Fox Proof Fencing

[Brom]

I really could do with some advice about this as we're going to be busy this next week building our new chicken run (weather permitting of course).

We have lots of foxes in the area and I'm not sure what size of mesh to use. The run is quite large, high enough for us to stand up in and will be covered sides and top as there are overhanging trees where we want to build. I understand that welded mesh is best, but what strength? Research on t'interweb says everything from 15g to 19g, with quite a steep rise in price the thicker the wire. I'm hoping someone with more knowledge than me can point me in the right direction.

I've had a word with our neighbours (we live in a rural farming area) and they suggest the best form of defence is a shotgun . Hmmm, that's a non starter for me, it's a direction I don't want to go, foxes may be a bit of a nuisance but I couldn't kill them.

Sooo...any advice gratefully recieved.
Brom.

[Kleftiwallah]

If you can, set a strip of mesh around the top unsupported so it wobbles and moves in the wind. Foxes will not climb up a wobbly face.

Cheers, Tony.

[Brom]

Thanks Tony, I hadn't thought of that, however, the run will be partly under some Scots Pine trees so I will need a roof of some sorts (either solid or wire) to stop foxes as I understand they are quite good at climbing trees, clever little devils. I think I should buy the thickest welded wire mesh I can afford, just to be safe.

Brom.

[Bill HH]

We always used 7 foot x 2 inch mesh galvanised poultry netting 12 inches of it dug into the ground 2 inches and flapped out10 inches (Just under the turf really) the overlap was pegged down with wooden pegs.
If the run is quite big weldmesh is going to cost you. If the netting isnt well staked and quite tight a fox could run up it.
If you use weldmesh you still need to think about them digging under it, and they willl try. Some sort of buried mesh is needed because they dont so much dig as scratch a hole,

[Brom]

Thanks for the advice Bill, much appreciated. I've ordered some 2inch mesh, would have preferred 1inch but the price was just too much.

Just had a look at your photo album, lovely photos of a very nice garden, defo puts ours to shame. Well done!

[Bill HH]

Thank you re my garden, one thing to watch out for is the gate into the run, they can squeeze through quite small gaps so make it sturdy and a good fit, if you can latch it at the bottom as well as the middle that will prevent him pushing it apart. Hope all goes well.

[Mikey]

When I built mine I thought long and hard about how to fox proof it, I decided in the end not to take the mesh all the way to the floor but to have a timber base which had a row of slabs all around it. This avoided having to take the mesh into the ground and has given me a clean path to walk around. I can clearly see if anything has been trying to dig around the edge which as yet hasn't happened.

I used my 8 x 6 greenhouse as a model for their enclosure, I have 3 access holes one to get at the muck tray and feed and water, one to collect eggs as I have an eglu and the third a full size door which allows me to go in and change the floor surface.

I built it in 2011 and this year I'll need to change the metalwork and give the frame a coat of stain, but everything still works well. HERE are some images of it. They are only in there at night they have a much bigger enclosure that they can roam during the day. I generally don't shut them up in the eglu at night when the weather gets warmer, they can make full use of the daylight hours before I get up, in their smaller enclosure and get released into the bigger one when I take the dog for a walk.