Unsecure chicken perches

[helen1962]

When I acquired my first hens they came with the cube and a run attached. Very soon I found that set up very inconvenient and got rid of the attached run and instead let the girls have full range of the patio. This became a problem in summer as they (as hens do) trashed the place meaning that I could not use the area for anything else. Anyway I ended up utilising the end of the garden which housed a fallen down gazebo that had a paved floor (I had paved it years before but it was still in excellent condition). I decided to put the cub on that together with the food and water. I removed the old gazebo and erected a hexagonal gazebo type construction with a corrugated plastic roof. This is 8ft by 8ft in size and added a further 10ft by 8ft run area. This run was a flower bed but I dug up all the flowers and gave it to the hens instead. So the run comprises of 8 by 8 covered hard standing and a further 10 by 8 soiled open area for digging about in. Now there are, and only ever will be three hens at most due to the size of the run. My dilemma is, I cannot move them around the garden, it is fixed. I am therefore concerned over the quality of the ground with hens continually being in one place. I do turn the soil over to a depth of around a full spit (spade depth) and also incorporate a 3 inch layer of bark chippings kindly donated by a local tree surgeon. The hens absolutely love this as it unearths tasty worms. In fact with their help it can take hours to do properly due to them continually standing right where I want to put the fork! My other problem is that I cannot get rid of some of the soil and put just a layer of bark chipping down which can be changed continually because creating a hollow in the ground will cause flooding the garden has a very high water table so I have artificially raised the beds anyway. I can't even use a flexible liner in the pond because when winter rain arrives it lifts it clean out of the pond! Will what I am doing be sufficient for the well being of my small flock?

[Mercedes55]

I'm not very experienced with keeping hens, so I'm sure someone else will be able to help you more. However I also keep my hens in a similar way. They have a huge WIR that is slabbed and has rapport on top of that for them to scratch around in. As they were also trashing the rest of our garden and pooing all over the patio we fenced off a border at the back of the garden which they can get into from the back of their WIR. The area they have is about 6ft by 20ft and just has soil and some shrubs in it and they absolutely love being in there. I think as long as you are feeding your hens the right food then they will be absolutely fine as they will just love scratching the soil

[helen1962]

Thanks for that. I do in fact go into the run continually throughout the day when I am not working and as often as I can on the days I am to remove pooh. The hens are not bothered about a muddy patch in fact the muddier it is the better they seem to like it. Likewise when it is dry they dig about and dust bathe in it. I drop loads of grass clippings in it when I mow the lawn and when I prune shrubs and trees I shred those and they get dropped in as well, they love it! I don't want to pave the whole area because they would have nothing to scratch about in and would get bored! Hopefully the actions I take will keep the place sweet but I just needed to know if anyone can think of problems I might encounter in keeping them this way.

[Mercedes55]

I can't think of any problems you might encounter. I don't even poo pick in the border my girls are in as I can't get into it very easily and the shrubs are so big I think I would just end up getting myself into a right mess. If you watched that TV programme that was on a little while ago about chickens I remember them saying on there that chickens are so good at adapting to any situation that they are a victim of their own success