Re: Chickens on the run!

keith kent wrote:
"Jill" <news@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:13qer9cfjgaqj26@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

keith kent wrote:

I have kept chickens for one year now and let them roam the bottom of
the garden,where they have been happy and never strayed until today!!!

My garden is long and narrow fenced on both sides,gated from my main
garden and at the bottom open ish to farmland(soon will be houses) by
ish i mean there is a 4 ft high mound of soil,brambles etc and my two
compost bays.Today my wife phoned me to say the chickens had
vanished,but she spotted them in the middle of the farm land,she
managed to shout them back.End of problem, until i came home to find
they had got round onto my neighbours garden!I got them back,one of
them was hard work!!! Why have they decided to do one all of a sudden , i thought they
didn`t go far from their hen house ?

Possibly because at this time of year there are relatively poor pickings on range and they are prospecting for new goodies.
Birds can travel far and wide but always focused on the house - so the chances are they will find their way home <g>

Otherwise is there any chance of them being disturbed at home?


--

regards
Jill Bowis

Pure bred utility chickens and ducks
Housing; Equipment, Books, Videos, Gifts
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http://www.kintaline.co.uk


I don`t think they get disturbed, i think it is the lure of the farmland that has be left to nature until they move in to build new houses!And the green grass next door , i must admit the area they are in is a bit boring ,all soil .I was thinking of sowing a wildflower seed mix in spring but would mean moving the hens ,which is problematic.
I have now put up a temporary mesh fence until the developers clear the back and put a fence?


Now I don't know how suitable this will be for you, and I'm sure mine would be off to find more interesting greens if it weren't for the big fence, but one thing I've been doing is putting shrub and hedge prunings in. You've got a big space, perhaps you could keep the pile in section. All that stuff rots down eventually but in the meantime where it lies on the ground little greeblies breed in the soil and the slowly-rotting woody material. The different levels to climb onto make things interesting, friends' hedge and lawn clippings can be thrown on the heap and the fine ones will filter down and you'll end up with a slowly developing humus/compost heap that at the same time protects little (probably weed) seedlings till their leaves come up above the twigs.

I got a load of unseasoned firewood delivered last winter. By the time it was eventually stacked there was a lot of bark and stuff on the driveway. I barrowed that up to the chook run and it has been very popular.

Bare earth isn't much use for soil critters to grow in. They need shelter so they can get on with it (ground cover: sticks, bark pieces) and stuff to break down.

Don't know about your conditions but here, a wildflower mix would be just about the least likely thing to grow among the poultry. Here in NZ they are pretty much a romantic fancy, but then we have the "advantage" of growing grass extraordinarily well! Whether we want to or not....

If you can get wire mesh crates, heavy duty so chooks won't bend them to the ground, you could sow whatever greens grow best in your conditions and leave the protection in place so the birds graze whatever pokes through instead of demolishing the whole plants. Reinforcing mesh with wire netting over the top and sides, perhaps. Remember the narrow heads and necks can reach a long way through a small hole when there's something they want inside!

Good luck.

A L P

.

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