Finishing touches to the run and the girls enjoy an afternoon together

Yesterday I decided to move one of the shrubs from the original part of the run to the new part of the run. There were several reasons for this move. The other shrub I put in the new part of the run has also not survived due to not having enough root but the good news is that the biggest most tree like one has survived. Where it is in it’s current position the space has now become crowded because of the addition of the little coop nest box and feeding station and finally the girls have realised they can stand on the little coop and strip more leaves from it.

The poor shrub only has leaves at the top and on one side

The shrub is in it’s new position

I also removed my very ugly protector from the rosemary to see if it will survive and the good news is that the girls don’t like it. They have had a token peck and rejected it as I think it’s too pungent for them.

The other thing we need to do is to get some cover over the new part of the run. We were going to put some plastic sheeting over it as a temporary measure but because we have just had a really hot sunny spell I changed my mind about that. I felt that the girls would be too hot and we really need panels that we can open in warm weather. We are having a really busy spell with work at the moment so decided to tackle this job over the bank holiday weekend and hoped the weather would hold out until then.

It didn’t! I got back at lunch time today to a heavy downpour. I realised that the little girls only had a very small dry area by the little coop which they were all huddled into. I felt that I must let them all out together as it wasn’t fair to have them confined to such a small area so I opened both dividing gates.

Honey has been desperate to join the big girls and constantly tries to slip through when I open the gate. The sad thing for me is that I know they are happier all together and they have more space that way too but I really need to stop the feather plucking and I think I am seeing the beginning of pin feathers on Amber’s head.

I could tell that Honey and Amber were really happy to be back with the big girls as where ever the big girls went they went too. Topaz and Sparkle haven’t yet developed that bond so are not bothered by being separated but do enjoy finding the perches on the other side of the run.

Honey and Amber love being able to hang out with the big girls

Topaz and Sparkle have discovered the ladder and the perch

The good thing about the ladder is that Topaz has perched on many of the rungs so it gives a variety of perches.

The extra bricks we have taken out of the veg plot have been stacked on the path as we have no where to store them. My husband suggested I stack them in the run to give the girls something else to sit on as well as getting them out of the way and also they can be reclaimed if we ever need them.

I put half of them in the original run and half of them in the new part. The girls were interested in them right away and Honey and Amber were all over them. By the time I had finished and grabbed my camera it was Sparkle that was most interested.

The bricks soon attracted attention

The bricks on the other side

I located them here because I didn’t want them to be any where the girls would land on them when jumping from perches or any where that would help them to reach more leaves from the shrubs. They also stop the gate swinging back onto the rose which is an added bonus.

I think the girls have had a lovely time together this afternoon and when we set to work on the roof panels they can be together again while we are there to make sure there is no plucking going on. This is all a bit of a trial and error plan but I hope we will get there in the end.