My first egg and the first week of chickens- dupe

Someone laid today! The first of many to come i hope. It's only a tiddler, i was expecting so, it certainly explained the racket at 6am however.

Well i thought i would post a thread on how my first week (and a bit) went with the chickens. They have in no uncertain terms -destroyed- their run. I let them fully free range yesterday under all our bushes and shooing them off the veg and by god... no more run for them. They hopped over the pen fence this morning and headed straight for the bushes. So unfortunately I'm going to have to net them into their pen from now on if i need to keep them in there.

Feed wise, it's all groovy. Bought 2 large feeder/drinkers so they are happy and i only have to refill it once/twice a week on the feeder and once every 3 days (to refresh the water) in the drinker. They get a crushed garlic clove in the water each time and it has really helped with the smell.

Coop wise, they love it. They get a choice of either sleeping on a nice shelf, a roosting bar or the nest box. Or the straw floor. Most of the time i find them peacefully on the shelf. However it's usually the largest and the smallest on the shelf (Tarbuck and Amber) with the middle sized bird Sue in the nest box. The coop is very easy to clean thanks to the miracle of diluted Dettol spray. So fingers crossed we don't get the mite in. There is always a risk here, as my neighbour across the way has had them. They definitely have figured out the use of the nest box too.

Run wise, I'm going to have to cover it in wood chip. Not the option i wanted to do, but if i let them free range for most of the day i'll see how the grass re-grows. If it's good or not we'll see. It certainly has a lot of fertiliser on it at the moment...

So a tiddler egg, haven't checked the shell width yet as i plan to eat it tomorrow. Also my gardens resident thrush has been scared off (shame) and it's food supply is rapidly vanishing. Still get George the pigeon and the local robin though. blooming magpies come and taunt the chickens too.
Still the bajillion Jenny wrens that live and breed in my garden seem to want to stick around.

All in all, life is good.