I like chooks

We have a plethora of chook sheds. They were built by the previous owners – Rob and Denise – to house the plethora of chooks that they had. Their flock was just under 50 strong. They had a huge chook run that was the width of our yard and at least 10 metres wide. It was fenced in all sorts of strange ways. There was a huge, straggly rose bush growing through one part of it. Another part of it was made up of an old door. There was a ton of chicken wire of various gauges and types strung together and looped through rusty metal posts. The gate into the chook yard was a funny sort of contraption with all sorts wire looped in all sorts of directions.

Denise and Rob moved their chooks the day that they moved out. I’m told that Rob loaded them – all 50 – into his mini van and drove them across town to their new home. Denise told me that the chooks don’t have anything like the yard or the chook sheds that they had here. She says that she’s asked Rob to build something for the chooks, but that he’s not inclined to.

The fencing around the chook yard went the day after we moved in. Charlie was coming that day to put up the dogs run, and there was a corner of the chook yard that was just the right corner of the yard for the dogs to be in.

That left the chook sheds. All three of them, and the shelter for the ducks – there were two or three of them living in with the chooks. Mind you, these aren’t ordinary chook sheds. No siree! One of them was, I suspect, a children’s cubby house at one time – it’s a lot like the cubby house that was in the garden at our old house. The other two are large garden sheds with strange extra doors added and not very much light. There are strange things hanging from the ceiling – I think there used to be some sort of creeper or ivy or something. I’m pretty certain that one of them has been used for the scary scenes in a B-grade horror movie.
We decided that we didn’t want to keep chooks. They’re more of a tie than either of us would like – there are plenty of foxes around and so chooks need to be put away every night, and let out in the morning. If we want fresh eggs, we have plenty of neighbours who keep chooks.

It’s time for the chook sheds to go. It’s wonderful what you can do with a rubber mallet and crowbar. There’s no need for attention to detail, no need to worry about making it look nice. All you need to do is pay attention to where it’s likely to fall.

We’ve got one less chook shed and a slightly bigger rubbish pile, and a bit more space in the yard. It’s a good look.