hasnett Posted June 12, 2007 Share Posted June 12, 2007 Hi Everyone, We really want to get a couple of chickens - is 2 enough or should we get 3 - will they be happier in a trio? We have a long thin garden so there will be planty of room for them to free range, but only when we are there as our neighbour has told us there is a fox about which is quite tame. Should we risk chickens knowing that there is one in the area? We will be taking extra precutions by nailing the pen down and weighting it on all sides. With this in mind can anyone recomend a breed that will be happy in the pen for most of the day - my husbnad works most mornings but is home every afternoon. What about rescue hens? is it hard to rehabilitate them? Will they eat eveything in my garden? Do i need to fence off the herbs aswell as the vegetable plot? So many questions but i want to make sure we are well prepared to give the hens the best possible home! Thanks in advance! sxx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom and Barbara Posted June 12, 2007 Share Posted June 12, 2007 (edited) 2 would be fine but you'll be lucky if you manage to stop there as long as you shut the chooks in securely at night that's all you can really do on the fox front. If they free range during the day, just be around to hear for the 'help' squawks. Your plants will get nipped, so where you can put up a bit of a barrier around veg etc edit: sorry i should have said that rehoming battery hens is always a fab idea, we're hoping to do that very soon Edited June 12, 2007 by Guest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craftyhunnypie Posted June 12, 2007 Share Posted June 12, 2007 The Omlet Hens are excellent pets, easy to look after. For a piece of mind I would be tempted to keep them in the run at all times, maybe get a run extension too. Or just let them out for an hour each day when you are totally in the garden next to them, so as if you sense a fox, you can scoop them up quick & shut them in their run. Paving slabs work well, with hemcore / easybed scattered over the top. I wouldn't just put the eglu & run on grass & foxes are good diggers. I would definitely say get hybrids, mainly because if you shell out for rare breeds and a fox gets them, that would be a lot of money spent on Mr . Foxes dinner. I'd recommend 3 hens or 4 if you get the extension bit for the run, never just 2 - as if one dies, the one left would not be lonely or bored. 3 or 4 are more fun & more eggs! Good luck. Emma.x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom and Barbara Posted June 12, 2007 Share Posted June 12, 2007 We've done the same Emma - slabs around the perimeter as extra digging deterrent for Mr Fox - and good point about the hybrids Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovemychooks Posted June 12, 2007 Share Posted June 12, 2007 I would highly recommend getting ex-battery hens, they are so docile and placid and very funny too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted June 12, 2007 Share Posted June 12, 2007 Bantams! Lively, funnny, tame and you can fit more in...... Need I say more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gallina Posted June 12, 2007 Share Posted June 12, 2007 I would recommend three hybrids: this will provide a pair and a spare, and extra eggs for very little extra cost. Do NOT get large hens: the Eglu and run are not big enough. Hybrids are very small and light and don't looked cramped. If you can't let them out much, consider adding a a convertor and maybe a straight extension after that. But you can try them in just an Eglu and run first: they will be quite small and timid when they arrive, and it will be plenty big enough for them. As you have foxes around, never let your hens out alone in the garden, even for a minute. But do enjoy having them out with you when you are around. And do shut them in at night, because if they are out and about alone at dawn, the fox will terrorize them. Locked in the Eglu they are perfectly safe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hasnett Posted June 12, 2007 Author Share Posted June 12, 2007 Thank you so much everyone! I'm not quite sure what you mean by paving slabs around the edge though do you concrete them in? Do you mean paving slabs all over? sx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zircon Posted June 12, 2007 Share Posted June 12, 2007 Get as many as you can ! I got 2, thinking that would be more than enough....but they are so lovely to have we have added 2 babies just 4 weeks after becoming hen watchers..this was more trouble than I envisaged but things are settling down now that they are in separate "hotels". I will get rescue hens next time as I wanted a bit of experience before I took on the job of helping recoving hens, but I am not sure experience is needed as my girls really look after themselves. So from me...........get 4 from the start. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hasnett Posted June 12, 2007 Author Share Posted June 12, 2007 I would recommend three hybrids: this will provide a pair and a spare, and extra eggs for very little extra cost. Do NOT get large hens: the Eglu and run are not big enough. Hybrids are very small and light and don't looked cramped. If you can't let them out much, consider adding a a convertor and maybe a straight extension after that. But you can try them in just an Eglu and run first: they will be quite small and timid when they arrive, and it will be plenty big enough for them. As you have foxes around, never let your hens out alone in the garden, even for a minute. But do enjoy having them out with you when you are around. And do shut them in at night, because if they are out and about alone at dawn, the fox will terrorize them. Locked in the Eglu they are perfectly safe. Just looked at your album - i love your chicken area - i think we'll try to recreate something like it. I'm still unsure of paving slabs bit though should we slab the whole area and then cover it in wood chippings for an extra precaution? sxx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom and Barbara Posted June 12, 2007 Share Posted June 12, 2007 we've put a row of slabs along the perimeter inside and out, just placed, not cemented, just to make it harder work for the fox - we don't use the omlet run though we've a much larger custom built one. I'm not sure what those with Omlet runs have done, but certainly a row around the outside will be an extra deterrent for the fox Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gallina Posted June 12, 2007 Share Posted June 12, 2007 It's a good idea to put something heavy around the skirt to weigh it down, and some people use small paving slabs. Other people put slabs under the skirt instead, and these can go a little way into the run. I don't think putting slabs right through the run is fair to chickens if they are kept in most of the time: they love scratching the soil. I use large and heavy potted plants to weigh down the skirt on the outside, and some heavy engineering bricks on the side that runs alongside the fence as it doesn't show and it's too narrow to do anything