A couple of questions

[raine]

Morning all! As an experienced hen keeper of a whole 2 weeks i have decided to stretch my wings a bit (Hee-hee-see what I did there?) and try an organise a free ranging option for the girls. What I need is an idea for a moveable fence thingy. I have a small garden and need to allow access for entertaining people etc! Anyone any ideas?
..Also..my littlest hen-Olive Oil has a black mottled comb-is this OK?

[lynda66]

you could get some electric fencing? which will stop foxes getting in and them, getting out otherwise, it's probably some kind of cage with a roof you can move ??

[RedThorn]

Abit extreme I know, but I split my garden in half.... top for chooks and veg, bottom half (closest to house) of the garden for kids and entertaining. We leave the gate open for the chooks and when they need to be locked away, we shoo them in to the top half and close the gate. Then the raking begins You'll be surprised at the amount of little fertile piles they leave you

[Flummery]

I'm intending to use some left-over mesh from the hen-run with bamboo canes slotted through at intervals and just pushed in the ground. I'm hoping this will give them the impression they can't get over - although at 3 ft I'm sure they could! Electric fencing is the real job but will seriously cost you.

[HayleyB]

Agree with the above, re the comb they can have all sorts of quirks I wouldn't worry.

[francesbean]

Youll probably lose any grass that u let them loose on. Its the combination of scratching and eating anything green. I cant see my freerange area recovering at all unless i reseed and lose the girls which aintgonna happen.

I alsohave flexible fencing (40 quid) and electric battery operated kit (100 quid) whichkeeps them off the veg and safe from predators.

francesbean

[Eco-Chic]

I'm intending to use some left-over mesh from the hen-run with bamboo canes slotted through at intervals and just pushed in the ground. I'm hoping this will give them the impression they can't get over - although at 3 ft I'm sure they could! Electric fencing is the real job but will seriously cost you.

Keep your eye on them. My friend's neighbours' Chooks frequently leap their 4' fence - almost always when Sarah and I are on Chook duty. Sarah and I chook wrangling after the 3rd bottle is a sight to behold apparently.

[pipscariad]

My girls move about across one half of my 1 acre veg plot inside an electric fence, which is ace, but might be a bit more than you want to pay if it's just for in your garden? The ideas above sound good to me as a cheaper option, although if you do decide upon electric fence you have the additional peace of mind against predators.

Yup, they'll strip your lawn for you, but I reseeded mine (they come on 'holiday' to our garden now and then, so the children can have a good bond with them ), and wow, it's so lush and green - and long! - where they were, so if you keep moving them about they'll do you favours in the long run. Good luck.

[Eco-Chic]

And they'll remove all your slugs

[raine]

Unfortunately, my new garden has no lawn. so its mostly paved.There is,though lots of shrubs and trees etc and lots of places that they can scratch around. Because it's only small, i need it to be dual purpose for chooks and humans! My chooks will spend most of the time in their run and this will be a weekend thing for when we are with them so, Flummery, I think your idea will probably work.Am also on a budget so that is the cheapest option too!
Thanks all

[dogsbody]

I tried Flummery's option with my first set of hens - got lots of calls that they were wandering on the road (fortunately a very quiet suburban road) - one neighbour's window cleaner even had to ask him who owned the hen that was following him down the road!!

Then the local fox started turning up mid-afternoon - and we ended that battle fox 1 humans 3...... but none survived in the end.

The replacement hens are only allowed out in the garden when we are at home, but surprisingly a simple framed wire barrier keeps them in the back garden (most of the time!)

If you do go for the cane and chicken wire option I would recommend making it into a 7 shape with the overhang on the hens' side making them have to bounce further to clear it.

Whatever you do, do let them roam the garden some of the time as both you and they will enjoy it immensely. (Mine are out right now and I think they are still in the garden!!)

[sootysue]

Hi we have the same problem in our garden. My husband came up with a good idea that we used for the first time on saturday and it worked ok. He screwed some hooks into the side of the garage wall and some into the kitchen wall, then he stretched some of the orange plastic mesh that you see around road works etc, with a washing line threaded through the top and the bottom, cable tied with a bamboo cane at each end to keep it taught, and hooked it over the hooks. We had visitors on saturday morning , who came to see the girls and it was dead easy to get in and out. The whole thing can be rolled up and stored in the garage.
The mesh is called plastic safety barrier, we think, you can buy it on line or from FWB in Stoke-on -Trent.
PS. The girls loved it!

[raine]

Thanks- i have seen that orange mesh stuff but didn't know what it is called. I would love to let my girls have the run of the garden but we back on to a road that is really busy during the rush hour and i would hae to cause an accident.

[Glutton4...]

Try searching for 'plastic mesh fence barrier' on eBay for short lengths, or your local Builders' Merchant. It comes in a variety of colours.

[Hashette]

Best of luck and let us know if the solution you end up using works. One thing I'd suggest is start as you mean to go on. We (ahem.... I supervised....) built a huge fox proof run for ours thinking they'd be happy to stay in it, having come from a battery farm and lived in an A4 size cage all their lives. And they were perfectly content - for about a fortnight. Since then they've had the full run of the garden all winter, and trying to fence off bits of it now is now proving to be a bit of a battle. We put non-electric fence around the veg patch, watched by four little faces with matching expressions:



They waited until hubby had put all the tools away, then pointedly flew over the top. Ah. We forgot about the being birds and able to fly angle. D'oh!

Okay then, time for plan B. Me and hubby may be joint 5th in the pecking order, but we're determined to win this one!