Last-minute jobs on the chook front

I’m due to pick up my three New Chook Girls this week, so the new system got some last-minute tweaks at the weekend.

Food containers installed. They look so clean. That won’t last :

Water (I may have to shift this to a less sunny spot so the water doesn’t get too hot) :

Shell grit :

Pop door between the secure run and the playground (no, its not crooked; it’s the angle—I was down on my knees taking this).  The chooks gain access to the larger run through here. It will be closed off at night by a drop-down wire frame after they’ve gone to bed :

The two runs (the old & the new) have been connected by a corridor of wire panels with wire over the top :

I’ll keep the newbies apart from the oldies until they’ve settled in. Eventually they’ll all have access to the whole system in the daytime, but I want them to learn to go back to their own run and coop at night and not try and roost with Molly & Cheeky in their coop. Just hoping to avoid too much bloodshed.

I’m going to put a few new wicking boxes along the outside of the wire corridor. At the moment I don’t have any spare compost to fill them :

The view from the back deck. The old run :

And the new run in the distance :

I think I’ll call it Chook City.