Filed under: getting started
The plan went something like this: “we’ll build an integrated coop-and-run sort of thing, and it will sit mostly under the pluot tree. So in the summer when the branches are full of fruit, they will droop down nicely and cover most of it up, providing lots of shade and using an area of the yard that was previously impenetrable for four months out of the year.”
The reality? Siting the thing under the tree meant there were height limits (see: Building Any Human-Accessible Part of the Run with an Interior Height Less Than That Of the Tallest Human in the House) and we had to constantly dodge around shallow roots when planting the concrete pilings. Also, the chickens–being perverse creatures who are absolutely guaranteed to dig and scratch exactly where you don’t want them to–have exposed and pecked away most of the fine roots and are now working on the big ones, so it’s anybody’s guess whether we’ve killed the tree or not.
Bonus: we’ve made it effectively impossible to fence off that area and let them wander around outside their run. They are guaranteed to climb the tree instantly and head up onto the roof, and once they’re up there it’s anybody’s guess when or where they’ll come down.
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