Mary Ann Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 Six weeks ago I agreed to take my neighbor's two girls, Ginger and Mary Ann, before she moved out of the country. She got her eglu and hens from Omlet a couple of years ago. So far, the two have offered hours of amusement. However, I often need to travel, spending a night away from home one or two nights per week. My neighbor assured me that the chickens would be fine if I left enough food and water, and the girls would easily fit into my lifestyle. The problem, however, is a local neighborhood fox (my new nemesis). I have a foxwatch that I move around the eglu, as directed by the instructions. Yesterday the fox got close to digging into the eglu while I was at work. This morning, he/she has been in my garden twice since 0430. My girls are fine, although a little shaken up. However, I'm terrified that something will happen to them when I'm not home. I do work everyday, and there are a couple nights per week that I can't look them up in the cube at night. Although I adore them, I don't think I can keep them safe. I'm a neewbie to hen keeping and don't know of any adoption resources. Can anyone shed any light on what to do when you need to rehome? Thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 Mary Ann, is there anything you can do to secure the Eglu run, i.e. putting it on slabs or weighting down the skirt with sleepers or log-roll? I often leave my hens overnight, it was part of my research before I got them because I have to travel away overnight with work sometimes, and mine are fine. If you do want to rehome your girls, then you can post in 'Free to a Good Home', and/or post the Eglu in 'For Sale', but it seems a shame if you are really enjoying the chickens, and I wonder if there's another solution that might enable you to keep them. Are you sure your Foxwatch is working? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LJ's Chooks Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 In theory they should not be able to dig into the eglu, as they can only dig under and not tunnel.... Hence the eglu having the skirt on the cage to prevent this. However, if you are worried by this, then I would recomend either putting the eglu on slabs or putting slabs or sleepers around the skirt to weight it down. They should be safe... Fingers crossed! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janty Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 I had railway sleepers around the edge of my runs on top of the skirt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-sarahjayne Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 Sorry I can't offer much good advice as I don't have an eglu, I have a bog standard wooden house (was sure it was the better option at the time) You could try putting some old bricks down on the skirt part of the run? And keep the door closed to the eglu at night. Or if you do decide to rehome, I wish you the best of luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandyhas3chucks Posted July 22, 2009 Share Posted July 22, 2009 seems the digging might happen just under the Eglu itself. Easy solution wicks and all of my garden centers sell squares of weldmesh. for approx £5, 2 should be plenty, under the door bit. fox watch has 2 year warranty, I bought one earlier thus year & was unsure it was working as sooo many dogs were unaffected & I could hear it. The company I bought ot from said it was fine but when I meant to manufacturers website it all seemed wrong, so I rag them. Sent it back and now have a replacemen that I cannot hear, though all the dogs are still unaffected, SO still not sure about the whole concept. Bur I have got 2 as got long garden, but it is still supervised free ranging. mains connected on 24/7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
