Summers end is suddenly upon us. We decided to take out the sweet peas from the front of the chicken enclosure. When we had the chicken enclosure built, my husband said that he wanted it to look good from the garden so I grew the sweet peas up the outside to make it look pretty. We realize now that it blocked out some of the light to the chicken enclosure and obscured our view looking in to them. Next year I will grow nasturtiums here instead which will be lower level and can tumble through for the chickens to peck at. This way they will have a row of them instead of just the pot they had this year. We also took out the hanging basket which was past it’s best and the pots of mint and nasturtiums. I have put the mint back on the patio to regrow and thrown away the nasturtiums which were pecked to just stalks. We then pruned back the big shrub in their enclosure which was taking up too much space. It all looks lighter and more open now.
Chicken enclosure without the sweet peas.
The girls always run to this corner when they hear my flip flops on the path.
Much easier to see in to the girls now
Inside the chicken enclosure after the big shrub has been pruned
The trays of grass that I have been giving the chickens each morning are working really well.
Grass supply for the chickens
The ones at the back haven’t yet been in, next to them are the ones recently used and the ones at the front went in first and are regrowing nicely. The girls have a tray a day for breakfast while I poop pick in the morning. This keeps them occupied while I clean up. The first day I didn’t put one in because I wanted the grass to settle first and Bluebell followed me around trying to see what was in my gloved hands (yuk!) and Treacle followed me around pecking at the hem of my clothes. Both the girls and I will miss the grass in the winter months but at least they get some each day in summer.
Later when we went up to see the chickens we saw a baby slow worm on the path sunning itself.
Young slow worm
We only see them occasionally in the garden, so were pleased that they are still here. The photo is slightly out of focus because unlike their name they are very quick and this was only photo I could get. They have become quite scarce in this part of the country so we were pleased to see it. Last year we saw tiny baby ones so they must breed here. This one was about half adult size.
Click here to see the history of my flock.