Chickens on the allotment

[andy_j]

My allotment society are looking into whether i can keep a couple of girls on my lotty. I will be having a 5 foot chicken wire fence around the entire site to deter unwelcome guests (that's whether i have chooks or not) and the chooks will be kept in an aviery type set up with slabbed base and an internal coup.

I have kept chickens before at home before mr fox helped himself so i will plan this a bit better. I appreciate mice and rats can be a problem but these are already present in the area.

What do you think ?

andy

[MartinRSharpe]

For the aviary I would use decent wire mesh rather than chicken wire. Chicken wire will stop chickens but not Mr Fox.

[andy_j]

For the aviary I would use decent wire mesh rather than chicken wire. Chicken wire will stop chickens but not Mr Fox.

Yeah, it would probably be easier to just buy a purpose made run and coup and put it on slabs with maybe a small area for a dust bath and to scratch around in.

[alldigging]

The man who keeps chickens on our site has slabs all round his hen house. This stops the fox from digging underneath and getting in.

Are rats and mice a problem any more than on the allotment normally? You could argue a compost bin is home and food for them.

[Bill HH]

I think rats and mice prefer chicken food to rotting compost as long as no one puts meat into it. You need to keep the food in a sealed bin and only feed what they clear up or have closeable food hoppers. An allotment cat is a good idea too. My neighbour has poultry and I often have rats coming from under his shed that forms part of the boundary.