"martin" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 2 Oct 2003 22:34:33 +0100, Jaques d'Altrades
wrote:



(Proper) free-range hens have a chicken house, but are free to invade
their neighbours' gardens, get run over in the road, roost in trees or
go on holiday with Mr. Fox.

We visited Castle Howard a couple of weeks ago and noticed that
peacocks were roosting fairly high up in trees. I can't recall seeing
a peacock fly. We have never seen grebes fly either.

At Lac Joux in the Jura, there was a group of great crested grebes which
were never seen in winter. I never saw them fly, but I don't think they
hitch-hiked to warmer climes...

Franz
--
Martin

"Jaques d'Altrades" wrote in message
...
The message
from "Franz Heymann" contains these
words:

My curiousity drives me to display my ignorance: What is involved in
keeping chickens in a run, and what constitutes a free range chicken?

Batteries are small cages which the chickens live in. A sloping wire
mesh floor allows eggs to roll out to a ramp outside the cage, thus
remaining clean and unpecked.

Chickens in a run usually means that there is a wooden chicken house
with a wire-netting run attached.

If you had meant to say ".....chicken house situated in a compound bounded
by a wire-netting fence, I would have understood you.

(Proper) free-range hens have a chicken house, but are free to invade
their neighbours' gardens, get run over in the road, roost in trees or
go on holiday with Mr. Fox.

--
Rusty Hinge
horrid·squeak&zetnet·co·uk
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/tqt.htm

"martin" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 2 Oct 2003 22:34:33 +0100, Jaques d'Altrades
wrote:



(Proper) free-range hens have a chicken house, but are free to invade
their neighbours' gardens, get run over in the road, roost in trees or
go on holiday with Mr. Fox.

We visited Castle Howard a couple of weeks ago and noticed that
peacocks were roosting fairly high up in trees. I can't recall seeing
a peacock fly. We have never seen grebes fly either.

At Lac Joux in the Jura, there was a group of great crested grebes which
were never seen in winter. I never saw them fly, but I don't think they
hitch-hiked to warmer climes...

Franz
--
Martin

"Jaques d'Altrades" wrote in message
...
The message
from "Franz Heymann" contains these
words:

My curiousity drives me to display my ignorance: What is involved in
keeping chickens in a run, and what constitutes a free range chicken?

Batteries are small cages which the chickens live in. A sloping wire
mesh floor allows eggs to roll out to a ramp outside the cage, thus
remaining clean and unpecked.

Chickens in a run usually means that there is a wooden chicken house
with a wire-netting run attached.

If you had meant to say ".....chicken house situated in a compound bounded
by a wire-netting fence, I would have understood you.

(Proper) free-range hens have a chicken house, but are free to invade
their neighbours' gardens, get run over in the road, roost in trees or
go on holiday with Mr. Fox.

--
Rusty Hinge
horrid·squeak&zetnet·co·uk
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/tqt.htm

"Jaques d'Altrades" wrote in message
...
The message
from "Franz Heymann" contains these
words:

My curiousity drives me to display my ignorance: What is involved in
keeping chickens in a run, and what constitutes a free range chicken?

Batteries are small cages which the chickens live in. A sloping wire
mesh floor allows eggs to roll out to a ramp outside the cage, thus
remaining clean and unpecked.

Chickens in a run usually means that there is a wooden chicken house
with a wire-netting run attached.

If you had meant to say ".....chicken house situated in a compound bounded
by a wire-netting fence, I would have understood you.

(Proper) free-range hens have a chicken house, but are free to invade
their neighbours' gardens, get run over in the road, roost in trees or
go on holiday with Mr. Fox.

--
Rusty Hinge
horrid·squeak&zetnet·co·uk
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/tqt.htm

"martin" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 2 Oct 2003 22:34:33 +0100, Jaques d'Altrades
wrote:



(Proper) free-range hens have a chicken house, but are free to invade
their neighbours' gardens, get run over in the road, roost in trees or
go on holiday with Mr. Fox.

We visited Castle Howard a couple of weeks ago and noticed that
peacocks were roosting fairly high up in trees. I can't recall seeing
a peacock fly. We have never seen grebes fly either.

At Lac Joux in the Jura, there was a group of great crested grebes which
were never seen in winter. I never saw them fly, but I don't think they
hitch-hiked to warmer climes...

Franz
--
Martin

"martin" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 2 Oct 2003 22:34:33 +0100, Jaques d'Altrades
wrote:



(Proper) free-range hens have a chicken house, but are free to invade
their neighbours' gardens, get run over in the road, roost in trees or
go on holiday with Mr. Fox.

We visited Castle Howard a couple of weeks ago and noticed that
peacocks were roosting fairly high up in trees. I can't recall seeing
a peacock fly. We have never seen grebes fly either.

At Lac Joux in the Jura, there was a group of great crested grebes which
were never seen in winter. I never saw them fly, but I don't think they
hitch-hiked to warmer climes...

