New Roosts in the Coop

Well, the coop was getting a bit smelly so it was time for my regular clean-up of the chicken run (I tend to do this about every month in the colder months).
My hens are starting to moult and there really isn’t enough roosting space in their coop despite the fact that the coop is big enough for at least twice as many chickens. So I pulled out the old branches and made some roosting bars from some broomsticks that I bought for that purpose ages ago.

The roost went into the coop yesterday and it appears to be a hit with the chooks.
Now the chickens are back to using the nesting boxes rather than just laying on the floor of the coop (because of the difficulty getting to the nesting boxes.
Of course, the chickens always like getting into the coop after a clean-up so that they can scatter the hay from one end of the chicken run to the other.
A while back, I cut a sally-port into the side of the chicken run so that the chickens can free-range during the day (after they have laid their eggs), and since then, the eggs have improved quite a lot. Here in Tasmania, we don’t have to worry about foxes … just birds of prey, so the chickens can free-range well into the late afternoon. They are getting much better free range food (bugs and plants) and they appear to be much happier.

This is a picture of the old coop. It was fairly small and the run was lined with crushed limestone.

Their current chicken run is an old swimming pool enclosure, giving them roughly eight times more space. The chicken run is more open as well, with only two high walls and two walls that come up to 3’, the rest of the two open walls are made up of chicken wire and nylon netting. The chicken run is completely enclosed with nylon netting making a roof to keep the birds of prey out. We have Wedge-tailed eagles, Peregrine Falcons and Brown Hawks. So far, we have not lost any chickens to predation.

All in all, the chickens like their new life in a bigger chicken run.