Eggs at the gate -OT

[Flyfisher]

Will you restock this Spring? How many are you down to?

Probably, though nothing as exotic as your beauties. We're down to just the one now.

The thing is, an electric fence is going to be rather difficult to install and even more difficult to maintain when things start growing again. I could pen them into a smaller area, but that seems a little unfair. We have been entertaining thoughts about pigs, and I wonder if they would help keep a fox at bay.

Alternatively, I've been thinking about the practicality of raising the fence and/or perhaps electrifying the top section. Does anyone know how high foxes can jump?

 

[middi]

I am a softy really, Joce

I couldn't kill a fly if i tried

( the bast" " @s move too fast )

Middi

 

[AMc]

Our village shop sells eggs - I don't know where from - but they come in random reused boxes, you're encouraged to bring your own box back and the recommended best before date is on a sign on the counter.
As long as you're reasonably comfortable with the health of your chickens then you may find a friendly post office/butcher is prepared to act as your agent for a cut?
You might also consider offering them through a parish magazine (if you have one) to order?
Finally you might consider giving them away to neighbours in exchange for the odd feed and watch of the house when you're not around?

 

[skier-hughes]

FF, our foxes jump over 4' easily enough.
Pigs are supposed to get on really well and sleep with chickens, but I can't imagine a couple of pigs chasing off a midday fox attack, which is when we used to have ours until caging them in.

 

[AMc]

Our Hackney foxes used to jump onto the shed roof and sun themselves - they went up a 6' fence without any problems - though they probably wouldn't have eaten a chicken unless it had been Southern Fried first.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Poor Flyfisher. Yes, they're meant to jump 6 foot with ease and also can dig under unless there's a 2 foot buried wire skirt.

From my research, there appear to be 5 solutions

1) Fierce dog living outside prowling at all times
2) Enclosed fox proof run with roof and skirt
3) Find the foxes and shoot - this goes on a lot amongst poultry keepers in rural areas
4) Electric fence
5) Give up

What's wrong with this kind of electrtic fence on a battery? http://www.flytesofancy.co.uk/chickenhouses/100m_Poultry_Netting_Kits.html

It does require maintenance - I have a quick walk around mine every day, giving it a shake to lift it from the vegetation. I've placed a lot of large stones along some sections to suppress growth, though it will still need strimming every 6 weeks or so. The other way is to give it a good weedkiller spray at the start of the season - perhaps have the birds locked inside for a couple of days for that.

Although the fence does dispense charge into the ground and the growth, it delivers enough of a whack to keep predators out. Mine has dogs running up to it every day, and never going in.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Our village shop sells eggs - I don't know where from - but they come in random reused boxes, you're encouraged to bring your own box back and the recommended best before date is on a sign on the counter.
As long as you're reasonably comfortable with the health of your chickens then you may find a friendly post office/butcher is prepared to act as your agent for a cut?
You might also consider offering them through a parish magazine (if you have one) to order?
Finally you might consider giving them away to neighbours in exchange for the odd feed and watch of the house when you're not around?

Fab ideas, thanks AMc. I've also noticed a lot of I'm sure isn't registered with DEFRA style selling.

As for the animal sitting though - I pay someone £10 per visit. (or persuade someone they need a holiday here) It's so very time-consuming, and complicated, I couldn't ask it as a favour in return for eggs.

 

[Flyfisher]

Poor Flyfisher. Yes, they're meant to jump 6 foot with ease and also can dig under unless there's a 2 foot buried wire skirt.

I know foxes are pretty versatile devils but can they actually clear a 6-foot fence or is it more a case of them scrambling up and over? We already have 1m of rabbit netting and my thinking was that a few strands of electric fencing fitted above the netting might keep them out. Mind you, at over £300 for an electric fencing kit it all starts to get a bit pricey just for some free-range eggs!

The other problem I have is that part of the fencing is on a boundary and part of the enclosure is a pond. I suppose I could erect another fence inside the boundary and along the edge of the pond but, with electric fencing as well, the cost could approach £500.

I don't think shooting is particularly practical; there's always another one to take its place. A bit like moles really - we trapped 25 last year but it's not a cure as they just keep migrating in from the surrounding fields.

