Yesterday we continued to make improvements. I put the bantys food dishes on an upturned pot to raise them off of the ground in the hope that they won’t get so many bits scratched into them. The big girls feeder is on the patio area so this has never been a problem with their food. The two dishes have pellets and pellet mash in them.
Feeding station
We also put the panels on one strip of the roof to help keep the run dry during wet weather. My husband came up with this idea. He has put three perspex panels between wooden batons. When it’s dry we can push the three panels on top of each other, either at the patio end or the veg plot end. This will leave the middle space open for sun and air flow. When its wet we will slide the panels out to fill the entire strip with the panels overlapping a bit to keep the rain out.
New roof panels
This shows the panels on top of each other ( in the open position) at the veg plot end. We now need to do the same thing with the strip to the right of this which is over the bantys area. We have all the pieces ready but are doing this in stages so as not to stress the bantys too much. The next panel is trickier because we need to assemble them from inside the bantys area and they get stressed when we go in there. If it is too stressful for them we have considered doing it by torch light once they have gone to bed.
We need to get this done fairly soon because wet weather is forecast later on in the week and the bantys don’t have a dry area at the moment.
The other major improvement is the bedtime routine. The bantys went to bed in their coop again last night. Just like the night before they looked like they wanted to join the big girls as the big girls settled on the coop roof. Thank goodness my big girls are so easy to handle. I just lift them down and put them in as the door is closing and they don’t make any fuss about this at all.
Once the big girls are in it seems to trigger the bantys and they went into their own coop. It is then really easy to just close the door.
I went out at half past five this morning and let the bantys out. I think the big coop is now opening at about five o’clock. It’s a good job I am good at getting up early!
Click here to see the history of my flock.
If they are in an enclosed area, can you let them come and go as they please and stay in bed?!
I have thought about it but somehow my head prefers to think of them as shut in at night and I want to set the right habit for when they are eventually in the big coop. Also I don’t sleep that well and am always awake early. I never need an alarm, I think I’m a bit like the chickens, programmed to wake at first light!
I like mine to be shut in also. I am up at about 5.30ish with out an alarm and let them out about 6.I know that a fox could also get into the coup but they need as much as a safe guard as we can give them.
By the way your husbands idea is a great one . Not seen that before.
I think our instinct makes us want them shut in so that we know that’s where they will stay all night and also no draughts.
My husband does come up with some good ideas for our set up, I am lucky to have him even though he says I am chicken obsessed!