"it's impossible to catch a chicken. They run 8.3 mph and humans can only run 8.299 mph." It made me chuckle."
My husband, who does most of the shutting up at night, has said this, but he doesn't chuckle much.... :)) He has a crab fishing net and evens the odds. :))
One thing we found out real fast the first year: low things make life VERY hard. The chickens like it, but try getting eggs out of there...
Re: scratch. Scratch is candy. They will eat all you give them, and other goodies too. But if they do not eat their daily ration of balanced feed each and every day, you will be inviting a nasty host of problems in, many of which are hard to reverse.
So good for you and the kids! The birds are home. Now the fun begins. :))
The fun begins!
Oh goodness. People keep saying they're glad we got it done. We've only just started, and that's so exciting!
Will they nest and lay under there instead of the nesting boxes?
Yup. Hens prefer places that are enclosed, ideally where they can't see out and others can't see in. If it's low enough and dark enough, they will go there. And being bantams, they are apt to go broody, and a dirt floor is what a broody hen wants, for the humidity. THAT will be fun. :))
It sounds like I'm going to learn a lot in this process :)
I'm leaving it low simply because of the work it would take to raise it back up again. There's a big risk I'd drop it or tip it over during the process, and it is super heavy. I do have the underneath blocked off though so the birds can't get under.
Be aware (I just remembered this) that having an enclosed area near where there is feed can harbor mice and rats...They get to be a BIG problem really fast....