It was something I decided against as my hens easily dig down 2ft in a day (but I do keep very large fowl)

Taking the bedding out is the worst thing you can do! You need plenty of bedding for the egg to sink in to! Yes curtains across all the boxes make sure blavkout so no light can get in, problem solved

Hi

Had lots of experience of this. Dont do the mustard thing it is cruel and does not work.

Curtains are the immediate and instant answer. See my old posts cheers

Bless her ;) thats brilliant

That is brilliant news, I did hope it would help x

Tin of salmon you may be right

Put sand on as much or little as you like directly on the soil. You can put it in a laid lown tyre, baby bath, or make edges with wood etc. whatever you do it will get kicked around a lot. My run is part covered on top and gets horribly wet in the rain. I have bought corrugated clear plastic to make...

Just put curtains on the nest boxes problem solved. See my other post

Thank you to everyone that has taken the time to reply either by posting here or messaging me, some of your replies have been particularly helpful in helping me to make up my mind what to do next. Richard, no I am not immediately opposed to them, which is why I wanted more information and advice of ...

And it does not have to be a proper chicken coop mine is basically an 8x4 shed with a pop hole cut in the side. Nice and big and I can get in there and sit with the chickens when it is winter. You could just get a shed and stand it on concrete blocks, as long as it has a solid strong floor and pop a...

You dont have to have the mushroom things mine is just up on cement breeze blocks and its fine

Thanks for the useful information.

I would definitely definitely have the chicken vet do the op and not the other vet. That is my opinion.

good luck

It sounds fine. There actually was a study done that looked at free range hens and the ones that had the ability to shelter under trees were happier and laid more eggs than the exposed ones with no trees. This I gather is because the hens feel more secure and safer when they have cover above them. M...

I try :) My hubby says its like the Bank Of England or a maximum security prison Still I close the pophole at night as I can never be sure, foxes are so wily. You can always lay weldmesh etc on the ground in the run and put soil on top this should stop things digging in as well depending on what siz...

I would not worry too much about rats as long as you don't leave food lying around. My run is made of galvanised weldmesh and has a skirt that is sunk in the ground 18 inches to stop predators digging in, with paving slabs around the edge outside, too. It has a weldmesh roof too so it is fully enclo...