Feed & water in the hen House?

[Lemon]

Our girlees first 24 hours was in their hen house. I had a small dish of water and a dish of pellets & mixed corn with grit in there so they had what they needed.

Yes, by the morning the food was spilt onto poop drawer below and woodchips and shredded paper kicked into water. They were let out in a makeshift veg-bed pen (ohmigod! what devastation to the onions and spring onions!) whilst we made their run that would join the hen house.

I used to put a small pot of mixed corn and grit in their house overnight but they didn't eat it so all I do now is put their small drinker in there with them. I read that you should give them access to water in different areas. Although the girlees are in the run eating grass all day they only go to lay in nest box in house, so don't really drink that either - but it's there anyway.

I bought small D-shaped cups and I find them handy to hook on the sides of outdoor run to provide them with mixed grit, also they can clip on side of nest box too if you wanted.

I like the idea of the corn in house at night when the days are shorter. I guess we won't get to see hens in the middle of winter as it'd be dark when we leave for work and dark when we return.

[Pumpkin Becki]

we have moved them three times in 4 weeks and are now running our of space with new grass any ideas any one

If it is a Forsham ark (or similar size - check their website Chicken House, Poultry Keeping, Dovecotes and Doocotes, and Waterfowl Housing in the UK) they sell something called a scratch mat, which is a sheet of sturdy weld mesh. You put it on the grass and put the ark on top. It stops the girls being able to scratch quite so madly, and has a double benefit because it is bigger that the size of the run, it stops the fox being able to dig right at the base of the ark. That means he won't gain access before you've had time to move the ark to safer ground!