Winter gardens for your girls

What on earth is a winter garden, we hear you ask? Surely we’re not talking about sitting outside on a freezing cold day with gloves on, sipping a cup of tea, just to enjoy some fresh air?!

Not quite, thankfully. Instead, a winter garden refers to creating a safe space for our hens which doubles up as protection from the elements and provides shelter should a housing order come into play due to Avian Influenza.

Winter gardens or verandas first came into play across Europe when commercial farmers looked for ways to offer safe undercover space as a bridge between their inside accommodation and the wider outdoor area.

If we take this idea into a backyard setting, there are some great, inexpensive tips to make your run safe and secure as well as compliant with any housing order regulations. Ideas for winter gardens include:

• An enclosed area such as a large garage, outbuilding or greenhouse

• A house within a netted outdoor area, using netting small enough to prevent wild birds accessing, and a cover or tarpaulin over the top to prevent droppings falling through into the coop

• An existing fruit cage covered with a tarpaulin to prevent droppings falling through and / or a polytunnel can be used to provide a covered exercise area for your birds

• Any existing wired hen run can be made compliant by adding small gauge mesh or netting sides and providing a cover to prevent droppings falling through

The cost of setting up a winter garden can be as cheap or as expensive as your budget allows. It’s worth keeping an eye out for a second-hand greenhouse or polytunnel, both of which are great for winter gardens and can be adapted by covering in netting, creating a cheap and functional coop.

Once you’ve got your winter garden created, you’ll need to consider some enrichment to keep your girls happy while they aren’t able to free range. This can include:

• Pecking blocks – don’t overfeed though, pecking blocks are treats (and fattening!)

• Straw bales – please don’t use hay, eating it could impact their crop

• Grit in litter or on the ground – always great for scratching around

• Perches – useful for a spot of preening or daytime snoozing

• Coloured string hanging up so they can peck and tug it – great fun for hens

• A dust bath – this can be made from a child’s sand pit, litter tray or plastic storage box. Use a mix of dry soil, sand, wood ash and diatomaceous earth.

• A cabbage hung up – another thing for them to enjoy pecking at. Remember DEFRA rules on not allowing food to pass through your kitchen, unless it’s a vegan household.

For more hen health and welfare advice, and to share your own tips and tricks, please head to our website.