Pro - Does anyone else's nest boxes get soaked in rain?

[charly1979]

Please I need a slap !!! I keep looking at my lovely garden and wanting to scream my 7 lovelies are FR at present and have been since about November but im resulting in my a patchy lawn, bark chippings strewn over the patio, my lovely very immature alpine garden has gone, gerniums attacked (mind you I usually forget to move them so they never survive anyway) and an ecoli poop infested patio (which will be swept up presently) ane the reason im in need of a slap is im thinking thats it its back to your muddy run !!

 

All of the above can be fixed in the spring and lest face it most gardens always look a bit under the weather during the winter months and I expect with the horrendus weather we have had there will be many more gardens suffering, and if I look at my neighbours garden his dog is also creating a muddy mess on the lawn.... so why oh why am I fretting and really will I put them back in their run ? Hell no dont think I can deal with 7 chickens having a tantrum and you can guarentee that Prilly, Connie and Marilyn will kick up a fuss (and it looks like Isal is joining their crew too)

 

Rant over now to deal with the carnage that 3 kids have made in the house !

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Omlet netting is what you need .

 

I confine mine to the flowerbeds and off the lawn and patio. Means there's not a single flower in the flowerbeds but that's a price worth paying, in my book .

[charly1979]

Sound like a good idea mind you they do have 1/4 of the graden sectioned off for them but thats a mud pit as for flower beds think they have long gone whoops in fact the area that is theirs use to be a huge flower bed they do have hlf of my veggie plot but thats no intreast to them as they have stripped it bare, have to give them a huge thumbs up as they have reduced (fingers crossed) killed the pampus grass that was taking over a bed

 

I have chilled a bit now as I ve just spent abut 15 minutes lying on my tummy talking to them as they were all up by our huge slidey doors, think I startled Isla and must have looked like a loon as I spent 5 minutes doing chciken impersonations it was cracking me up to see the confusion on their faces, poor Annie was looking as if to say WTH is that its huge doesnt look like a chicken but sounds like one, they have now had enough of me and moved on to destroy another part of the garden

[cluckfest]

I know what you mean. I spent yesterday afternoon coralling my favourite hellebore in pea netting to keep them away from the new shoots. I was just admiring my handywork when I turned around and saw that they had spent their time destroying a young poppy plant they had ignored before - I foolishly thought they weren't interested in the poppies. I have now instigated a new rule - they FR after 2 hours filling up on pellets, irrrespective of the squawking Tasha has taught the others, then it's back in the run after a couple of hours by which time they have had enough sunbathing/preening/charging about, and are getting bored and looking for trouble. They had not been too destructive until now, must be the lovely new growth attracting them. Luckily Rhoda has started laying eggs to make up for it. By the way has anyone found hardy geraniums poisonous, Hannah single handedly cleared our neighbours fence line of them and I wondered if that contributed to her demise - some web sites say it is poisonous, but not fatal

[charly1979]

We used to have hardy gerniums untill we had chickens ? mine seem ok, i have lost 4 this year but sure i lost my hardy gerniums well before them ?

[Olly]

Limit free-ranging time - a couple of hours is plenty (and lots more than many hens, including mine) usually get.

Don't let them free range when it's raining - the damage is much, much worse.

Section off a bit of the garden, or use the Omlet netting to keep them off the lawn.

 

I love having hens, but I love having a garden too and - after six years - I've proved that it is possible to have both. I keep the veg patch permanently netted off, and I'm planning proper fencing this year - I let them roam the rest of the garden for limited periods, and make sure that tender plants are protected.

[cluckfest]

Thanks, Olly, you have given me hope of retaining my garden and not to feel so mean when they are shut in their run. They are fortunate as they are only 6 bantams in a cube with an extra metre extension (for Xmas) which sits on play bark on block paving so they shouldn't have problems with mud etc.

 

They have been perfect garden helpers up until now, I never see a slug, they cleared round all the plants and tossed foreign objects onto the lawn for me to collect, I was prepared for some destruction but this was far worse, as you say the rain made things much worse. Hopefully the garden will recover a bit now.

[sandyhas3chucks]

I worried about mine the first winter but soon as spring sprang it recovered...

Mind you this is the first winter that my garden has seen 13 !!!!!

FR though is limited to when it is NOT raining ... HUH!!!

[mollyripkim]

I think this year has been particularly bad with all the wet weather, having said that I have seen my grass looking worse too, come spring I section off the worse bits and reseed and by summer have lovely green grass. We have that plastic netting under the grass though so that stops it getting too bad.