Franz
--
Martin

The message
from martin contains these words:

On Thu, 2 Oct 2003 22:34:33 +0100, Jaques d'Altrades
wrote:



(Proper) free-range hens have a chicken house, but are free to invade
their neighbours' gardens, get run over in the road, roost in trees or
go on holiday with Mr. Fox.

We visited Castle Howard a couple of weeks ago and noticed that
peacocks were roosting fairly high up in trees. I can't recall seeing
a peacock fly.

They can't fly high or long distances.

Ours roosted high up in the biggest tree in their territory, a huge
beech beside the house, but there's no way they could fly straight up
the roost 50 or 60 ft up. They ascend in stages; quite a sight to watch.
The dominant cock assembles the flock at the foot of the roost then
calls them up, branch by branch.

Janet.

"Janet Baraclough" wrote in message
...
The message
from martin contains these words:

On Thu, 2 Oct 2003 22:34:33 +0100, Jaques d'Altrades
wrote:



(Proper) free-range hens have a chicken house, but are free to invade
their neighbours' gardens, get run over in the road, roost in trees or
go on holiday with Mr. Fox.

We visited Castle Howard a couple of weeks ago and noticed that
peacocks were roosting fairly high up in trees. I can't recall seeing
a peacock fly.

They can't fly high or long distances.

Ours roosted high up in the biggest tree in their territory, a huge
beech beside the house, but there's no way they could fly straight up
the roost 50 or 60 ft up. They ascend in stages; quite a sight to watch.
The dominant cock assembles the flock at the foot of the roost then
calls them up, branch by branch.

It sounds more likw good jumping rather than bad flying. {:-)

Franz

The message
from "Franz Heymann" contains these words:

If you had meant to say ".....chicken house situated in a compound bounded
by a wire-netting fence, I would have understood you.

No. That qualifies, but often, the run is attached to one or two sides
of the henhouse to allow forays into the house for egg-collecting
without having to enter the run first.

Viz:
____________ - - - - - - - - - - - - -
| | :
| | :
| / :
| | :
| __________| :
\ - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Though usually such an arrangement has external access to the nest boxes.

--
Rusty Hinge
horrid·squeak&zetnet·co·uk
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/tqt.htm

"Jaques d'Altrades" wrote in message
...
The message
from "Franz Heymann" contains these
words:

If you had meant to say ".....chicken house situated in a compound
bounded
by a wire-netting fence, I would have understood you.

No. That qualifies, but often, the run is attached to one or two sides
of the henhouse to allow forays into the house for egg-collecting
without having to enter the run first.

Viz:
____________ - - - - - - - - - - - - -
| | :
| | :
| / :
| | :
| __________| :
\ - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Though usually such an arrangement has external access to the nest boxes.

Ah, now I get it.

Franz

On Thu, 02 Oct 2003 15:42:46 +0200, martin wrote:
Anybody who has ever kept free range chickens will know that after a
while nothing grows in the chicken run except AFAIR nettles.

How do people think fruit trees would put up with being inside a
chicken run? I'm trying to think of the ways to make the best use of
the land we've got and one option is to overlay the fruit tree area
and the chickens.

--
The Flying Hamster http://www.korenwolf.net/
Of chess it has been said that life is not long enough for it, but that is
the fault of life, not chess. -- Irving Chernev

The message t
from The Flying Hamster contains
these words:

On Thu, 02 Oct 2003 15:42:46 +0200, martin wrote:
Anybody who has ever kept free range chickens will know that after a
while nothing grows in the chicken run except AFAIR nettles.

How do people think fruit trees would put up with being inside a
chicken run? I'm trying to think of the ways to make the best use of
the land we've got and one option is to overlay the fruit tree area
and the chickens.

Chickens do a lot of scratching and dustbathing in bare earth runs.
Dustbaths make a hole up to 6" deep and a foot wide. That would uncover
and dry out shallow roots of blackcurrants gooseberries and raspberries
(anyway hens will jump high enough to get the fruit). Fruit trees like
plums damsons and cherries tend to sucker from roots which have been
damaged.

You might look up deep-litter pens, where the floor of the run is
covered with a layer of straw (at least a foot thick iirc, and the
bottom of the run needs walls to contain it). Lady Something used to
promote that post-war but afaik it went out of fashion, possibly because
it encouraged rats around the henhouse.

Janet.

The message t
from The Flying Hamster contains
these words:

How do people think fruit trees would put up with being inside a
chicken run? I'm trying to think of the ways to make the best use of
the land we've got and one option is to overlay the fruit tree area
and the chickens.

My grandmother had an apple tree in one of her chicken runs, and it
lasted from the end of the war to around 1958 or so, so I wouldn't worry
about it. The apples were always pretty good - if you got to them before
they fell.

--
Rusty Hinge
horrid·squeak&zetnet·co·uk
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/tqt.htm