A couple of months ago I came to the conclusion that I missed having chickens (not having had any for a very long time). Being in suburbia I decided that a couple of bantams would be perfect, really just wanting them as pets/companions, any eggs are going to be a bonus (none yet). Having purchased a ready-made coop with small run, I thought it would be perfect for my little girls. The plan being that whenever I was home they could have the run of the garden and during the week, when I was at work, they had a nice little home. Yeah, little being the right word, as soon as I put them in there I'm thinking this is nowhere near big enough!
After some scratching around of my own in the shed, I constructed a make-shift extension/run for them. Sadly, I didn't trust my own handy work and for safety reasons, Cilla and Whitney were still only allowed access to the extension when I was around.
Initially, I was critical of myself because I hadn't appeared to plan this well at all but as it turned out, make-shift was the way to go because having had it now for two months I was able to see where my positioning was wrong and also learn what I thought my girls would like.
Today, I moved the coop and run a smidgen to the left because where I initially had it blocked a door which I have since discovered I need to open for ease of cleaning (this thing has about 5 doors). I also made some changes to the extension/run which means that my girls can now safely spend all day in there if they want to and have twice as much room as before.
I guess I am trying to say that even with planning, we can only learn by experience and .... the reason I don't know my little girls as well as I thought I did! Having watched them in the garden for many, many hours, I decided that they needed a perch in their run because they love to sit off the ground on my pots etc. So, using 3 bricks evenly spaced in their extension, I fed a perch through the bricks' top hole so they have a nice spot to perch .. I stepped back to look at my handy-work and Cilla was sitting on one of the bricks!
And, you know, while it may not be pretty it is safe and functional for those times they can't free range and they appear to love it!
Maybe one day I will build my princesses a palace!
After some scratching around of my own in the shed, I constructed a make-shift extension/run for them. Sadly, I didn't trust my own handy work and for safety reasons, Cilla and Whitney were still only allowed access to the extension when I was around.
Initially, I was critical of myself because I hadn't appeared to plan this well at all but as it turned out, make-shift was the way to go because having had it now for two months I was able to see where my positioning was wrong and also learn what I thought my girls would like.
Today, I moved the coop and run a smidgen to the left because where I initially had it blocked a door which I have since discovered I need to open for ease of cleaning (this thing has about 5 doors). I also made some changes to the extension/run which means that my girls can now safely spend all day in there if they want to and have twice as much room as before.
I guess I am trying to say that even with planning, we can only learn by experience and .... the reason I don't know my little girls as well as I thought I did! Having watched them in the garden for many, many hours, I decided that they needed a perch in their run because they love to sit off the ground on my pots etc. So, using 3 bricks evenly spaced in their extension, I fed a perch through the bricks' top hole so they have a nice spot to perch .. I stepped back to look at my handy-work and Cilla was sitting on one of the bricks!
And, you know, while it may not be pretty it is safe and functional for those times they can't free range and they appear to love it!
Maybe one day I will build my princesses a palace!
