Willow Posted April 29, 2008 Share Posted April 29, 2008 I know it needs to be male wee - does it need to be adult urine or will pre-teen boy urine work as well ? (It's much easier to persuade small boys to wee into a bucket for the sake of the chickens ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clucking mad Posted April 29, 2008 Share Posted April 29, 2008 just do and wait for results. whats the worst that could happen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Posted April 29, 2008 Share Posted April 29, 2008 just do and wait for results.whats the worst that could happen Think that I'd want to know before a fox arrives Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MedusA Posted April 29, 2008 Share Posted April 29, 2008 I'm only guessing, but I think the boy would need to have reached puberty, as it's the Testosterone that's the deterrent. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol U Posted April 29, 2008 Share Posted April 29, 2008 I think any strong human smell is better than nothing. Go for it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted April 29, 2008 Share Posted April 29, 2008 It is adult male urine that does the trick. It is not 100% reliable as a deterrent. Please don't rely on it totally. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WitchHazel Posted April 29, 2008 Share Posted April 29, 2008 But prepubescent male urine is best for activating your compost. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ziggy Posted April 29, 2008 Share Posted April 29, 2008 I seem to remember reading on here once that it had to be meat-eater male urine too, not vegetarian male urine... not a problem if the family is not vegetarian, but no point sending my hubby around the garden... I wonder what that is... would it signal the presence of another 'predator', whereas veggie urine signals the presence of potential prey?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willow Posted April 29, 2008 Author Share Posted April 29, 2008 wow it is more complicated than I thought. Thanks eveyone No I won't be relying on that as a deterent but do want to put in palce anything I can. I was woken by lots of clucking at 5am this morning and when I went out the girls were in the run and quite disturbed. Cover had bite marks on it. I'll close the eglu door at night for a while Longer term I'll have a permanent large enclosure but that is a future project.so weeing on the garden is the cheapest and keeping them in the eglu run are the easiest to put in place immediately. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gallina Posted April 30, 2008 Share Posted April 30, 2008 Patricia: if a fox is hanging around the run before anyone is up, you must close your eglu every night. The fox will lie on top of the run cover where the hens can't see him and will soon swipe one through the bars. This happened to me when I was too complacent. If the fox has already been visiting, I doubt whether urine will put it off. Me standing in the garden talking to my neighbour over the fence one day didn't put a fox off stalking my hens about ten feet away, but luckily I sensed something behind me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willow Posted April 30, 2008 Author Share Posted April 30, 2008 Hi Gallina, This was the first time a fox has visited and I've had the chickens just over a year. I will be closing them up every night from now. We used to have a fox that came into the garden several years ago and we and our neighbours had noticed he'd gone about 2 years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phosphorus Posted April 30, 2008 Share Posted April 30, 2008 But prepubescent male urine is best for activating your compost. Brilliant my potty training 3 year old had an accident in the run yesterday - mostly soggy trousers but nice to know it might help the aubiose when it makes it to the composter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
