Chicken boarders

[LittleOwl]

I know there is probably an answer to this already here, but as I can't find it I knew you lovely people wouldn't mind if I asked! And I do apologise for the very long post!

 

We have had our very first chooks since early December - 6 lovely girls and Rico the cockerel. They are a happy bunch and live in a cube quite happily, and are now at the stage where they free range in our paddock from about 10:30 am only when we are home (I work from home, and get any shopping trips etc out of the way first thing in the morning so they aren't in there too long!). They are never allowed to FR when we are out (but as we hardly ever go anywhere that soesn't mean much ). We have a straightforward mobile 50m netted run ordered from here that they happily go into with the help of some corn before dusk, and are happy to stay in there till bedtime - it's not secure by any means but it does mean they are all in one place and we can see them easily from our kitchen window as it's getting on to dusk. We live in quite a rural area and the gamekeeper had said he had "got rid" of the foxes 18 months ago - true to form we hadn't seen or heard any, but a few weeks back we saw two in 3 days. We assumed they were passing through.

 

This morning at 4:30 we heard a fox doing that chilling screaming noise close to the house - the other side of the house to the chooks, but in the woods that back onto our place. It was so loud that it woke us all up and the dogs went ballistic. I have no idea if it has taken up residence, but it would be prime land for it So, only supervised free ranging for a bit I think unfortunately.

 

My question is, is there a type of safe WIR that doesn't need to be put on a solid base, or can be moved on a regular basis to a new patch of grass? If so, is this something that can be built by ourselves? Our problem is that we rent this place and although we will probably be here for another 18 months before we move we can't change any of the basic stuff, like laying a base for a run. It's so frustrating as we have nearly 4 acres of paddock here, and they all love rooting around so much and it feels bad to limit them, but this has made me think that I shouldn't be taking the chance at all. At least if the WIR could be moved weekly like the cube then they would get some fresh grass as it's floor every week. Any advice would be greatly appreciated, either about what to do about the WIR and/or the girls free-ranging activities

[Falkor]

How about Herras Fencing panels?

 

My little brother uses them for his geese with predator netting cable tied onto the top frame.

 

They are fairly heavy so would probably take two of you to lift and move each section.

 

I think Mostin's WIR is made from these panels although her run is static.

[Eggasperated]

Perhaps the best bet would be to electrify the netting.