Saving The Strawberries!

I like to let our chickens out to free range every day as it strikes me the 7ft by 3ft coop/run we currently have is good enough for them to stretch their legs and forrage for most of the day, but nothing beats having a wide open space to potter and flap around in.

Slowly the chooks have been getting used to this free time. The don't tend to go very far, still being a little nervous but they do like to potter about just outside the coop around the paved area and now its the weekend I thought I'd just leave the door open for them and leave them to it ... maybe checking on them every so often etc ...

Well it appears they like the look of my husbands veggy patch and strawberry plants in the borders and therefore free range time now has to be 'fully supervised' incase they should dig up the prised plants. This I find slightly annoying since I feel it has always been obvious to both me and my husband that the chooks would have an inclination to dig and peck around our many plants. But no, the husband is agast at their blatent enthusiam for destroying all his hard work and labour and we therefore need to secure against it.

Sigh, this now means we need to build/buy a run that covers the paved area outside of the coop so that when were at home but not nccesarily watching the chickens we can let them into this extended run and when we are outside or in the conservatory they can then be let out further into the full garden. Just when you think you have everything figured out!

Enough space for 4-8 chickens?

The coop and paved area. Total of 8ft x 8.5ft.

My hubbys veggy patch and strawberry borders.