Last week when I went on my days pruning the customer we were working for had a rather extreme chicken coop, he called it Guantanamo Bay but with all the wire it reminded me of a chicken colditiz castle.
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He resorted to these measures after the fox kept taking his chickens and then crapping on the roof of one of the coops, just to give him the finger as he left!
The pen is made out of Heras fencing, with chicken wire dug into the ground all the way round and then an added barrier at the top facing outwards to stop Mr Fox climbing in.
A pretty extreme chicken pen to erect, but I'm sure we all feel like building something like this when we have animals attacked by predators. Hopefully his will keep his birds safe but it does make me think I should increase the security on mine!
What's the most extreme pen you've ever built to keep predators at bay?
I gave up keeping poultry when I realized how many eggs I can buy for the price of a bag of meal. Plus I didn't like meeting rats when I put them away at night in the dusk. They seem to attract vermin. I do like the extreme chicken coop though. Think I would of added a concrete path to stop sliding about in the mud.
ReplyDeleteI find that mine make a profit. I break even with what I sell and we have more than enough eggs for ourselves.
DeleteI do hate the whole vermin thing though. I haven't seen any rats in the day time but I've found a few dead ones about the place.
I've got 5 Heras panels if you want them?
ReplyDeleteMakes my Ukranian village look positively rural
ReplyDeleteIt does have a certain industrial look to it doesn't it!
DeleteI miss our girls. I loved having the chickens. But once I went back to work it was just not working out. Having to be sure they were up at dark or else the raccoons and owls would get them. I did not want to keep them penned up all day that just seemed unfair to them. I rehomed our girls to nice homes. But I miss them. At a later time I will have them again.
ReplyDeleteI have to shut mine in or the fox would get them. It is a bind sometimes but I've had chickens for so long I do it on autopilot now.
DeleteGood for him, we do have to go to the extreme once Mr Fox finds where are ladies are living don't we.
ReplyDeleteOur current Chicken World is the one that is the most secure ... when we shut the gate to the inner sanctum.
The fence is medium height but with an electric strand on the top and another reaching out to the front so any sniffing nose will get a shock, and there is wire dug down 10 inches into the soil below the fence line. The house is a very secure one, now that we have reverted back to our favourite style of henhouse (sometimes you get it right first time and should be swayed to change).
Sounds like you've got it sorted, I need to build another pen that's fox proof so I can rotate and manage my stock better.
DeleteOut here I would have to put chicken wire over the top as well. The hawks and eagles are more of a threat than the fox. When I was a kid we finally had to just resort to a shed for the ducks because the fox, raccoons and coyotes got so bad. Every night we would have to lock em up completely with a chain and even then something would eventually get to em.
ReplyDeleteA goshawk would get one but I've not seen any of those around here so I'm alright so far. I have seen some completely covered cages in the sate and in oz. It would put my mind at ease knowing nothing could get them though.
DeleteA tadge more business like than my Stalag Luft III.
ReplyDeleteI prefer yours, it has more African charm!
DeleteI am all for letting animals free range when possible. But I am also in favor of protecting them! At least it looks fairly roomy for a chicken run.
ReplyDeleteWe tried free range and ended up feeding the fox. That said I've got six birds that are free range at the moment so I need to do something about them.
DeleteMy chickens are free range. I lose one once in awhile to a fox, raccoon or possum, but my dogs are good guardians so it's really not a problem.
ReplyDeleteI've got no dogs yet (the girls are too young) but I think even the smell of them can help keep predators away.
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