Locking Bar Eglu Classic

[Eyren]

If you're out in the country, you will probably have a lot less trouble with foxes than our city friends. I live on the very edge of Cambridge, just over the road from a farm, and I've never seen a fox in the vicinity - I reckon they are too busy stuffing themselves on the gazillions of rabbits

 

That said, I normally only let my girls free-range when I'm at home, so that I can keep an ear out - my Wyandotte starts up her "bwark-bok-bok-bok" at the slightest disturbance! The chickens are perfectly happy in the run the rest of the time - TBH it's better all round for them to be safe than to have unlimited free-ranging.

 

I would guess that hardly anyone here leaves their hens to free-range completely unsupervised - the ones who have foxwatches, electric fencing, etc, are the ones whose local urban foxes are so used to humans that they will come into gardens in broad daylight.

[Guest]

Well here in the country we are strengthening our defences after our fox attack this week. I've blocked off the spot he came in through (didn't come over there was a gap in the corner between 2 fences). Mum is also going to get the handyman to put a chickenwire barrier up around the top of ALL the fences - thats a lot of fences. There is NOTHING the other side of any of the fences a fox can use to jump on but we are going to make double certain now.

 

Why he wasn't satisfied with the gazillions of rabbits I don't know.

[Clive D]

A guy at my allotments constructed a chicken run with metal mesh fence panels, he buried the bottom to prevent digging underneath and he covered the top with plastic bird netting. He put his 12 hens into it and a couple of nights later a fox went through the netting and killed all the chickens.

ALWAYS cover the top of runs with chicken wire!