Some of my ideas just don’t work

Having researched seramas before I got them there are mixed messages about keeping them warm in winter. Some people say they keep them inside (chicken shed or barn not in your house, of course) over winter, or at least during cold spells and some people say they are fine to be kept outside if that’s what they have been used to.

They originate from Malaysia and have only been bred in this country for about ten years so some people say they need a little help in winter. My research says that you will know if they need a bit of help because they will be huddled and miserable looking if they are cold and you will then need to give them some protection.

I had the idea that if we could rig up some sort of screen we could keep them contained to the patio area during cold weather. I could hook the chicken shed door open and put a washing up bowl of dry soil in for dust bathing, not that I have seen them dust bathing very often.

A catalogue dropped through our door, one of those that is full of things that you don’t really need, but they try to persuade you that you do! I saw an inexpensive, mobile, door or gate divider. It concertinaed closed for easy storage and pulled out to fit the gap you needed to block.

I thought this might do the job. We could keep it in the shed and pull it out when needed and simply open it across the patio area keeping the little girls contained where it is sheltered on all sides and has a solid roof, is free from drafts and they would stay warm. Perfect.

You are probably sensing a catch here. When these things finally arrive (after more than three weeks in this case) they never turn out to look like they did in the catalogue. I could soon see that this divider was not going contain my little girls. There was a gap underneath (I thought from the picture it went to the ground) that they could simply stroll under, the diamond shaped holes, when stretched out, were big enough for my little girls to get through, that is if they didn’t already take the easy option of walking underneath and lastly it wasn’t high enough to stop them flying over as a last, unnecessary resort.

I thought it would be fun to try it out and demonstrate this.

The divider

You can probably already see that this isn’t going to work.

Not only Freckles and Rusty went under it but Peaches and Speckles squeezed under it too

Rusty can simply walk underneath it

This isn’t going to stop Rusty

Okay, got to admit, this idea is rubbish. I did think we could clad it with chicken net, going to ground level, but my husband said it wouldn’t fold up then. I did wonder if we could fix something to the wooden outside posts to extend some chicken net higher up. I thought we could modify it but now I am not so sure.

Yesterday it rained all day and the three little girls spent a lot of time on the patio and were often sat together on the little coop roof. Maybe they can be trusted to seek shelter when it’s cold and don’t have to be contained after all.

I think we will play it by ear and see what happens. Perhaps they know best after all and will just do what is best for them. If we see them looking miserable we will come up with a plan but maybe they will just do what is right for them without our help.

They have sussed going to bed without my help and It turned out I was just distracting them. Today we got home from a day out, after dark, and the three little girls were on their perch. They might just have more sense than we are crediting them with. I think we will just and wait and see how it goes.