Thought I would share with you some of my chook and garden stuff, but first a quick background. Mr sue55 and I both went to Uni in the 70's. He studied Engineering whilst I did Environmental Science. To my Graanfather, I was "That Damned Hippy" and he was "A Long Haired Lout" - until he joined the Airforce, had a haircut and became "A Nice Young Fella"
Fast foward 40 years.
15 years ago we purchased a small rural property outside the ACT and began our 'Chook Journey'
When I want something for our place I like to repurpose. Mr sue 55 cringes when I come home with something 'with a history'. When I plan something I measure in steps and say "about there". He wants tech drawings and measures with 'instruments'. If a row of screws has to go in, first a line is ruled and spacing is measured and marked. The result is that (most) of my projects get done properly (although slowly).
The first pens were built around swing A frames but proved dark and difficult to move about in.

So we bumped out the back

Added verandahs for afternoon shade and windows for ventilation

And installed nest boxes

Then there was a problem with the Currawongs taking the eggs so 'Chook Flaps were installed


There are 3 suites with 'Interconnecting Doors' so that space can be re arranged as needed.

The lessons that we learned from this:-
These pens were convenient whilst we were living in the shed (they were only going to be temporary) but are now really too far from the house.
The runs were built on a slope with the pens at the lower end so drainage is a problem in wet weather.
Orientation - Although the shade is good, the lack of early morning sunlight may affect the laying season.
More to follow