We raise chickens. Actually we hatch eggs and sell eggs and chicks. We have over 50 hens and the lay rate fluctuates from 10 eggs a day to 30 eggs a day. We stepped the chickens so the first half started laying, laid for a year then got the second batch so they would start laying during the down time of the first batch so we would have eggs year round. Even at that there will be down times because so many hens will be trying to set and when they set they don't lay
To keep them laying requires at 8 to 10 hours of light so during the dark months they get a night light.
Just burying the chicken wire won't work. You do have to turn it under but you bury about a foot of it so the edge is AWAY from the upright. That way digging predators who come right up and start digging will hit wire.
But there are other predators like weasels. we got hit with a miniature type of weasel and it will go right through the wire. They don't kill to eat. They just kill as many as possible.
I found that to combat them and other four legged types it's best to run a board along the bottom so you have created a wooden wall about 8 inches tall all the way around. Confounds them.
If you don't have a ready market for eggs or chicks then you are wasting your time. A sign on the road doesn't really work.
We only make money because there is an auction for small animals and eggs here. When the auction was shut down we couldn't afford the chickens any more.
Now there are two auctions and we are rolling again.
You really should let them out to forage during the day or they won't be able to pay for their own feed.
