Child gate solution

After the awful accident with Honey yesterday I wanted to safe guard against it ever happening again.

This morning she was her normal self and stuck her head through the gate just like yesterday (she hasn’t learned her lesson!). She was bouncy as ever, had no problem zooming in on some sunflower seeds and laid her egg even though she had laid yesterday. My husband also saw her jump up to one of the high perches so it seems having one eye partially closed hasn’t hampered her at all. I think her eye looks a little better but it will take time to get back to normal.

The bit that trapped Honey was the back end of the gate which is difficult for me to see. It’s a bit like when your toddler puts their fingers in the hinge side of the door and the older child shuts the door on them (well this happened with my children).

I mentioned to my husband that my friend Jackie has a child gate at her kitchen door as one of her girls got her leg shut in the door and he said that we have a redundant child gate and could do the same thing.

Off he went to fit the child gate inside of the run gate. What a brilliant solution. I have spent so long worrying about trapping them, being careful, telling them to get their heads out of the gate, and now finally the awful thing happened, but never again. I will have the peace of mind that this won’t be happening again.

Child proof gate from the outside

Child proof gate from the inside

Child gate shut while the main gate is open

The main gate doesn’t stay open on it’s own so I have wedged it open to show what it will look like as I enter the run. The bit that trapped Honey was the on the left hand side of the picture which is now completely blocked by the batons of wood. She will no longer be able to put her head through here when I open the gate.

It will take me a bit of getting used to going through two gates but I am happy that this sort of accident won’t be able to happen again. It could have been so much worse and now I have peace of mind that I don’t to have worry every time I go through the gate.