How can I find my old pictures?

[LarissaB]

Hi, 

I’m all so new to this! First time I’ve ever had chickens. Any advise would be great. I have a Eglu coop located on my allotment patch. Additionally, I brought an extra 1 meter run. I’m unsure if there are any foxes over the allotment at night. Would people recommend closing the coop door at night and locking the chickens in for their protection? Can foxes dig under the run and up to get inside of the run to then potentially get my chickens? The run has been as well as I can secured down with tent pegs and loads of soil on the top of the arm of the run. I’m after any advice thank you. 

[Cat tails]

They should be fine. Locking them in is no problem, but no requirement either. As extra security measures, you can weigh down the skirt of the run with big logs or paving stones.

Make sure you always close the run correctly and the coop hatches as well.

Soooo... what kind of eglu do you have and more importantly, what kind of chickens?!

[LarissaB]

I haven’t thought of logs!! I just dont know how clever these foxes can be. I just don’t want my poor chickens eaten!!! Can they really dig down, along and up? 

I brought an eglu go but it lays the soil, it’s not a go up version yet! I have no idea of the brand of chickens I owe.  I have two with feathers which cover their feet, one grey and one black. I’ll try and attach a photograph  

 

I have got a fence too so when they are a little bit bigger they can roam when I at the allotment in the day. Any suggestions on when they will be ok to have their feathers cut to they don’t fly away and eat someone veggie patch!

Any advise would be appreciated!!

[AndyRoo]

I LOVE your allotment. I want one so badly, but the waiting list round here is ridiculous!!

As above: make sure you've got the fox proof skirting down, and then put some heavy stones on that - it should do the trick. I do the same even though mine is on patio too. I've read a few times that foxes only dig right up close to the thing they're trying to get into (hence the skirting); if they can't get through that then they give up.

I also keep an *****nal of other anti-fox devices: scent repellent, and some battery powered sonic devices. Not 100% sure if they work, but I'm yet to see a fox in the garden since putting them in there... for £20 I figure it was worth it, and it's certainly not doing any harm.

I love your girls! They look quite young, how old are they?

[Cat tails]

Lovely cheepers! Look around 8 weekish? Clipping wings is easy. Just remember only doing one wing. Found it easiest done with a pair of nail clippers for cats. Fit nicely over the feathers. Normal scissors slip on the round pens of the feathers.

Regarding roaming the allotment: foxes also visit during the day and chickens eat everything and anything. 

Regarding the Go: if you want it to go Up, you need a different run as well.

the biggest problem I had was the chickens digging out rather than things finding their way in. Mine are on earth as well, but my dad dug some paving stones in, with gaps in between and filled it back up. Now they can’t dig their way to China anymore!

[grahamrhind]

Just a word of warning - depending on your chickens, even with clipped wings, a determined hen could be over your fence with no problem at all.  I have one with a clipped wing that treats a 1.5 metre high fence with disdain and climbs/flutters over it with ease, whilst the other two don't bother. I let mine roam around my vegetable garden but that only works when the plants growing there are mature and they have lots of other food sources so that the hens don't feel the urge to eat everything they see.

Like the others said, nice setup!

Edited June 19, 2018 by grahamrhind

[Patricia W]

I too have a chicken that can fly no matter what I do.  She’s a very light ( as in weight) Polish bantam.   I’m happy to have fly in the garden, unfortunately, she has taken to flying over the fence into neighbours gardens!  After the last time which entailed chasing her round for 2 hours, she is banned from free ranging.  

Your set up is lovely.  I’d put paving slabs on the run skirts and round the coop.  Foxes and rats do dig very well.  Don’t know about the Go run, but rats can certainly get through the bars of the WIR and cube.  I’d take the food and water in at night. 

[Lewis]

The one lying in the nestbox is a Cream Legbar who will lay blue eggs, can't quite tell what the others are yet, possibly a Brahma?

If the soil is quite loose on the allotment I'd be tempted to put slabs around the run or cover it as you have done. Our walk in run is on a solid concrete base so we leave the chickens out overnight but lots of people do close theirs in overnight.

[Pip4set]

On 18/06/2018 at 9:43 PM, LarissaB said:

Hi, 

I’m all so new to this! First time I’ve ever had chickens. Any advise would be great. I have a Eglu coop located on my allotment patch. Additionally, I brought an extra 1 meter run. I’m unsure if there are any foxes over the allotment at night. Would people recommend closing the coop door at night and locking the chickens in for their protection? Can foxes dig under the run and up to get inside of the run to then potentially get my chickens? The run has been as well as I can secured down with tent pegs and loads of soil on the top of the arm of the run. I’m after any advice thank you. 

HI,

I have the same Igloo and run as yourself and I do leave my door open during the summer so the girls can get to their food and water when they get up at the crack of dawn. We do get visits from the fox infact we have a number of them who like to visit and have done for the last two + years but not one of them has managed to do any sort of damage or get into the girls. Only when one of the girls decided to explore the field did it come to a sad end. The girls flap about and squawk when the fox comes.  I go down and let the dog out check on the girls and talk to them until they have quietened down and the fox stays away for another couple of weeks. You did not say if you live by your allotment, I wondered if your girls have to wait for you to go there to let them out, leaving the door open would help if you did have to and it sounds like they are well secure in their home and run.

[Pip4set]

7 minutes ago, Pip4set said:

HI,

I have the same Igloo and run as yourself and I do leave my door open during the summer so the girls can get to their food and water when they get up at the crack of dawn. We do get visits from the fox infact we have a number of them who like to visit and have done for the last two + years but not one of them has managed to do any sort of damage or get into the girls. Only when one of the girls decided to explore the field did it come to a sad end. The girls flap about and squawk when the fox comes.  I go down and let the dog out check on the girls and talk to them until they have quietened down and the fox stays away for another couple of weeks. You did not say if you live by your allotment, I wondered if your girls have to wait for you to go there to let them out, leaving the door open would help if you did have to and it sounds like they are well secure in their home and run.

Just a word of warning if you are new to chicken keeping. Please make sure your feeder that came with your igloo is high enough for your girls to eat out of if it has the lid on. I stupidly filled the feeder up and in a hurry did not put it in the usual place in the run. My lovely 6 yr old chicken Sherbert who has a beautifl comb caught it on the edge of the lid and it has slightly torn her comb. There was an awful lot of blood, I did not realise she had done it as she was absolutley fine, it was only when I looked closer and saw blood on her face. I have taken the lid off as both of my girls have large combs, Sherbert's should heal and sit proudly on her head instead of looking a bit floppy at the mo.