Happy chickens!! And why, because today we cleaned out their stall. Actually it probably made us happier than the birds, as whilst we know that the mixture of poo and old straw was put on the compost heap, the floor was swept clean, clean straw was put down and the perches were scrubbed; all the birds knew was that everything got taken away and then it all got put back again!!
The poultry do spend quite a bit of time indoors at the moment. Their stall is a lovely large space and as many are still moulting, it is also a very warm place to be. Their paddock on the other hand does not really have enough cover and so when it is windy and/or wet, there are limited places for the birds to go. We have mentioned our plan to plant some willow in there over the winter and as an intermin measure, we also have plans to build a few ‘wind breaks’. We are going to use old hurdles and several large branches from a couple of coniferous trees. We cut the branches down a few days ago in order to give some light to a couple of fruit trees that were growing behind, and in true ‘smallholder’ style, we have now found a ‘secondary’ use for them. The idea is to ‘weave’ the branches in and out of the hurdles, both horizontally and vertically and so create a natural barrier.
We will only post pictures if it works…..