Yesterday afternoon I was watching the girls in the run. They were all perched up as the ground was muddy after being frozen and then thawing and when I went in they all jumped down to come and see if I had any goodies for them.
Speckles was on the highest perch and it dawned on me that it was quite a jump down. The perch that is on the other side of the divider has a ladder to help drop down from the perch and the perch at the other end of the run is low on one end. The perch on the other side of the hatch has the table as a step down.
I felt a bit concerned that jumping from this height may be tough on the girls feet and this gave me a light bulb moment. We still had the ladder in the garden shed from the chicken’s shed when their perches had been higher. We had kept it in case we could find a use for it.
This would be perfect to give the girls a way down from this perch and also some extra perching space.
I dug the run over as it was so wet and muddy and then tried the ladder against the perch and decided it would be good there. At this moment my husband came to see what I was doing and said that as I had the ladder in position he may as well screw it in place. As it is hinged I can also lift it up to clean under it.
It was dusk by now so we thought we would wait until the following day for the girls to discover it. By mid morning the ladder was muddy so we knew the girls had tried it out.
I took some grapes into the run to try to get some photos of the girls on the new ladder. I put the grapes at the top of the ladder and waited to see who would be first up.
A second ladder in the right hand section of the run
Note it is much cleaner than the old ladder on the left hand side of the run but has some mud on the rungs meaning the girls have already tried it out.
Thinking about it
Toffee has spotted the grapes at the top of the ladder but can’t seem to work out what to do next. Peaches is also thinking about it.
Peaches and Barley are the first to make their way up the ladder
Peaches is first up closely followed by Barley.
They are working their way up the ladder
Peaches has made it to the top
Once at the top Peaches couldn’t work out how to get to the grapes.
Now what!
And back down again
Peaches jumped down as they did before but Barley went back down the ladder. At least now they have that option.
I retrieved the grapes and sprinkled them on the patio for the girls. I am pleased with the new ladder. It was sitting in the shed doing nothing and is now back in use again. I am sure there will be many future photos of the second ladder in use.
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I love it ! The last photo is perfect .
I was actually really pleased with the last photo because I just managed to capture Peaches about to jump but Barley actually using the ladder to go down. Steve said when I changed the chicken shed that it was too tricky for the girls to go down the ladder. I said that I knew they could because I had seen them do it. This demonstrates that perfectly. They can go down the ladder they just mostly don’t because it quicker and perhaps easier to just jump down. At least now they have a choice. It’s obviously a novelty at the moment because lots of times today they have all been here instead of the other ladder and perch.