Single hen

[rachelburdett20]

Hi

 

My names rachel and i am new on the omlet forum, although untill yesterday had been keeping chickens for 3 1/2 years.....we forgot to shut them up (as we have done a few times before) and the fox killed the lot, all 5 of them.

We live in a rural ish area (chalfonts in buckinghamshire) and have never had this happen before, i am now in a bit of a dilema as to what to do now.

We have lots of animals (20+) but the chickens were my mums little girls, the rest of the animals are mine and although she kina likes them the chickens were hers.

 

we had started keeping "pedigee" chickens so when we got some more i think that is what we will go for, we had a barnvelda, leghorn, speckled sussex and two hybrid brown hens.

 

we are rather worried about the fox getting any new chickens as the others free ranged all the time and were usually locked up at night, i have looked at some of the deterant thingys for foxes but they all seem to deter cats and rabbits to and as we have 5 rabbits and 3 cats that wouldent be sutiable!

 

our other problem is the breeder (the garden hen) is no longer breeding chickens so we are not sure where to look at getting some more

 

we do have an incubator we borrow from a friend that i have never tryed to used and was tempted to try and put some eggs in there. its a brinasea auto cradle one.

 

should they usually have some form of strap to hold the eggs in whilst it is turning cause this one dosent?

 

Also does anyone one forum sell fertile eggs or even week old chicks or even have any chciks looking for new homes i would rearly like a barnvellda again, and posibly a wellsummer and some sussex

 

sorry for the long post!

 

rachel

[Olly]

Hi Rachel, so sorry to hear about the loss of your chickens. It's sad but has happened to lots of people on this forum.

 

I can't give any advice on incubating or raising chicks, as I've never done this, but if you're going down this route, do think about what you will do with any male chicks. As you live in a rural area perhaps you would be able to keep a cockerel, but you're probably not going to want to keep all of the ones that hatch.

 

If you want a fox deterrent, then the Foxwatch works well in my opinion, and it doesn't bother my cat in the slightest - he doesn't react to it at all. However it is only a deterrent - I wouldn't rely on it totally.

 

I hope you're able to find some more chickens.

[Sandychick]

Sorry to hear about your hens. I have fortunatly not encountered a fox here but always act as if they are about anyway. I do have a plan B for if foxes become a problem. This is a good size walk in run and an area enclosed by electric fencing. This would give them less free ranging area but would keep them safe. Not a cheap option, but probably the safest.

 

I am also blessed with great neighbours who love the chickens. If anyone here sees any sign of a fox they will let me know - it's like neighbourhood watch for chickens!

[rachelburdett20]

Thanks for the replys

 

does anyone on here have hatching eggs / week old chicks / pol chicks for sale

 

I will show mum the fox watch thingy, i think she was going to invest in an light sensored pop hole thing so that if she forgot to shut it again it would do it for her

 

am more worried bout the fox coming back during the day now he knows there could be chickens and becuase of the rabbits, one of them has a heart murmer....dont think he could cope with the sight of a fox!

 

might give pest control a call see if i can get it shot or traped or something.......nearly mangaged to hit it will my car last night, but thought it was a cat so breaked rather than excelerating! I generally would never go out with the aim of killing any animal, but after seeing the state of my mum i would happly kill the fox

 

rachel

[Guest]

Have you seen hpops post? She has a couple of pure breds looking for a home.....

[Egluntyne]

Hello. Welcome aboard.

 

Sorry to hear about the fox incident.

 

This isn't the time of year to be thinking about hatching to b e honest. Best to wait till spring.

 

Why not google for hen breeders in your area and you might be able to find something to suit.

 

Good luck.

[Cinnamon]

Just wanted to welcome you - my Mum lives in Chalfont st Peter

[mostin]

We back on to fields so were worried about foxes and we have cats. We have the foxwatch plugged in all the time and so far so good . we have also tested it with our cats and it does not upset them.

 

So sorry to hear about your hens, but I think it is a bit cold for hatching chicks at this time of year.

 

If you get some POL birds you may even have eggs for christmas

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Sorry to hear about your poor girls . Good luck finding some new hens .

[quickcluck]

Hope things work out for you... another thumbs up for the foxwatch here, doens't bother cats, dogs or rabbits!!!!

[rachelburdett20]

ummmm.......this fox watch sounds like a good idea, tryed convincing dad he wanted to pee round the garden he wasnt convinced!!

 

will have a look at those hens but i had a thought yesterday when i went to look at some chickens who were living with gease.......would a huge goose deter a fox, or any other animal?? i have heard alpacas work quite well but we dont have that much space, how about pigs or goats with nice big horns!??

 

thanks again for replys

[..lay a little egg for me]

I would certainly recommend using electric poultry netting so they can free range in safety. Our local farm shop has a flock of about 70 black rocks who free-range behind the electric fence. The owner says the fox visits regularly but has never managed to cross the fence. We have 50m of netting for 4 chooks in our orchard so they have plenty of space but are safe. When we go out for the evening they can put themselves to bed and then we close the pop hole when we get home.

[rachelburdett20]

i dont think eletric fencing would work for us, we have a very mentaly challanged unagile cat and i can see him getting tangled in it may be considering a huge walk in run though

[Willow_Warren]

I'm sorry to hear about you chickens... what a shame.

 

I just wanted to say "hi" as I'm only just down the road from you (not a posh as the Chalfonts though ). Don't know what to advise regards to chicken breeders though, I got hybrids, have you tried looking at adverts in local farm shops etc. I went into Penn tack a few weeks ago and there were little adverts on the boards for about 4 different breeders with a variety of different breeds between them, (don't have the details anymore)

 

Hannah

[..lay a little egg for me]

As long as you leave the electric fencing on all the time, the cat won't get tangled in it because he will get a shock as soon as he touches it (give him a fright but no harm done); then he will just keep away from it. We have two cats that often call to me when I'm in the chicken run but never even come close to the fence. I'm sure that if the fence were not on all the time though, they would always be getting tangled in it!