Sorry, if there is any thread about it, I just could not find anything here about...
Because of bad drainage of our soil in the garden I recently started turning over the entire part of the chickens and rabbits as their areas have been almost like a moor when walking over the soil. As I had to take off any fencing for that anyway I am thinking of changing the entire place setup as the chickens spend anyway all day with the rabbits and only return to their coop when it's time for bed. Mostly I am thinking of just don't separate them anymore as by now the giant rabbits have watched the chicken so many times going over the fence that the first two giants have already started to do the same so why bother if they want to be together so desperately?
I would like to move the big rabbit home to the place I actually have my coop as this way I can protect them better from neighbor's dog being to keen on the chickens through the fence (the screening didn't last very long thanks to the rabbits...) plus the rabbit home is less at risk of heating up in "summer" as it will have sun only in the morning hours. I had liked to put the coop inside, too, it's big enough with 8 x 4 ft and 6.5 ft height.
As I have read that some chickens just don't like major changes and stop laying I wonder how they will take this kind of a change as in the end of the day the coop would end up more or less the same place but inside the sheltered rabbit home. It would give them much more room to run, too, and more sunny places for all of them as it didn't take long for the three girls to possess the rabbits "sunny island".
They haven't started laying yet and the youngest one just started getting waddles and a comb so I am not afraid that they might stop laying but still, to me priority would be not to cause unnecessary stress to the chooks.
What do you think? Should I go for it?
Thanks!
Neelam