[Jenthelibrarian]

My girlies are only getting a quick half hour out most days at the moment because of the weather. Trust me to take up chicken-keeping in the wettest year on record

 

Yesterday I let them out while I potted up three of those amaryllis bulbs you can get at this time of the year [they make amazingly huge exotic-looking indoor flowers, btw] as I thought it would avoid compost on the kitchen floor. The hens were happily clearing up under the bird table when Tilly spotted what I was doing and pecked the top out of one the bulb's new shoots

 

I noticed a couple of daff bulbs strewn over the 'lawn' [as we like to call the muddy swamp] and now I'm not sure if I should be blaming the squirrels or the hens.

 

Happy New Year, and here's to nice dry spring/summer!

[sandyhas3chucks]

Like Olly my veg patch is fenced but it is also already the real thing pre chooks to keep the dogs off. I also for the same reason had the garden fenced with the large holed flexible fencing which so far has kept the girls off too! Except during the winter where they have dutifully been weeding. Turning overland manure ing since about October./

[patsylabrador]

I keep my three bantams in a WIR and they don't free range. All sorts of reasons for my decision. They appear perfectly happy and healthy, will be 4 years old this spring and lay well.

They occasionally wander out when I'm cleaning the run but quickly come back in by choice.

[christyrose12]

This is a problem I have as I love my girls to free range but I also love my garden!! The past few days I have been building a pond and the girls have been out for hours at a time with me. After reading the above post I am very worried about my hellebores!! They are all about to come into flower. Hoping they still have buds on them!! I usually let them out during the winter but once spring comes they are confined to quarters which is part of the garden fenced off. They have 47 sqm between 3 of them at the moment but due to extend it to about 64 sqm ish when I have the energy. So they are quite lucky but theres barely any vegetation left in there which is why I like to let them out.

[TAJ]

Omlet netting is a brillant alternative - I always ensure they have a patch of soil (ex flower bed) for scratching in, then they do not scratch the grass. In the winter without the grass growing it cannot cope with my 20 on one patch for a long time so I move the netting frequently to rotate the bit of garden they are on.

 

Tracy

[Grandmashazzie]

I would love to let my girlies FR but am terrified of not getting them back in WIR.we have a lot of shrubs bushesetc where they could hide and as there is at least one fox in area am afraid of him getting one.I think netting sounds good but after buying 2WIRs and coop this year am trying to put off another expense.Will they come back to WIR or do you need treats to get them in again,today is lovely and dry and we are tidying garden so would love to let them out but am too chicken!

[Olly]

Train them to come to a call, or using a particular food bowl, and they will associate this with a treat - a handful (and I mean a small handful!) of corn is all I need to get mine back in. You are right to be fox-conscious, and I don't let mine free-range unless I am actually out in the garden, or in and out of the garage cutting wood - it depends a bit where you live, rural foxes are less likely to attack in daylight but urban foxes are very bold.

 

Give it a try, they are unlikely to get lost provided your garden fences are secure, but I'd try the training first for a few days before you let them out of the run.

[sandyhas3chucks]

Mealworms. Easy :-D

[Grandmashazzie]

Thank you we let them out while we were tidying they had good roam about,interestingly my weakest looking one quickly went back in and had food to herself while others out.After about half an hour they went back themselves.I did have sweet corn to hand in case they wouldn't go back.Thanks for advise.

[charly1979]

Mine go back in happily, I didn't realise that Lyds my DD had shut them in so my DS and a friend could play football, I threw them some s"Ooops, word censored!"s on the patio, loads of flapping and miffed chickens, me laughing oh my your so thick use the gap in the fence calling them all by name, cue even more miffed girls then I realised never seen them run so fast

 

I've looked at the omelt netting may have to save up for that but at present I use normal chicken wire with the plastic electric fence poles which keeps them contained its just a complete mud pit, time to text my cousin the tree surgeon and ask for some more wood chippings this time without ivy in it (that's why they are FR in the first place)

[debbietabby]

Hi,

An excellent solution to chicken destruction is an empty wire hanging basket upside down over a precious plant. I got a some out of a skip and they have been a sanity saver. Also stops the cat eating the cat nip down to ground level - he sits on the basket looking grumpy. You need to fix them in place with bits of stick or old tent pegs or similar.

Or if you're feeling flush with cash, bell cloches, made of plastic, sit nicely over a plant. Again, you need to fix them in place to stop the chooks kicking them over.

Best of luck!

debbie