Day 380: Spring Clean

I must confess, it's been a couple of weeks since I gave the Cube a good clean. So today, roof off, back panel off, roosting bars out and plenty of anti-mite spray for cleaning. The girls devoured their porridge this morning and then went out to play in the borders but of course, as soon as I was inside the run, they wanted to come back in. I flatter myself with the silly notion that they want to be with me but I secretly do know that, actually, they see me and just think "FOOD!!!!".

So we did some tidying up, cleaning tubs etc etc and the girls are now back in their run.

But it's got us to thinking... How will we design the new run, once we move? We'll certainly put a few extra doors and hatches in, so I can access the poo trays, egg port, feeders and drinkers easily; the hatch for the poo tray will also mean I can tuck the Cube into a corner, rather than have it in the middle of the run, as it is at the moment. I'd also have the stable door up the opposite end to the cube (rather than in the middle beside it) AND I'd have it opening in and not out (so the girls are pushed back when I open it, rather than all rushing at once to mug me and get out).

I'd have a sliding door to a tunnel for them to use to get to a purpose built area for free ranging (rather than nightmarish rolls of plastic mesh to keep them off the lawn!). Actually, when we first move in, they will have total free range over the whole garden - they are such good diggers, we're going to give them the job of breaking down and conditioning the soil :o)

I'll definitely keep lots of high perches, as they love to sit up there and preen in the early morning sunshine after breakfast. But I'd move the feeders and drinkers so they're underneath a solid shelf - at the moment they're just offset from perches and tend to make good target practice!

We've also decide to make the run the same width as a panel of onduline roofing - at the moment it's wider, which means we have joins in the panels which contributed to the leaks a few weeks back.

What else? If you think of anything, let me know!