Last night we had torrential rain and when I went out to the chickens this morning there was a pool of water that had collected at the edge of the plastic covering, we recently put over part of the chicken enclosure. It was stretching the plastic and the chicken net inwards. I got my broom and pushed underneath it to release the water.
I thought about how to combat this and decided to puncture some drainage holes along this edge. It’s the edge between the umbrella and the bush, so if water drips through here it won’t matter. The opposite corner should still provide a dry area.
While I was doing this there was another heavy shower which allowed me to see where the water was pooling and I continued to make holes while I could see how effective they were at letting the water drain out.
I will need to wait for the next rainfall to see if this works well enough. I only hope it will still drain through this same place and not pool somewhere else. Meanwhile the chicken net has sprung back to it’s usual shape.
I will be keeping a close eye on this when it rains so that I can tweak it as needed.
The right hand edge between the umbrella and the bush is where I have punctured some drainage holes
A quick update on the rat situation: since I have been taking the food out at night, there have been no more rat droppings at all. After finding one single dropping the first morning there have been none at all for several days now. I am amazed at how quickly they realized there was no food here any more.
As it’s so wet I decided to put in a peck block that I had bought for this sort of wet weather to occupy the girl’s. As always with something new they viewed it with suspicion at first. Bluebell and Treacle were first to have a peck. Dotty was next and finally Pepper. I think it will last quite well as they have to peck quite hard at it to get anything off. It’s made up of corn, oats and seeds.
What is this?
Shall we try pecking at it?
Let me try
Bluebell has a go
The final rain related subject is the dry dust bath. This is a tray with a mixture of sand, ash and a sprinkle of D.E. It has always been under the dry patio area but the chickens had never used it as a dust bath. They stand in it and they peck at it. I had just been wondering if the problem is that it’s not big enough and intend to buy a bigger tray.
Maybe it’s because of all the rain we have just had but when we went up to the chickens this afternoon, much to our amazement, Bluebell and Treacle in turn were dust bathing in it. Hurrah! It’s only taken them four and a half months to find it’s purpose!
Treacle in the dust bath
Bluebell stepping out of the dust bath
I wasn’t quick enough to catch Bluebell dust bathing. It is quite cramped for Treacle so I will still look for something bigger. I am so pleased they have found it’s use at long last though.
Click here to see the history of my flock.