Omlet cube and run

[Stedic]

Hello all,

 

I've got my Eglu all set up and the girls have moved in, but I'm just wondering what the best ways to improve the fox defences of the run are. At the moment it is tent pegged to the ground (about 15 pegs all told) and is completely flat to the ground. As a temporary booster, I also placed 6 slabs around the run (two of which tuck under the bottom of the Eglu). There's no way a fox could lift the run with all these defences....is there?

 

With the anti-dig skirt, tent pegs and slabs is there still a significant risk that a fox could get in? When I'm off or on day shifts I can close the door at night - but if I'm on a night shift I'll have to leave it open overnight so I want everything to be as safe as possible.

 

I guess the ultimate solution is to slab the entire underside of the run and Eglu - but thats an awful lot of slabbing so I can't do that instantly. The ground that the Elgu is on is bare soil, but its clay soil that has been baked for the past few weeks so it'd be relatively hard to dig I think.

 

So, the main questions for you chicken keeping genuises are:

 

1) Is a fox likely to dig under the run as it is? If it is, do you think they'd do it in one night, or would I see warning signs first?

 

2) How can I stop this (or reduce the risk massively) quickly?

 

3) Do I need to slab all the way under the run, or is this overkill?

 

[Edit] And 4) If slabbing the run, do you need to do anything special to allow for a good depth of woodchip/aubiose on top like raising the edges?

 

Thanks all,

 

 

Steve

Edited May 25, 2010 by Guest

[Ain't Nobody Here]

When I had my eglu with the Omlet run, I had it on slabs but just under the skirt and the eglu. I used broken pieces of slab down one side, the other side was a path already. The eglu was completely on slabs with enough room to walk round the back.

[Olly]

Hello all,

 

There's no way a fox could lift the run with all these defences....is there?

Not unless it has a crowbar and engineering skills, in my opinion!

 

 

1) Is a fox likely to dig under the run as it is? If it is, do you think they'd do it in one night, or would I see warning signs first?

 

Foxes will dig to get to food, but they're not natural diggers like, say, badgers. They tend to dig straight down where they want to get to, so the run skirt should prevent that (they are not bright enough to step back and start digging at the edge of the skirt). I doubt if even a very determined fox would dig under in one night, especially on clay soil - you'd see warning signs. As far as I'm aware, foxes have only ever, very rarely, dug under the skirt on loose and sandy soil.

 

2) How can I stop this (or reduce the risk massively) quickly?

I think the slabs, tent-pegs etc that you've described above are probably enough to reduce the risk.

 

3) Do I need to slab all the way under the run, or is this overkill?

Some people do slab all the way under for ease of cleaning, but there's no need to do it for fox-proofing. If you do want to put slabs around under the edge eventually that would be enough.

 

And 4) If slabbing the run, do you need to do anything special to allow for a good depth of woodchip/aubiose on top like raising the edges?

You can use plastic lawn edging or similar to form a 'skirting' on the run, otherwise you'll have aubiose/woodchip kicked all over the surrounding area. You will still get it kicked everywhere, even with skirting, but not quite as much!

 

 

I have had an Eglu, then a second Eglu, then a Cube, and never did anything more than rest a paving slab on one area where the ground dipped a bit. I have always left the door open at night, and haven't had a problem, despite finding fox-prints on the Eglu. There are rare cases where hens have been attacked through the Eglu run mesh, but they are very rare and so if you do have to leave the door open, I wouldn't be too worried.

 

Enjoy your chickens!

[sandyhas3chucks]

on top of all that...

It is ever so easy (as you know) to shut the door and not asking huge difficult favours off neighbour or friends to just close the door for you, at say 9- 9.30?

Perhaps some eggs in exchange?

I am lucky have 2 neighbours happy to help out

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

/

Pehaps