We've been talking about whether we could bring them home if necessary, and what we would need to do to make this possible.
For a very short period, we could manage with them in the garden, but the extra number would make short work of the grass leaving little or nothing for any of them. It would have to be a last resort thing, and we aren't there yet.
We may or may not be able to bring one of the coops home from the allotment. Even if we could, it isn't big enough to accomodate all the allotment girls, but we also have our small coop, so we should be OK. We we could accommmodate some in the greenhouse overnight if needed, and we might have to do that for the more elderly girls.
As for the boys - well, they will need to be boxed or crated at night, and put separately to the girls (in one of the sheds), to minimise the effect of their early morning crowing. Cockerels need height to be able to get a fully loud crow. Minimising the headroom means they can still crow, but they can't achieve the usual volume.
As for enclosed runs... technically we could build up the run we used for the chicks, but that would actually just concentrate the allotmenteers on one patch of grass, putting more stress on it. It would be destroyed completely in days and would take months to recover. It looks like we'd have to have them free ranging all the time. That's a big fox risk, but we might have no alternative.
I guess it's possible one or other of our neighbours might let us put up a run in their garden, at least so the chooks could graze for a few hours. Our adjoining neighbour would, I know but she's moving imminently. The other side has a puppy Jack Russell, so I don't think that will work. There are others who might be able to help, and we'll progress that if and when te chooks definitely move.
