Chicken Run!

The chickens have escaped! No, they haven’t run away – it was a fully sanctioned bust out from their run. Unfortunately the recent torrential rain has turned their enclosure into a mud bath and the poor chicks looked like they’d had a bad day at Glastonbury

This is Henny Penny – she used to be white and it looks like she could be doing with a pair of wellies. The only solution was to give the chickens the freedom of the garden again. We don’t have too much for them to devour in the vegetable beds anyway. As you can see they are making the most of their new found freedom

and enjoying perching on pots and trees. They are getting very adventurous now and often come up to the kitchen window and tap on the glass when we are in the kitchen! The only slight problem we have found with the new free range arrangement is that their free-range manure is not confined to the grass or the veg plot – it is often to be found on the paths and pots and has already made its way on to the bottom of a shoe or two. Great.

Moulting
We thought that all the freedom to forage must be good for the birds. So were horrified to notice after a few days of this arrangement that Sarrie was looking distinctly unwell. How about this for a half-plucked chicken look?

After researching all the horrible chicken illnesses she might have contracted and doing a night hunt for Red Mite, we asked our chicken expert neighbour for her thoughts. “She’s just moulting”….phew! Let’s hope that it’s nothing more serious and that she grows some new feathers soon. Not a good look, Sarrie!