Onions and garlic puzzle!

Just returned home from a weekend with a friend.
She planted red onions and  last October. 
The position is rather dark
The previous owner kept chickens in this particular place.
The onions and garlic are extremely leggy, when we dug up samples of both, they resemble Spring Onions - nothing bulbous at all.  They taste of onions and garlic respectively
So any ideas of what has gone wrong.
She is disappointed, but can I am sure use what has grown (oh and should she tie they up for storage 

Yep, I don't think you're meant to pull up autumn garlic for another month or two so it's probably not finished growing yet. I think the bulb part is the last thing they do.

Way to early to pull. They will not have started to bulb up yet.

The legginess may be caused by excessive nitrogen from chicken poo.

Thanks everyone will pass all the knowledge along