We’ve spent the last week or so reinforcing the second run at the allotment, which was broken into by a fox last year. Another layer of heavier duty weldmesh has been added to the bottom half.
Last night was the night that this year’s newly hatched chickens moved from the back garden, where they were getting a bit cramped, to the allotment. We moved them at dusk, putting them into the house and hoping they’d roost straight away, but they were having none of it, and came straight out into the run. I was a wee bit worried that the smell of the creosote that I’d used against red mite had put them off, but I needn’t have worried. When we checked on them after dark, they were roosting snugly.
Here are three of them this morning in the new run. They’ve come back in because one of them has a piece of tomato, and the other two are after stealing it!
But not only is their run much bigger than before, they love their new free range too.
They showed little interest in their mums and dad in the adjacent run, and indeed the feeling seemed to be mutual. No doubt when the cockerels get a bit bigger they’ll start squaring up to Billy. But as yet both sexes are immature.
One thing that they do share with the previous generation is that they adore blackberries. We’re right at the end of the season, but our other allotment still has a few brambles with fruit on.
First she sizes up the offering, and approaches quite slowly.
Then she snatches it and moves quickly to secure it against her greedy siblings.
More pictures of our extended flock soon!
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