Fall Chickens

 The girls were out and about for a bit this evening.

They were thoroughly enjoying the piles of compost 

that were heaped in the garden.
Nothing makes these hens happier than a nicely aged manure.

 They haven't been allowed to roam as often or as long as usual

because my mom saw the big fat fox sitting by the coop.

 I spent the last nice weekend getting the coop ready for winter.

Basically that means a good cleaning and

covering the run in plastic sheeting.

We get a lot of wind on the hill and the plastic gives the girls protection from that.

It also helps keep out moisture.

I leave the door uncovered for ventilation.

When the inside door from the coop to the run is left open during the day, 

there's a nice flow of air through there that is usually enough.

But if more ventilation is needed, 

the plastic allows me to cut holes where needed. 

 We did discover an area where the local fox seems to be digging.

The hens were scratching around on the inside, 

but the area of missing grass outside leads me to believe something is trying to work its way in.

I never did anything about burying wire under ground and up until now, it hasn't been an issue.

So my brother put a stake in the area,

and I found a scrap piece of chicken wire and some large rocks

to completely block it off.

There are some make shift barriers around the perimeter now

that will hopefully keep the hens safe until spring

when I do what I knew I should have done in the first place

and bury some wire to prevent things from digging under the coop.