Omlet Smart Autodoor - New in box

[dhbsurgery]

I am new to keeping Chikens and have 3 birds in an egglu on bark/wood. We have a fox at night and are therefore nervous to leave the chickens roaming the garden during the day and tend to keep them in the 3m run most of the time. This means they are on bark most of the time. Is this reasonable or should we either let them roam free and take the risk of a fox attack in the day, or move the run to grass. I want the birds to be as happy and free range as possible. thanks .

[zakjon-98]

Welcome to the forum Personally I would not let them out to free range when you are not there if there is a risk of foxes as once they know the chickens are there they will keep coming back. You could build them a walk in run or buy some electric fencing if you want to give them more space but if you want to put them on grass this would also be good as the scratching would keep them occupied but it depends so much you want your lawn! Hanging up a cabbage in the their run will also keep them occupied. Good luck

[chestnutmare]

I wouldn't leave the chickens out either, especially knowing there's a fox about. I'm sure the chickens will be happy with woodchip changed for fresh every now and then. You can feed greens if you'd like with cabbage, sprouts, brocolli etc. I've used a feed ball in the eglu run in the past (can be found in Omlet shop) which helps make the greens last longer.

[stu]

I have the same problem, in that I can only let the chickens out when am pottering outside, and they (4 of them) are in a cube with a 2M run. It's fixed in one spot, and I use wood chips (not bark, as bark can contain fungus). The cube also has a 3M 'wall' around it, to make digging harden for predators. The front of this lifts out to let the door open... (I should probably take a pic of this, to make more sense).

 

Thy are quite happy in there, make their dust bath under the cube, and I dose it with Smite. They have hung vegetables too.

 

Mine create all sorts of havoc when out, but they are quite entertaining to watch all the same, and I like them to stretch their legs when they can.

[heth1986]

Ditto to the above really, mine now only come out to FR when I am out with them, there've been far too many awful foxy tails on here for me to take the risk now.

 

Mine are on hardwood chip (started off as grass but I can assure you, that wont last long!) I throw veggies, dandelions etc in for mine and they seem perfectly hapy to stop in their WIR for the majority of the time.

[dhbsurgery]

Thank you all - seems a clear message - WIll keep them in the run unless we are with them. Thanks also for tips regarding veg etc to keep them amused. Just waiting for our first egg now !