken wire on and securing it to the original part. I shut the chooks in the house, cut away the wire between the sections, forked over all the soil, hung up some sprout stems, put down a tray of corn and finally let them out. It was great - they ran halfway down the ramp, stopped, looked around and then went nuts - they didnt know what to do first - eat, run around, explore the new section (that briefly contained a little piece of lawn) or dig and scratch around in the newly turned over soil. They are here to provide eggs and eventually meat - they are not pets, but a resource - but I see no reason why they cant do that and still be happy hens.
So we get to Monday - last day of the long weekend ( DOH - should have booked a few days extra holiday), and other than the noise from the chooks as they squabble over their place in the pecking order (always a problem when you add new birds to a small flock), its another great day. We set about clearing the area around the raised bed so i could build another, much smaller, one. We also started painting the fence, but thats for another time.....
