Well, this was a point of marital disharmony up to last Autumn. We had spent the previous 15 years or so building the miniature garden railway, not very visible under the snow, but runs round the edge of the pond and everywhere else as well. I am expert at mixing concrete for trackbeds, (my cakes turn out much the same consistency.) Once a month in summer, we held steam-up days where all the other 'boys' brought along their little steam trains and enjoyed balmy afternoons playing with them. Sometimes we went to their railways as well, took up quite a lot of weekends. During this phase, chickens on the line were definitely NOT encouraged as they scratch gravel and poop on the sacred trackbed. A bonus of this however was the help Tony gave me in constructing that nice big foxproof run you can see in the video, and they are OK in there when circumstances require it. In any case I only let them out for a couple of hours midday in winter as the garden boundaries are not foxproof, and there is open country beyond, although no problems so far, fingers crossed. However, last summer Tony returned to his earlier passion, ie flying RC model aircraft, takes himself off to a flying club nearby with a new set of 'boys toys' and seems ATM not to have noticed any 'help' the hens have provided in the garden. Mind you, it's not so bad in winter when the garden isn't really at its best anyway. Don't know what's going to happen in the Spring - i shall have to go round with a dustpan and brush and clean up after them a bit more, I suppose.
