High Security Fencing.

So...we have 'ummed' and 'ahhed' about what to do with the chickens while we are away.Our neighbours are going to look after them and keep them fed and watered but do we leave them 'free range' or coop them up again in the old pen while we are 'Up Over'.We finally decided to coop them up again and this decision was based on a number of factors, firstly, and most importantly, with them free range there is no guarantee that, even though fenced off, they won't get into the garden and eat everything. Secondly, if the boys next door come alone to feed the hens we cannot guarantee that Odin will not chase them if he is loose. He chased Phoebe when she was here and even attacked and scratched Ros on her last visit. Thirdly, the old pen is nearer to our neighbours and handier for refilling the water container rather than lug water up the hill to the new pen and the nesting boxes are more accessible for the boys. Lastly, Isis still has not worked out how to get back into the new pen at night though she can use the ramp to get out. Everyone else now comes and goes easily but if we are not here Isis will end up sleeping rough.As there is no guarantee that the existing fence in the old pen will keep them in and out of the garden, now they have had a taste of freedom, today I have surrounded their enclosure, for the next month, with high security fencing! (More of the free hail netting we acquired)...

I doubt they will get out of that!It was tiring work made more difficult by the fact that the temperature was well, see for yourself...The forecast is for more of the same for the foreseeable future...I doubt we will have a garden when we get back. It will all have shrivelled up.