The Chicken Run

Chicken Run. Great movie right? A clever spoof of one of my favourites - The Great Escape.

Well, after our chickens were attacked by dogs nearly three weeks ago, we decided to have our fencers, Tyler and his dad Alf, build a chicken run for them.

Our new backyard pool-style fence was just not going to be tall enough to keep our chooks in. Freckles had already flown up and perched on it. So Tyler suggested 6 foot high chicken wire.

Tyler and Alf had a bit of time as they were waiting on some raked fencing to be manufactured.   They knocked up an amazing chicken run in just one and a half days. I so admire folks who can build with their hands. Watching them drive the posts in and tension the wire was fascinating. 

Around our chicken house we already had a bit of an overgrown subtropical garden. It's not my style - I prefer native Australian plants - but it lends itself perfectly to a chicken yard with plenty of grass, leaves to forage in, dirt to scratch, shady mature trees and grasses to hide in.

The 5 non-hurt chickens were penned in the Chicken House for the 2 days whilst it was being built. When they were allowed out they seemed at bit miffed at first. But I expect that going from 5 acres to  a run 20m x 10m would be very hard to adjust to.

But we did have Tyler build two gates.

Front Gate - from the (soon-to-be pool style fenced) backyard to the run.

Back Gate - from the run to the rest of our property. In this way, once we get ourselves some dogs, the chickens will not have to pass through their yard to free range the rest of the property. We let the five out last Saturday to free range and opened the door for all seven on the Sunday but none of them wanted to leave the run. 

So it appears to have been a successful venture for all involved. Even though we still lock them into the  hen house at night, it is now not as essential as predators such as dogs and foxes cannot get into the yard. It also means that we can take a few weekend trips and know that the chickens are safe.

Silver MacGregor, Obama and Breanna hanging out behind the wire

Chicken Update

Breanna had the stitches in her neck out today. I think I counted seven all up. Her side wound has not closed sufficiently for the vet to take them out yet. So we will return next week for those. She is still a favourite patient at the vets.

I am linking up with a HUGE party over at...