The previous fence arrangement was Not Great. It worked for the most part AKA it kept the chooks on the lawn where they were meant to be and NOT on the concrete pooping up a storm. However as time went on, it began to biodegrade and holes began to appear.
It was originally meant to be temporary until we built our Queensland room onto the back of the house. Realistically that is a HUGE job and may even require getting council approval depending on what we want to build and how we want to build it.
Normally the chooks ignore the holes but sometimes one would find their way into the promised land. That was no big deal. But when all 5 of them scratched up my seedling bed – seen above with Grumpy before I planted the seedlings in it, it was time to get to work on something a bit more permanent.
I never question the how, what, why, where or when. The Other Half just creates a plan and implements it. I am purely there to assist and sometimes this causes problems when I do not understand his vision. But I must say I am usually very fashionably attired to assist. These are my Aldi $15 wellies which originally were gorgeously shiny, several months of doing chook jobs has dulled them a little. They are due for a good clean.
So his plan involved stardroppers, chicken wire, and wire to tie the chook wire to the stardroppers. That was the time consuming fiddly part of the job.
It did turn out very well indeed.
Here are the girls back out free ranging once it was finished. This photo was taken on the Sunday before Purple Comb became so unwell. You can see she seems perfectly fine, free ranging happily with her besties. However it is more likely she was starting to feel unwell and just very good at hiding it.
I had become very sick of our hose arrangements, and it was time to find a better solution. You know when you change something and it works so well, and you are left wondering why did I not change this thing before? That applies to this hose purchase. It is incredibly useful and has me out watering the plants way more often than ever before. Which can only be great for the plants in the long run.
Life goes on, for the girls. They do seem to be sticking together in their flock more, just recently. They are still being spoiled rotten with blueberries, baby spinach, corn on the cooler days, tuna, strawberries, and occasionally scrambled eggs as well.
If we make it through the summer with 4 chooks remaining, we will be very lucky. Rosie and Dark Comb are over 6 years old now. Lizzy and Kitty are expected by our vets to have shorter than expected lives due to the early vitamin deficiencies their previous owner inflicted upon them by feeding the wrong food. We will make their remaining days as great as they can be.
That hose reel looks about 8 million times more optimal than the old arrangement! Hopefully no kinks! :)
Also the new fence looks heaps better than the orange snow fencing.
That’s a fine looking fence and the hose reel looks great too. My hose just hangs over a couple of tree branches, I have the length of it stretched out along the ground so it doesn’t get those loop tangles. I’ve had to remove the fittings from both ends because someone broke the bit that clicked on to the tap and now I use my brass fittings, but I’m not leaving them out there for someone to steal so I bring them in after each watering. It’s a hassle, but that’s how it has to be.
I love those Wellies (which still look pretty shiny to me) and I also love hose reels (any kind of organizer makes me happy). As for the chook fence, I have to admit I was very disappointed when I started to read the post and realized you weren’t actually building a fence out of chooks!
Good for you for taking great care of your chickens and giving them a wonderful place to live. I love your outfit! Is that a dress you’re wearing? Beautiful.