4th Annual chicken run sourced many good ideas
I was told last week that someone called our Garden Group the sticky- beak club; how appropriate then that we have, in winter, a chook pen tour, affectionately known as The Chicken Run.
On this morning we travel around the chicken yards of the Valley to see how others manage their hens and roosters (not as easy as one might think – definitely not a pet for those who don’t like to get involved).
First stop was the innovative hen house of Kathy and Mike Gorman.
They have built their pen into the side of a hill, so that there is a solid roof over the sleeping quarters and quite a large space under wire for the hens’ enjoyment during the day.
This allows for an important feature in larger houses – adults being able to stand up inside rather than bend double when performing all those necessary chores.
One special aspect was a small ramp up to a little window, where the hens could have access to the outside, directly into the vegetable garden.
Thus the chickens are used to scratch the weeds and ground between each planting of crops and provide wonderful manure too.
Kathy is not a member of our group, so we thank her very much for her willing participation in our trek and her generous sharing of the best methods they have discovered over the years.
Then it was on to Rob and Deb Folkard’s brand new chicken coop.
They have adapted an old dairy on their land and their chickens had only been in residence for a week. Rob has worked hard to make it as fox, mouse and snake proof as he can as he hopes to breed show quality birds.
Certainly the ones he has now are beautiful and much more exotic than the regular egg laying hens that are so popular.
A special treat for all of us, especially the children, was a chance to see their Suffolk sheep running to be fed; these are pregnant and there should soon be black lambs gambolling in the green fields.
Next we drove to Bill and Gerry Feneley’s home in Rectory Way where we greatly admired Bill’s chicken house.
Built to his own design, he has been perfecting it along the way and is still tinkering around the edges.
This is also a new pen and it looks cute enough to live in!
Being a smaller house for only four hens there is no need for it to be above human head height, but he has made the enclosed yard that tall for ease of access.
All these tips can be learnt by reading books, but better still by discussing with other enthusiasts on a chicken run.
Consider coming with us next year.
Of course we don’t really visit people’s gardens to sticky beak.
People who are gardeners know that we gain much pleasure from learning from others in the field, so to speak, seeing plants in their landscaping and being able to ask questions on the spot with the examples in front of us.
No gardener would ever look critically at another’s attempt; each one knows how hard it is to deal with whatever nature throws at us.