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After a false start last weekend due to transportation and location problems, we made much better progress building the new chicken run yesterday. The 12ft x 8ft enclosure was much easier to erect than we had thought, although took the expected time of around 3 hours. There were 6 of us though, as a very keen Chris and Jenny came around from next door, and Andrew and Sheila gave up yet another weekend day to help us out.

There’s no way 2 of us could have done it. It would have taken much longer, we wouldn’t have had enough pairs of hands to steady panels and tighten screws, and we’d have still have been outside cutting the wire for the makeshift fox proof skirt when it got dark. As it was, we just got the boards around the bottom edge to keep the wood and bark chippings in.

‘Cluckingham Palace’ does look fantastic, though, like a proper enclosure at a zoo or an aviary. Which, to all intents and purposes it is. I made an ‘all this for 3 eggs a day’ quip while we were building, but it really was worth the effort. The wood and bark chippings on the floor let the laying ladies scratch and have a bit more stimulation, while the raised Omlet Cube on large paving slabs lets us put the food out in the new metal and plastic containers somewhere where they should stay dry.

It was an enjoyable day with everyone working together, just like neighbours and communities did years ago, and, after a day of game playing and catching up with mum and Bart, Ean, Sandie, Doug, Kevin, and Janice in Lowestoft on Saturday, rounded off the weekend nicely – even if the last two days have left us tired and more than a little exhausted and unprepared for the week ahead.

So, does a new bigger space make for happy (or happier) hens? We think so. Clucking around the enclosure at the end of the day, they had space to be on their own if they wanted to, or to be together as a flock, and seemed genuinely more content. It’s probably all psychological on our part, but we’re certainly happier and excited about the whole situation. Let’s hope our three birds will be when we introduce more playmates for them later in the year.

In a flap? Gerry and Barbara enjoy their freedom in the greenhouse

The laying ladies got an extra treat this weekend, with not only a clean, but also a little bit of exercise. Excellent and easy though the Omlet Cube is, we often can’t help but think that our feathered friends seem more than a little bored, and are a little hemmed (or henned) in. The run which is attached to the bright plastic house is supposed to be fine for around six hens, but sometimes seems to barely contain enough space for our three.

Not having moved the house around to a new patch on the lawn for at least three months only adds to the problems. They’ve dug trenches along two sides of the run in a determined effort to escape, and nibbled all of the grass long ago. Endless days of damp and wet weather make the soil wet and muddy, which gets caked onto their feet and up their legs, not only making them harder to pick up, but also contributing to all sorts of diseases if it’s not remedied. So, a much larger and taller run is on the cards in time for spring.

But, in the meantime, today while their coop had its weekly clean, they were put in the greenhouse. It could well become a weekly experience. Barbara and Margot seemed to  love it immediately, strutting around between the trugs and pots of failed crops and weeds. Gerry was a little more hesitant, and stood at the door like a nervous child. Maybe she remembered being scooped up from her bed twice (in the dark), and being shown to friends in the very same greenhouse.

After a few minutes, she soon perked up, though, and was rummaging around in the gravel that lines the floor, and even spreading her wings a little and having a flap or two. With the other two perching on objects that took their fancy (including Nik’s arm thinking they were more menacing birds of prey and not chickens at all) and seemingly contented with their outing, I think it’s safe to say that a good time was had by all.

It was uplifting and a little strange to see them not confined and short of space in any way, able to fly a little if they wanted, and dwarfed by the sheer size of the greenhouse. With the possibility of a new purpose-built or DIY run being that size at least, it really can’t arrive soon enough.