Solitary chicken - need advice

[danb_1985]

I have some spare roof tiles in my garden about 4 inches wide. If I put them into the ground around run would that be deep enough to deter predators?

[gavclojak]

I am afraid the fox would just dig straight under that, they can dig incredibly deep in a matter of minutes. I have steel mesh dug round and bent inward like an L shape at around a depth of 8 inches with concrete paving slabs on top around the perimeter too....just in case!!!

[danb_1985]

Yikes?! Doubt I'll be able to go to that extreme without taking away some of my lawn?

[gavclojak]

I am a tad OTT...just in case watch a youtube clip of a fox digging under a fox coup...scary stuff

[danb_1985]

Do I dare?

[Alex_LJZ]

I dug vertically down about 400mm and burried some heavy duty mesh then clipped my normal run mesh to this. BUT I have easy digging soil. We get foxes in the garden most nights but interestingly there has never been any evidence of digging to test my construction.

 

Other options: put a floor in the run and make this fox proof. lay some wire mesh flay on the groud extending away from your run by 12" or so so a fox can't dig into the ground (like the fox proof skirt on an eglu run) and let grass grow through it. Cheap electric fence?

 

Partly it depends on the size of run and your aversion to risk.

 

My friend has lost 20 hens this year. first time he left a gate unlocked, second time the fox got through a 3" wide gap in the wire.