The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Other => Topic started by: Orinlooper on March 01, 2021, 04:26:08 pm
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We are thinking about renewing all our fencing with hog wire and then chicken mesh at the bottom because the current fence is failing at keeping foxes out
We are thinking about one way entrances at various points because we want rabbits and such entering but then not leaving
A bit like the entrance to a lobster crab pot non escape
I know baby foxes could possibly get through even a small hole but I doubt they would survive long separate from their mother
Has anybody heard of this before
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Foxes will dig under chicken wire, unless you bury it a foot underground with a mini digger. They'll also go up and over it without too much bother.
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Foxes will dig under chicken wire, unless you bury it a foot underground with a mini digger. They?ll also go up and over it without too much bother.
What about electric fencing?
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Definitely wouldn't rely on it. They will find a way through/over/under.
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I think foxes can run and jump/scramble up a 6ft fence so I don't think you can keep them out?
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I think foxes can run and jump/scramble up a 6ft fence so I don't think you can keep them out?
Yes this is the biggest problem
I wonder if many fox traps would be able to keep the numbers down?
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A fox will get over, under any barrier provided it can see a way back out. How about angled wiring at the top - angled outwards with an electric wire strung through it. And the chicken wire dug down underground.
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It seems to me Orinlooper that from "What is the easiest animal to keep? I just want a rabbit or 2 for the pot and to make some broth". to your plans for 100s of guinea pigs in an enclosed fox proof area - is a massive leap away from your original plans and aims. :thinking: Am really interested in how these plans for guinea pig ranching will turn out. In the meantime, I'm sure many of us have learnt a lot about guinea pigs. :idea:
Just saying . . . and looking forward to the next episode. :sunshine: [size=78%] [/size]
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The first step is market research!
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I wasn't even slightly interested in guinea pigs until Landroverroy used the word 'ranch'.
Now I totally want a guinea pig ranch. Even just so I can declare my profession as 'guinea pig rancher' on the next census ;D .
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I think high quality food from good calories will be the next currency and if you can grow your own food then you can print your own currency
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I think high quality food from good calories will be the next currency and if you can grow your own food then you can print your own currency
Hardly think this works with Guinea pigs ..... do you really think you can persude the UK pubic to eat Guinea pig? If so then dogs or cats would be much easier to keep.
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We are thinking about renewing all our fencing with hog wire and then chicken mesh at the bottom because the current fence is failing at keeping foxes out
We are thinking about one way entrances at various points because we want rabbits and such entering but then not leaving
A bit like the entrance to a lobster crab pot non escape
I know baby foxes could possibly get through even a small hole but I doubt they would survive long separate from their mother
Has anybody heard of this before
Am I correct in thinking that you want wild rabbits to come in but not be able to get out? Isn't that potentially very distressing for a rabbit and a bio security risk to the rabbits in your pen? And distressing for any other wild animal that gets caught inside? Wont the rabbits eventually bury out?
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I have to be honest here. I don't have much expertise in looking after animals other than cats, dogs(I judge those), hens and quail, but I think Orinlooper has even less !!!
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I'm switching off because I just cannot understand why, Orinlooper, you are thinking about renewing fencing just to bag a few wild rabbits. Sorry, but your various threads/posts are just not stacking up for me. Orinlooper, get real, save yourself some money and hassle over the long term (and save the rest of us from pondering over your schemes) and go buy pre-butchered meat - that will be THE/YOUR easiest way to keep animals !!
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I’ve never seen it but been told that Lairds used to build ramps partway up the outside of their perimeter walls to ‘collect’ more deer into the parks.
There are many types of one way access systems where the animal to be trapped/collected pushes on some swing bars (look up bob wires), a door or even a full trapdoor into a box. I’d go with this for your plan. Look up trapdoor rabbit trap. DIY it bigger and more sensitive and then twice or more times a day you check that the box contains healthy bunnies ready for release into your pen. Anything else can be returned to the wildside unless you’re also marketing mink and fox meat by this time?! You could build a little escape tunnel allowing any accidental weasels, stoats, roads, etc, access back to freedom.
Watch some YouTube videos of foxes to get an idea of how they behave and jump, or a wildlife camera and some bait at your site and start seeing what is there and what eats a chicken carcass (wire it to a post or the first fox will carry it off). To my mind you want the first line of electric fence before the fox even jumps; (maybe 1.5m away, maybe 18” off the floor). Because animals stung by a single hot line, especially if at the top, all too often barge through/flip over as they’re in motion already. Another 18” off the floor and 12” from the fence prevents digging. However you now have to guarantee the electric fence never fails. It fails due to energiser problems, battery problems, solar panel problems, slugs arching out the electric, rodents chewing on cables, water ingress. All vegetation needs to be kept away from the wires and any sticks/branches/similar which might blow down in a storm need to be removed ASAP. In addition, for a jumping fox, there isn’t even much chance it’ll get a shock as the pulse is every other second or so and the fox would fair likely sail up up and away without ever noticing. Also the better the kit the more likely it gets nicked. None of this stops stoats, weasels, mink, rats, buzzards or sparrow hawks (yes I had one which learned to stand on one leg and reach through the chicken wire to grab my chicks and pull through whatever limbs it could get).