Chook run tidy again

Speckles will be happy that everything is back to normal.

Speckles stuck in the run today

Speckles stuck in the run today.

I took out a platter of treats to keep her occupied.

Speckles and Misty enjoying cool change

Speckles and Misty camped in the chook run enjoying the cool change. Interesting that thunder and lightning don't bother them all that much, the dogs are on our laps :-)

Checking on the chooks

Waiting in the car for ET while out shopping so checked in on the chooks back home.

Chook run cleanup

Beautiful day so decided to rake out the hay from the main chook run and the adjoining annex area and replenish with cleaner hay that comes of the floors of the two storage sheds down at the horse agistment. We purchase 10 or 12 bails every few months and its surprising how much ends up on the floor which usually gets swept out and dumped. Now that we are retirees I find myself looking for ways to be a bit more thrifty so I bag the hay (empty horse feed bags) and bring it home for the chook run. The finer stuff contains a lot of grass seed, just throw it around where the grass is struggling to grow in the backyard and the chooks will come along and scratch it in and before long – green grass!

Raking out the two areas fills the green bin.

Getting rid of freeloaders

One of the greatest threats to the health of poultry is mites – bird mites.

If birds are allowed to enter and roam the chook run area it’s likely you will end with with a mite infestation, this is particularly so in the summer months. This is one of the reasons why I built a annex extension onto the chook run.

Fortunately chooks are programmed to get rid of their freeloaders – they dust.

Speckles and Lilly, the new Pekins about 20 weeks old and been with us for about one month now. On the right is Misty and Ruby, they are Wyandotte’s about three years old.

We have had a lot of rain lately but they are able to still dust in dry soft dirt under the garden gazebo. This is one reason why I haven’t paved that area yet.

Chook run – removing temporary divider

When we came home with the new Pekins (Speckles and Lilly) early in May I partitioned off one end of the main chook run to separate them from the older resident’s -  Misty and Ruby (Wyandotte’s).

This gives them their own space for a few weeks  (with water, feed and their own sleeping quarters) to get used to their new surroundings and for the older ones to accept the newcomers.

Chook run annex – tidy-up

You may ask…why do I have an annex adjacent to the main run?
Well…to keep the mites out!

One of the greatest threats to the health of backyard chooks is mites – bird mites. In our area the most annoying backyard birds are doves and minors. If allowed too they will wander into the chook run and when you go to chase them out they fly around like crazy – and drop all their lodgers!

Mites need a host to survive and many of those that are shaken off onto the ground will soon find their way into the chook shed or coop – and onto the chooks at night.

Chook run renovation

The old chook run

Actually this was more like a rebuild. We keep a few Bantams in the backyard and here is how the run looked in November 2006. It was simply star pickets with wire framing to support the chicken wire. I later realized the 25M roll I bought was actually bird wire which is a lighter gauge so it deteriorates more rapidly than chicken wire.