4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[debbieroach]

I have to stay away just for a night this weekend and since we got our 4 lovely girls 6 months ago, we religiously open and close the door to the coup morning and night because we do have foxes in our area. Do you think they be safe for one night with the door open to the run...?

[Guest]

i wouldn't like to say as i can't see your set up, is it an eglu with a run? if so, i wouldn't risk it as a few people on here have reported their hens being got at thru the bars of the run. do you have a neighbour who can open it for you in the morning? or, can you cover the run in something? ANH has hers covered in corrugated plastic which would help protect them a bit more.

 

V, you got a photo you can post to show what I mean?

 

still risky though.

 

try some fox detterent stuff round the place too; male urine or some of the products available in garden centres might work?

[debbieroach]

Thank you, yes it's an Eglu Cube with a 3mt run. I did order a scarecrow, a water jet intruder alarm thing that would hopefully fire water at anything that moves overnight, but it has not arrived in time. OK, maybe this once I will ask the lady next door if she wouldn't mind closing and opening for us.

 

Many thanks, reassured me that they might be venerable overnight. So I won't risk it now...

[WitchHazel]

Debbie, if it's a cube not an Eglu, and you have the Cube run, then you will probably be OK.

 

The problem Poet was referring to is with the normal Eglu. It's been reported that sometimes a fox will lie on top of the run, and then may be able to reach the girls if they get close to the edge of the run. With the Cube, the run is much higher so the fox can't reach.

 

Hope that helps.

[debbieroach]

Brilliant, many thanks, I think I will do a test run night and sleep with the window open so I can hear if the girls let out any warnings at all and I will get my husband to urinate all around the edge of the garden a few time before then too.

 

Many thanks for your advise.

 

Regards

 

Debbie

[TAJ]

I am not sure who started this advice about cubes being safe and eglu's not with the door open. Omlet advice is you could happily leave chickens for the weekend. Many people with Eglu's on the forum leave the eglu door into the run open every night. I am not convinced by the argument about a fox being able to get a chicken from sitting on top of the run - my chickens only standard halfway up the height of the run, so there is no way a lucky fox might get them from the top.

 

There is a theoretical risk, if a chicken was standing close to the edge a fox could sneak up at ground level and grab any part sticking out (I recall someone thought this is how their chicken lost their foot a few month back on here). At ground level surely the risk is the same between both a cube and an eglu?

 

I left the eglu door open for a couple of nights whilst I was home, so I could check all was OK before we left them for a weekend, but now the Eglu door is left open all the time - though I have never seen a fox in the garden. I also make sure the Omlet netting is up around the Eglu, so anything getting into the garden would have to get past that barrier as well.

 

Tracy

Edited May 2, 2008 by Guest

[debbieroach]

Thank you so much, I feel so much better now and I will try that out and I do have netting so I will create another barrier around the run as you mentioned.. Excellent idea!

 

Thank you.

Debs

[nursechick]

We have an Eglu with the standard run and have left the Eglu door open every night now since we went away for the weekend in March.We make sure the run is pegged down and put some bricks around the edge.Crossed fingers no problems up to now.I was concerned but experienced Omleteers here put my mind at rest.

[jomaxsmith]

I leave the eglu door open every night now the nights are warmer.

 

I do ask my neighbour to pop her head round to check they have enough food and collect any eggs if we're away overnight though.

 

Actually, we're away tomorrow night but I've been shouting at the boys so much this week I'm too to face the neighbour so they will have to fend for themselves this weekend. TBH, they've spilt enough mash to keep going to days on end without me refilling the grub!

 

 

Jo

[Gallina]

There are several of us who have lost a hen or who have had a hen mauled while it was shut in the Eglu run; this hasn't happened with a Cube yet.

 

In my case my nextdoor neighbour saw it happen, but couldn't stop it. I had a fox which used to lie on top of the run during the day.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Sorry, I've only just come across this post . Bit late in the day, but as Poet says, the corrugated plastic could help if any of you were worried about an eglu run.

 

Photo as requested (any excuse to show off my corrugated plastic ).

 

[Olly]

Gosh, corrugated plastic ANH? I never knew that ...

 

I'm a 'door open all the time' person - as long as your Cube run is on fairly level ground, i.e. nothing can get under the edges of the skirt, then I think you'd be fine for a weekend.

 

I am often away overnight, and one of the attractions of the Eglu for me was exactly this - that you could leave chickens overnight without worrying about them.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Gosh, corrugated plastic ANH? I never knew that ...

Didn't you, Olly . Perhaps I should PM you with all the latest photos of my corrugated plastic covered run and a detailed description of how to fit it . Huh, tease me all you like, my girls' run is bone dry .

[Stevie]

I've left the Eglu door open again for the second night running,but whether you should do same is a personal choice and also how secure your garden is.Mine is pretty safe from predatory attack cause of high fences so provided they cannot get out of the Eglu's run-im happy.

[FruitandNutCake]

Foxes can get at animals through the mesh at a lower level. i had a 6ft high walk in run many years ago. It was made of weld mesh - the mesh buried deep in the ground to prevent digging. The Fox killed my guinea pig by chewing it through the mesh at ground level!

 

Yu would think animals/chickens would move away from the edge when fox is present - but they don't!

 

Learning from sad experience, my 6ft high walk in run now has two layers of weld mesh 1 inch apart around the bottom. With a weld mesh and corrugated plastic roof. Where the run isn't surrounded by concrete, the weld mesh (two layers 1 inch apart) are buried well below ground.

 

Personally, I've lost too many pets in the past to take a risk now.

 

But for one evening - you could be OK.

[FruitandNutCake]

Mine is pretty safe from predatory attack cause of high fences

 

I understand foxes can easily get over 10 ft fences. Which is why so many chickens are lost unexpectedly to foxes while freeranging in a garden with high fences. And during daytime too.

[Gallina]

Sorry, that corrugated plastic wouldn't have stopped my hen being killed: it happened at a very low level.

 

And as it is see-through, the hens would see the fox lying on top of them for hours at a time -- that would be like something from a horror film.

 

I don't want to frighten people off the Eglu and run, but if you have a serious fox problem in your garden, then the Cube is so very much safer. This is partly why I am replacing my Eglu with a second Cube,