A Family Guide To Keeping Chickens (9 page)
Read A Family Guide To Keeping Chickens Online
Authors: Anne Perdeaux
There are many chicken predators, although foxes are the most feared. They are a formidable foe, being able to climb like cats, jump, dig and bite through wire or wood. They are also patient and resourceful. Foxes are frequently seen in urban gardens and may strike during the day as well as at night.
It’s almost impossible to guarantee that any fence will be totally predator-proof and much depends on how well it is maintained. Constant checking for any weak spots, damage or signs of digging is essential. Tunnelling rabbits can be a problem if their excavations provide an easy route for the fox.
Installing a secure chicken run is a major project and expensive too. Inferior materials won’t provide adequate protection – a reliable supplier should be able to advise on what is required.
Chicken wire isn’t proof against much more than chickens and won’t give a fox any trouble. Strong welded mesh is required (the lower the gauge, the stronger it will be – choose twelve or fourteen gauge for maximum security).
Predators can gain access through surprisingly small spaces – and if the chickens can stick their heads out, they may get them bitten off! Small rectangular mesh is more difficult to bite into and if it’s fine enough should keep out rodents too.
The supports for the wire should be solid timber or metal (timber will deteriorate over time) and sturdy fixings are essential. The door is often the weakest point so pay particular attention to the construction and fit.
A wire roof will keep out both predators and wild birds. Otherwise the run should be more than 2 metres high, with an overhang of about 50 cm angled outwards.
Sink the fence a good 50 cm into the ground and then turn it outwards another 50 cm. Another option is to surround the run with concrete slabs or mesh laid flat to the ground and pegged down securely. Don’t forget the area under the door – using paving to prevent digging will also keep the doorway from becoming muddy.
For extra security a strand of electrified wire can be added around the bottom of the run – and the top as well, if necessary.
However good the fencing, chickens should be securely shut into their house at night.
Using a movable house and run allows the chickens to enjoy grass without destroying it. They will also be happy to clear your vegetable patch in winter – just move their run to the required area and leave them to it. The droppings are great fertilizer, but they quickly dry and disappear so keeping
chickens on the lawn need not be a problem.
Regularly moving the chickens to fresh ground prevents droppings and disease from accumulating. The smaller the run, the more often it will need moving.
This frequent movement also helps secure the chickens’ boundaries. In a fixed run their scratching will loosen the soil, allowing easy access to rodents and predators. Given time the chickens may even manage to dig themselves out.
A movable house and run
Having free-range hens in the garden is delightful . . .
. . . but they will help themselves . . .
. . . and roam everywhere
Predators will find it more difficult to tunnel into a run that is constantly moved to firm and level new ground. Fixing wire underneath the run increases security, but also stops the chickens scratching – denying them their natural behaviour.
Chickens enjoy free-ranging outside their run where possible, but giving them total free-range in an average garden may not be practical. It’s easier (and kinder) to start off by allowing the hens out occasionally, rather than giving them unrestricted free-range, discovering it doesn’t work and then having to confine them.
Free-Ranging in the Garden
Having free-range hens in the garden is delightful. They gather under the table when you eat outdoors and help enthusiastically with the weeding.
It’s a great life for the chickens too, but they will give the garden some abuse, so unrestricted free-range should be considered carefully.
Their scratching and foraging doesn’t promote a tidy garden – even a large area will suffer some damage. Digging up seedlings, kicking stones onto the lawn to wreck the mower, making dust-baths and eating plants are amongst the chicken’s less desirable habits. Even if your own garden can cope, your chickens may find their way into adjoining plots and upset your neighbours.
Garden fencing must be chicken-proof (clipping their wings may stop them flying but chickens are good at squeezing through gaps) and provide a barrier against neighbouring dogs. A normal garden fence will offer little resistance to foxes, which are often around in the daytime, but surrounding your garden with fox-proof fencing is unlikely to be practical and may add a rather prison-like air to your property.
Droppings will be left wherever chickens roam – lawn, patio, garden furniture – so you will quickly learn to check shoes before coming indoors.
Sometimes the chickens even follow you inside. They are nosy creatures and like to explore, although you’d think there was plenty for them to do outside. We had a hen who made her way through the house, up the stairs and along the landing, where she surprised my husband who was sitting at the computer. Perhaps she wanted to check her egg-mails! More likely she was searching for a nesting spot – I heard of a hen who liked to lay her eggs in her owner’s wardrobe!
Keeping Chickens in a Large Garden or Smallholding
If you have plenty of space, free-range hens may be possible. Instead of fencing them in, you could fence them out of any areas you wish to preserve. If you have a wooded area or an orchard, they will be very happy. The hens should be shut in at night and you may need to protect them from daytime predators too.
Depending on the number of chickens and the amount of space, it may be necessary to rotate their ranging area. Electric poultry netting keeps the chickens where you want them (usually) and the foxes out (nearly always).
Less expensive than installing a permanent run, electric netting can be easily moved to give chickens access to fresh ground.
It is also effective in keeping out predators. Although a fox could easily
jump over it, they rarely seem to try. Foxes are more inclined to go through or climb, and the shock they receive from an electric fence is usually enough to make them try their luck elsewhere.
The fence won’t harm the fox but the animal will respect it – providing it is adequate and properly maintained. A weak fence is no barrier to a hungry fox.
Electric fencing can be powered by mains electricity or a battery. Mains provides a constant power source (unless there’s a power cut), while batteries need regular monitoring and charging. A rechargeable 12-volt leisure battery is preferable to a car battery.
Fencing can be supplied as a complete kit and the supplier should advise on individual needs. A basic kit consists of netting, posts, an earth spike and an energizer. The energizer transforms the power supplied to produce an uncomfortable electric shock and is a major component of the fence. If the energizer is inadequate, the fence won’t be effective.
Poultry netting requires a more powerful energizer than tape or wire – partly because netting takes more power but also to ensure a firm impression on a determined predator. Moreover, chickens are well-insulated by their feathers and may squeeze through a weak fence to meet their fate on the other side!
Select an energizer that can run more fencing than required – this will allow for any leakage of power. Various factors cause power to drain from fencing, most commonly vegetation. Keep grass trimmed short and cut back any overhanging shrubs.
The earth spike is another essential part of the system – make sure it is adequate for your soil and only use the proper connecting cables. Very dry, sandy soil may require extra earths.
Netting is usually just over a metre high, although it’s possible to buy higher fencing if necessary. Usually supplied in green, it needn’t look obtrusive in the garden or field. Only the horizontal wires are electrified (apart from the bottom one). Don’t let the electrified wires come in contact with anything not insulated from the ground – such as wooden posts – and use only the proper connectors for joins. Tension the fence carefully so that the lowest electrified strand isn’t touching the ground or vegetation. The fence should be checked regularly – a fence tester eliminates the need for heroics!