Our little chickens are free rangers and despite onerous warnings from Monty Donn they have not decimated the garden.  Plants thrive and the lawn, come the spring seems all the better for their winter roaming and rakings.

However, their coup is located in the smaller back garden to allow for lazy access when egg collecting.  In the mornings I walk the girls down to the larger front garden and there they stay, apart from the visit to the coup to lay an egg and they then make their own way back down, where they lay in the sun or do ‘what chickens do.’  At the end of the day, the routine is reversed as I escort them back to the safety of their coup.

The benefit of chicken manure on the lawn has a cost of poop on the paths. The solution, therefore, is to move the coup to the front garden.

There is more to it than moving the structure.  It takes a while for a chicken to realise she has moved home.  A temporary enclosure will be required so we do not have a garden full of confused and wandering chickens.  I’ll let you know how we get on.