Reining in the chooks - just for now.

Thank goodness, the careless neighbour with the dogs is moving out. I've constructed a temporary wire and post fence that will keep the dogs at bay, but will hold the chickens in my garden and not give them access to the field behind the house. It's a shame for them as they love combing the field for food and it's excellent exercise, but I can't trust my neighbour to keep her dogs under control.

Just to explain, I have lived here for three years. My chickens have always been free range, and when someone wanted to rent next door with a dog, they had to ask permission from the landlord to have one as they were banned. It was agreed then that they would fence their own garden area in to protect their dog from the busy road, to stop it from wandering onto my lawn and also to protect the incumbent chickens. But if the neighbour doesn't shut the garden gate, their dogs are a menace first to my chickens, then to me, and then potentially to the busy road that has trucks driving past all the time. You would think that any dog owner would be more careful if they loved their dog, wouldn't you?

Anyway, so now there is a veritable revolution-style barricade between the houses at the rear (the most vulnerable part as that is where she enters her house) and today my lovely brother came over with his tools and muscles and together we had fun building a quick fence at the bottom of the garden. My chickens have the full range of my garden and undergrowth until the neighbour moves out - then they get full run out the back of the field again. My brother wants me to put them in a run, but I can't. I don't believe it's good for the chickens, and I want to protect them from the current threat, but I won't be over-protective and totally fence them in permanently in a small area. Small area runs are the biggest cause of mite transfer, insanitary conditions, unhappy chickens and the inevitable pecking and bad behaviour that boredom causes.

My chickens have every inch of area that I can give them, apart from in the house. If they respected the 'No defecating indoors' rule, I'd let them inside too!