So whilst the coop is getting made, the girls have been sleeping here!
They don't seem to mind at all...in fact they're getting quite tame being around us so much! They are sticking to their huge circle of newspaper because anytime they scuttle off the newspaper onto the floorboards they slip and slide and hurriedly flap back to their makeshift perch and newspapery area.
I took them outside for their first foray into the Great Outdoors.
At first they were reluctant to leave the inside - their perchy box and the house!
But after an hour or two they got used to being on the grass and had a good nibble at the broccolini plant I dug up and gave to them.
Little Florence or Fizz as the kids call her kept wanting to come back inside though.
She escaped from the temporary enclosure and got lost wandering back in...
Can't wait for the coop to be finished...needs steel mesh reinforced all under the coop so foxes can't dig in, a nesting box lid, perches, a new roof (this one isn't insulated so will need to insulate it)...nearly there! I have one of the first prototypes of its kind so the maker and carpenter are refining it as we go...a painful process but I'm patient if it means my girls will be that much safer. Hopefully next weekend they can move in!
Making the steel mesh as tough as possible.
You know that the mean fox(es) took our entire last flock...well during the week I went out into the garden to look at 'things' and found bits of my favourite girl Astrid. And a huge hole. The fox had obviously murdered and buried her - then came back to dig her out again and cart her off. I was physically sick. Very much so. Couldn't bring myself to blog about it - the grizzly aftermath - so I've stuck this in here amongst a sunnier post.
So I'm focused on making the coop as tough and predator proof as I possibly can. I've investigated lots of fox deterrents, from bait (!) which I still couldn't face, to getting Mr Bok to pee on the fenceline! and this odd idea of
hanging human hair collected from hairdressers and sticking them into old stockings and hanging them from the fence! I'm sure none of these work but it just goes to show how desperate folk are to protect their livestock from foxes.
I've decided to order
foxlights - who knows if it'll work but I'm willing to try. I couldn't bear going through that loss again. I won't let them free range unless I'm right there in the garden with them.
Hope that all your hens are safe and that you go out and have another look at your chook pens. Have a great week!
