Omlet Smart Autodoor - New in box

[buvarka]

Should have mentioned that we do have a Foxwatch but after the attack we discovered that the battery had run out. Also the eglu and run are on a large slabbed area.

 

Hi, do you think the Foxwatch did deter foxes before the battery did run out?

 

I ordered the eglu just a week ago, hopefully will arrive soon and I really don't want to temp fate, as we have a lot of foxes around. The previous owner of the house did feed them in the kitchen, they used to get into the house long after we moved in. They are less confident now, but they took our guinea pigs last summer (entirely our fault, the run was not safe, but we postponed to fix it until too late) and we can see them any time of the day.

 

My question is, that would a wire mesh under the eglu and the run hurt the chickens' feet? The coop and the run will be placed on the grass, but reading these 20+ pages off horror about very inventive foxes makes me think that if I want to keep them alive, I have to go for extreme measures, the simple skirt of the run might be not enough.

Should we put some bark chip on the grass too?

 

I didn't find any other forum about these basic questions for novices, so I ask here, any help would be appreciated, thanks

[Daphne]

Wire mesh won't hurt their feet - and well done to you for taking it so seriously If you plan on moving the eglu/run around then I wouldn't put bark chips down; it'll just look a mess when you move it on. I'm not sure if the Foxwatch deterred them; I certainly wouldn't rely on it. They are pretty determined and you've obviously inherited very bold foxes.

[buvarka]

Thanks, really helpful, I'm happy if I can do it simpler, no bark then . I was thinking to move it around until the back of the garden is sorted (and our finances), where they will have a fixed WIR (again with the wire mesh under it). How often should I move it? How much time to move it? I guess we have to take apart the house from the run?

[Daphne]

Assuming you have 2 people, moving an Eglu & run (even with an extension) takes about, oh, um, 5 seconds

You don't have to take it apart. Put the strongest person at the house end. We do ours whenever the grass is looking ropey - between 10 days and 3 weeks depending on time of year. Sometimes I just leave it in situ for ages and reseed if its Spring or Autumn. However, I am not 'garden proud' - we have grass not a lawn. If you have a neater garden then I should think weekly would do it. If you go round and pull the skirt up from any overgrowing grass before lifting (on my count 1,2,3...!) that will make life easier. The only complicating factor might be the mesh underneath -is that going to be strongly attached to the sides of the run? You don't want the grass growing over it and anchoring the floor to the ground as you can't easily get in and unanchor it - so perhaps weekly will be your answer.

[Henchanted]

Hi buvarka

 

I think there are as many run/housing weak points as there are chicken houses but from my experience here is a list of what I do to minimize risk of fox intrusion into my eglu classics on grass/soil set up.

 

A) I recheck the run doors and eglu port hole are shut when I think they are, ie at night and when I am not free-ranging (basically when I am not in the garden for a decent time) it may sound obvious but I have had the odd accident though thankfully when Mrs Fox wasn't watching

 

B) I have reinforced the joins between the run panels with thick garden wire weaved up the sides and paying particular attention to the top where 4 panels corners come together, as although the omlet clips are great for bringing things together, I am not confident that they cannot give way under the weight of a determined fox climbing onto the run. I do not take the run apart, if I need to more anything I separate the eglus from the runs as mine are 3 and 4 metres, but I know that you can move/drag the whole lot by lifting the run end after you have emptied everything out first (ie grub/glug etc)

 

C) I have extended the run skirts with the addition of those, green plastic-covered wire, flower border fence panels that have extended the skirts to over 1 foot, making it even more difficult to dig under, though not impossible in the wet particularly. I did consider the wire floor option but decided that it might affect their ability to scratch about.

 

D) As we have uneven ground, for super safety, I use those lovely screw pegs that do work well, but often need the help from a watering can to get screws in or out from dry/parched clay soil. I cannot be bothered to move my set-ups regularly and use the screws, so I have opted to having 'screwed-in' semi-static runs. As I do not move the eglus around I have cut out access ports in some run panels so that I can poo- pick and rake out messy (and refresh) flooring as necessary.

 

Also, I have not been closing the eglu doors at night, (although others swear by it) since the clocks went forward and I know it is a calculated risk, that is worth taking for me (though my OH disagrees, though he doen't look after the hens)

 

Hope that helps, good luck

[Al]

Should have mentioned that we do have a Foxwatch but after the attack we discovered that the battery had run out. Also the eglu and run are on a large slabbed area.

 

Hi, do you think the Foxwatch did deter foxes before the battery did run out?

 

No I don't. When I saw a fox in the garden at night months before the attack the foxwatch was working. And since the attack I have replaced the battery and tested the foxwatch but our neighbour told us the fox still comes into our garden early every morning.

[buvarka]

Assuming you have 2 people, moving an Eglu & run (even with an extension) takes about, oh, um, 5 seconds

You don't have to take it apart. Put the strongest person at the house end. We do ours whenever the grass is looking ropey - between 10 days and 3 weeks depending on time of year. Sometimes I just leave it in situ for ages and reseed if its Spring or Autumn. However, I am not 'garden proud' - we have grass not a lawn. If you have a neater garden then I should think weekly would do it. If you go round and pull the skirt up from any overgrowing grass before lifting (on my count 1,2,3...!) that will make life easier. The only complicating factor might be the mesh underneath -is that going to be strongly attached to the sides of the run? You don't want the grass growing over it and anchoring the floor to the ground as you can't easily get in and unanchor it - so perhaps weekly will be your answer.

Oh, we are not garden proud at all, now the chicken finally arrived spend more time in it, otherwise is just the kid (with friends) playing.

We got the eglu and hens last Wednesday, is just brilliant. The run seemed to be so secure, we didn't bother put mesh under it, I hope we won't regret later.

We put the run on the grass then moved the whole thing today because seemed a lot of poo around, I was just sorry for the ladies to have to walk in it, although my hubby said they don't mind. Probably, when we will be less keen around them (at the moment is every woken and free minute we spend with them ), will move it weekly.

They dig a big hole in the ground, I think there was a tree stump there and rotted away, now there is a massive crate, they loved to sit in it all three of them

 

And the strangest thing, but we didn't see any trace of a fox for the last week, the chickens scared them off :PPP.

But other than this, they didn't make any damage, I thought it will be much worse.