Extending the dry area in the chicken enclosure

Yesterday the guys who built the chicken enclosure came to extend the dry area for us. The dry area covers half the patio area that houses the coup, storage and feeders. I soon found this area was too cramped during wet weather for both me and the chickens and for cleaning the coop. It will also be much easier to clean a dry patio than a half wet one. There is plenty of uncovered, outside space over the garden part of the enclosure. First of all I separated the garden area with the spare roll of weld mesh, so that the guys could work without worrying that the girls would make an escape. I returned the nasturtium pot to give them something to peck at, along with their feeder, water and the square bird feeder with melon and tomato in it.

The girls are confined to the garden part of the enclosure

The guys got to work and as they made some noise the girls all piled under the bush in alarm, practically on top of each other. As the noise continued they soon became used to it and happily sat in the garden, under the bush or would be at the feeder. They made a nice dust bath and seemed to quickly accept these new conditions.

The extended roof is going on

This will double the dry area

This took almost all day to complete. When it was finished I removed the weld mesh and let the chickens return to the entire space. I moved the coup further up the new dry space and moved my storage unit (potting cabinet) to the back wall. This gives a more pleasing look and opens up the space opposite the coop.

The finished roof from the outside

The finished roof from the inside

Looking the other way

At the end of the patio area is a raised box which used to be full of heathers, that I have moved to other parts of the garden. This makes an ideal place for the girls to scratch as it doesn’t get compacted. The rest of the area gets compacted by me walking on it to clean up but I always step over the box. The girls also like to perch on the wood on the other side of the box. When they have been scratching, I just sweep the soil back in.

The best spot for scratching

At first they could only manage small bugs and very small worms but over the last few days I have seen Bluebell wolf down some big worms. Bluebell and Treacle have also started to develop their grown up voices. They both now go “boc boc” with Treacle’s voice being louder and deeper. Only Dotty still has her baby voice, but I think she is about a month younger than the other girls.  I am really pleased with this improvement and think we are now finished and will finally stop spending money on these chickens!

Last night when Treacle sat on my lap, she suddenly jumped up on to my shoulder. I was worried she may not be able to get down again, but once the other girls had gone in to the coop, she launched herself to the ground.