space vs. supervision - questions?

[beach chick]

hi all
got our 4 chooks a week ago, and they are living in an eglu + run. I have some fencing coming tomorrow, and was planning that they would be in run/eglu at night and out in the fenced area all day (with access to run/eglu). however, reading yoanbob's thread has alarmed me...
at best I can pop out for 5-10 minutes every hour or so (work from home on the pc), but the layout of the house/garden means its a fair old step to where the birds are.
should I try and put some sort of lid on the fencing (light chickenwire maybe, and clip it on somehow?)
it seems cruel to keep them in the eglu/run for so much of the time, but I spose its better than battery conditions... but not quite what I wanted!
any advice anyone?

[Sue]

Beach Chick
There were some hens being kept on our allotment with just a wire fence and the foxes got in there and have been chased off in the daytime too.
It's always alarming to read of fox attacks and on some of the poultry forums it seems whatever you do isn't enough, they've bitten through plastic roofing, dug under fencing (although if you're seeing them regularily that shouldn't be a problem) and have even been reported as biting through ordinary chicken wire. The only thing that seems to stop them is electric fencing and only then if there aren't any trees, hedges for them to climb nearby.
I've got an enclosure made out of weldmesh which is much stronger and supposedly foxes can't bit through it and like the eglu runs, I've got weldmesh skirts around the outside to discourage digging. I'm praying that keeps them off.
Would the walls of your enclosure be strong enough to take weldmesh and given the weather we've had recently, some sort of roofing (onduline etc) over that to protect them from the elements.
I was also imagining you with a video camera set up so you could keep an eye on them as you were working!
best wishes
Sue

[beach chick]

the fencing should come today, so I think I will put it up and see how we go. we have had a free-range rabbit for 4 years (escaped pet, we couldnt catch him and he now sleeps in the logpile and roams the garden and field by day). I'm kind of thinking that if the fox hasnt got him yet, we might be ok. have only ever seen 2 foxes in the 8 yrs we've been here, and I'm always out in the garden at odd times of the day or evening.
possibly more worried about the kitten (10mths old), who is showing extreme interest in the chooks, but I reckon by the time they've pecked him he'll know who's boss... the big cats have already worked out that the chooks are not for them.

[TPeers]

I really would consider fixing up some sort of roof if you can. Not just to keep Mr Fox out or even to give the girls some cover (important, as is keeping the food dry somewhere) but to keep the girls in the area you want! Chickens can fly! Not very well, I grant but they might well get over a fence of 5' or 6' and once out they will have no protection from Mr Fox....

Hope all goes well

Terry

[Headfry]

When I had my 3 girls, moons ago. they got up into my hawthorn hedge! 10feet up infact...they looked so funny, like 3 old plastic bags. what a tangle of feathers, beaks, wings and feet....it still makes me laugh 12 years on. It looked just like someone had thrown them in there! They had to 'sort' it themselves. I really could find no way of extracating them!
Hettie, Gerty (she was white, dirty Gety after a dust bath!) and lovely Clary....I miss them so much............sigh......

[beach chick]

well, the fencing is up and the girls are out. v. funny, just spent an hour and a half watching them! no way can I put a roof on it, it's 25m of fencing in a big circle round the eglu. think I will put a rain cover (cheap clear shower curtain) over the run itself and then if they have the brains they can shelter in there when it rains.
they love the extra space, 2 are stuffing their faces and the other 2 are fighting over a dust bath ("I made it" "but I want it" "no it's mine" etc!!)

did you have to get them down Headfry, or did they do it themselves?!

[Headfry]

Hi Beach Chick.....They came down on their own! I am not sure how I could have helped...only to cut them out somehow. Their wings and legs were all askew, they could not even close their wings...
Funny looking back, but at the time I was pacing with worry!
How they never got bits chopped of when I out digging the garden at various times I do not know.They were so much fun........another big sigh.....

[beach chick]

get some more??

[TPeers]

Now I know where the name comes from Headfry - I hope your 'namesake' is more bidable!

[Headfry]

Would love more, but, alass no where to keep them :-(
Still I have Virtual Hettie - big thanks to the above....(Terry)
I even have pic of her on my desk here at work!

[BarbaraGood]

Hi there BeachChick,
I am brand new to this website chat, and found your chat about fencing up your chooks interesting.
I too started with an Eglu for my first 2 chooks a couple years back, and then ended up letting them freerange across my back yard when I lived on a housing estate. The wooden 6ft fence around the garden kept them in and they always went back into their eglu at night, in spite of them jumping up onto the 5 ft bird table more than once and eating all my greens!!!

Am now moved to a countryside place, with lots more space, and with several more chooks, we used a netting fence that was only 3-4 feet high to keep them contained to an area of the garden, once they were used to the shed as their night-home, and yes a couple of the cleverer chooks got out once in a while, but they always came back to their known bed at night.
I have always been stunned that once a chook knows where its home/bed is, it will always 'home' to that at night (or at least try to). This is after all, how farmers have got their flocks back in at night for hundreds of years.
Tis great fun to see the characters of the chooks for who is more clever and more 'blond' than the others. (Our daftest one now is our cockerel!)

Foxes are another issue; if you have foxes around, then you HAVE to fence them in with strong wire type fencing that they cannot climb over or dig under. We have now built a strong enclosure for we have discovered foxes, but I do miss the chooks chatting and scratching at my ankles as I weed and dig in the garden.

[TPeers]

Welcome to the 'vine Barbara, nice to have another chicken keeper/mad GYO'er etc...

Terry

[JennieAtkinson]

Welcome to the Vine Barbara!

[Headfry]

Hi Barbara, a big welcome from the 'virtual' hen keeper!

[beach chick]

hi Barbara, welcome and thanks for that post... I am always out in the garden at odd times, even more so now I have the girls! so I think on balance the freedom is a better life for them. the 25m of fencing makes a good big area, so until they get a lot tamer they can stay in there - my chance of catchign them if they are out is pretty minimal!