But I don't really like to give up. I suspect we'll just buy another half-dozen in the spring and see how they get on. The last ones managed to survive for two years and they were completely free-roaming for nearly half of that time.

 

[Flyfisher]

Pigs are supposed to get on really well and sleep with chickens, but I can't imagine a couple of pigs chasing off a midday fox attack, which is when we used to have ours until caging them in.

I also can't imagine a pig bothering to fend off a fox raid, I was more hoping that its very presence would deter the fox.

 

[jocelyn plummer]

I 'm pretty sure a hungry fox will climb as well as jump. Agile little fellas!

 

[skier-hughes]

I was just outside and a fox was happily walking up paralel to the fence but about 10 yards away, not bothered by our barking dogs, no doubt used to the fact they can't get to him.
We have 1 metre stock fence and a strand of barbed wire and a strand of electric fence to stop the horses, the foxes either go through the stock fence when small enough or clear the whole lot with a jump when adult.

 

[Penners]

Does anyone know how high foxes can jump?

I think your problem is not so much how high they can jump, but the increasing cunning and sophistication of their training regime.

 

[JoceAndChris]

:shock: very true!

Any agile feat a cat can do a fox can do better. But yes, it's scrambling and leaping rather than the high jump.

With your electric strand of wire on top of netting idea, he'd probably scramble up, get a shock, and fall to the earth. At that point in all likelihood he'd run off and find an easier supper - a bin, a rabbit. But if there were a vixen with cubs who was a bit desperate she might think it through. She would look for a nearby tree that she could climb, leap the strand at the top and scramble down the other side. Or she might start to tunnel in. She'd begin her tunnel where it wasn't obvious, and work on it in sections at night. If she thought her work was going unnoticed, she'd carry on until she was finished. She might choose a time you were on holiday for the excavations.

If a fox wants to get in badly enough they very often find a way. You just have to hope there's enough food elsewhere to make it not worth their while. I think your idea could work for a bit and if you're happy to restock periodically that would seem to be the most cost effective solution.

And I completely agree the cost of electric fencing is never justified by the value of the eggs! Nor is it completely foolproof in itself - it's highly likely that one day it will fail, and if that was the night Mr Fox was checking my defences I could lose the lot. It wouldn't take long to chew into the shed.

 

[MdB]

As for the animal sitting though - I pay someone £10 per visit. (or persuade someone they need a holiday here) It's so very time-consuming, and complicated, I couldn't ask it as a favour in return for eggs.

You can. That's the wife's payment for looking after the neighbours chickens (+ other animals) and maybe a bottle of wine when they come back. I guess it depends on how well you get on with your neighbours and (in your case) how far they need to come.

 

[Penners]

neighbours

:lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Flyfisher]

If a fox wants to get in badly enough they very often find a way. You just have to hope there's enough food elsewhere to make it not worth their while.

I think that's the crux of the matter. Agility and intelligence is a formidible combination; they're already ahead of me on the former and the jury's still out on the latter.

Still, as long as those pole-vaulting critters near Penners remain in Suffolk then I'm in with a chance. :wink:

 

[JoceAndChris]

:lol:

MdB, your wife is very kind but if you could see my set up here you'd understand, there aren't any neighbours and the locking up, burglar alarms, electric fence setting, different diets and cleaning out all takes a lot of training. Clever Mr Hughes took everything in his stride but no one else has managed with the alarms. Then there is the murderous cockerel, the mud, and the rats.

I don't go away much!

 

[AMc]

On a more low tech slant - isn't weeing around the property supposed to discourage foxes? or have I made it up? I'm sure I read that on here.
I'm sure everyone knows where they can get an adequate supply of urine for nothing - I guess it depends how fragrant it needs to be?

 

[Penners]

I'm sure everyone knows where they can get an adequate supply of urine for nothing

And I'm sure they know, if necessary, how to boost the supply.

 

[JoceAndChris]

All the hen keepers I know say this is true, but that girls' wee is miles better than boys'. Come to think of it, I haven't seen a fox since I began the habit of weeing round the boundaries.

But this, along with "Silent Roar", which contains lion poo, I regard in the same category as slug pellets, only effective if you renew after each rain shower.