else. If you don't weigh the skirt down and your ground is uneven, a small opening may gape and a fox may spot an opportunity. Some people use run pegs, but my soil is so light (like sand) that they can be pulled straight out again. They are good if you have heavy soil. All this points to a permanent run, rather than one that can be moved around. But I think that most people soon find that unless you have a lawn the size of a field, moving the Eglu around just isn't practicable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom and Barbara Posted June 12, 2007 Share Posted June 12, 2007 I don't think putting slabs right through the run is fair to chickens if they are kept in most of the time: they love scratching the soil. . this is why i said we only have a row inside because we have a much larger run, it's hardly a blip on the scratching space Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hasnett Posted June 12, 2007 Author Share Posted June 12, 2007 Thanks so much that is all such a great help. we will eventually build a larger run however the chickens will get full run of the garden every afternoon. sx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Posted June 12, 2007 Share Posted June 12, 2007 At the risk of setting off a load of personal comments I have to say that there are of course the traditional ways of keeping the fox at bay. Humans being an odiferous species (at least to animals), things that smell of human will deter foxes, who have a keen sence of smell. Traditionally small muslin bags of human hair, hung round the run, were thought to ward off Mr Fox. The other thing that is supposed to keep him away is the smell of male urine - so your husband might be able to help out in that department, perhaps before he goes off to work in the morning. Please ensure that the neighbours can't see! By the way, can I make a stand for big hens as I prefer them to bantams. They are more docile, not so active and not so aggressive. Also they tend not to fly as much - in fact if you get Cochins they are unlikely to fly at all. Bigger hens will also stand up to other animals. My Georgie would see off our Wire Haired Fox Terrier - she was terrified of the hens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted June 12, 2007 Share Posted June 12, 2007 My Eglus are on slabs, with loose boulders holding the "skirt" down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hen Watch Posted June 12, 2007 Share Posted June 12, 2007 I would echo others on here, definitely 3+ chickens. Definitely some netting and posts around your veg bed to start. Once you've got them and they've settled in you can decide what you want to fence in (more bits of your garden or the chooks in a permanent area). My lot eat everything.....strawberry plants (leaves and fruit) and the lobeilia are a particular favourite. But lots they just peck at and ignore. Grass takes a hammering just where my chooks chuck their pellets out of the feeder and then scratch them out of the grass. So I move the eglu every few days. I've got medium sized hybrids (3 from Omlet plus 1 other) and they all live happily in my eglu. I do have a run converter for extra space which I ordered a few weeks after my eglu/standard run arrived. So you can always buy extra bits from Omlet shop once you know how it's panning out. PS. Don't be put off getting chooks by what I said about my garden. They do eat everything but it's not as bad as you think and chooks are great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly Posted June 12, 2007 Share Posted June 12, 2007 Just have to add my bit - definitely 3 (at least) That's my only regret - three is no more work than two, and if the worst happens you won't be left with a lonely chook. My Eglu and run was on grass (for about 24 hours!) and is now on earth with hemcore over the top - I don't use paving slabs, but I do use tent-pegs to pin the skirt down. I don't worry about the fox digging in, the skirt is designed to prevent that as long as it's on firm and level ground - but if they are out of the run, I don't let them out of my sight, after a couple of narrow escapes. Don't take any risks where Mr Fox is concerned! I recommend the Omlet netting, expensive but it means you can vary the free-ranging area, or protect your veggie patch; however your girls will be fine in the run all the time, if they have to be. You will love having chickens, go for it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gallina Posted June 13, 2007 Share Posted June 13, 2007 Richard recommends big hens and I agree that they are lovely. But they are not suitable for the Mark 2 Eglu. I used to have two big hens and two Omlet hens in my Eglu, and it didn't work very well. The Cochin (who looks as though she has three other hens' overcoats on) used to fill the whole of the sleeping space when she lay down. And the poor Wyandotte didn't have room to flap her wings in the run. As for foxes, I wouldn't rely on folk remedies. I don't think that the ones I have met in my garden would have been put off by hair or urine: they were mean and nasty, and completely fearless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Posted June 13, 2007 Share Posted June 13, 2007 Hi I must just be lucky then. My neighbour has had foxes that have taken her hens, but I've escaped a visit! And there was me thinking it was down to my folk remedies - and I really don't have enough hair left to spare any more round the run! However you decide to keep the foxes away, I hope it is successful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gallina Posted June 13, 2007 Share Posted June 13, 2007 I expect you have country foxes in Norfolk, and they know the rules. Urban foxes are dreadful, and don't run away when you come into the garden, but look at you defiantly. You will love your Cochins. They are my favourite hen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eggheads Posted June 13, 2007 Share Posted June 13, 2007 A week after we had our Eglu & chickens delivered we came down on a Saturday morning to find a fox laying next to the Eglu. Given the paw prints & scuff marks he'd had obviously climbed all over it and had eventually given up and was just waiting outside. There was no evidence at all of him trying to dig into the run - whether or not this shows that the skirt works I don't know as he may not have tried as the chickens were shut away safely for the night. I had fully expected him to come back but having cleaned the mud off the eglu there has been no further evidence at all of any more nocturnal visits. Of course, I'm not taking any chances and only let the girls free range when we're out and about in the garden. I think that whether or not you know there is a fox in the area you need to take the same precautions but I certainly wouldn't be put off having chickens knowing that there is one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Posted June 14, 2007 Share Posted June 14, 2007 what a friend of mine down the road did have, which killed three of her hens (bantams) was a mink. They are really nasty things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
