Wanted Please - Harrogate / York / Leeds area

[Dilys Merry]

Morning all, I'm happy to say my second hand eglu classic defended my chickens, so well done eglu!  But I'm intrigued, this has happened twice now and I'm just wondering whether anyone else has similar experiences?  Each time, the chickens have seemed spooked in the morning, lurking in the coop rather than in the run, (I keep the door to the run open at night so they can get up earlier than me!), some feathers around, mostly along the sides of the run, and a couple of feathers further away.  One slightly ruffled (literally) chicken, no other apparent damage.

My only guess is that more than one fox/badger/mink/weasel has visited them, so they have retreated away from one predator only to be snapped at through the opposite bars by the other?  Is this possible do you think?

Cheers Dilys

 

[kopperdrake]

Could be vixen teaching cubs to hunt. They're typically born late March, start hunting with their parents in July and will hunt in pairs, typically, in August. This site is interesting:

http://www.nfws.org.uk/fox-calendar-of-events.html

But we also know from experience that the run on our Mk1 Cube has saved the lives of our hens twice that we know of.

[Patricia W]

A weasel would get through the bars so assume something bigger.  Be aware that the run is Fox Resistant NOT Fox proof.   The classic coop is more or less impregnable when closed.