[wannabesmallholder]

We have a half acre paddock/orchard containing 30 young fruit trees, which we are about to fence with posts and "equi-fencing" (small gauge stock fencing - wouldn't let chickens through) around the perimeter.  We have a small flock of ouessant (very small) sheep, which we keep in the paddock next door and would like to rotate into the orchard when the trees are more robust.   I plan to get around 12 chickens this Spring and am debating the options for their housing/fencing.  Would appreciate anyone's thoughts on what might work best.

Option 1: chicken house with large attached run.  This is my least preferred option as I'd like them to be completely free range and also prefer the overall look of a house without a bulky run, which will get poached and be a bit of an eye sore.  Has the advantage though of keeping Mr Fox out and also containing them if the bird flu restrictions come back.

Option 2: electric poultry netting.  This seems to be the most fox-proof way of keeping them free range, from what I've read.  I could stretch 100m of fencing around the perimeter of the fruit trees, which would leave a wide strip around the outside.  The problem with this option is then keeping the grass down - inside and outside the electric fence.  I could graze the sheep round the outside, but then I guess I'd need to mow the inside?  Don't have a sit on mower and can see it becoming a head ache to keep on top of, particularly if having to move electric fencing around.  I'm guessing the chickens wouldn't keep the grass down on an area that big?  Could I get some geese inside the electric fencing to keep the grass down?  Would the geese bother the trees? 

Option 3: run a strand of electric wire at the top and bottom of the perimeter fence (fence is normal "post and rail" height, whatever that is) to stop the fox getting in.  Or make the back and roadside edge fencing 6ft fencing and run the electric strands on the other lower fencing.  We haven't fenced it yet, so there's still potential options, but suspect this would be costly.  Either way  trying to secure the perimeter fence from the fox.  This would be my preferred option aesthetically as would rather be looking out onto the orchard with chickens pecking about rather than loads of extra fencing.  But not sure how well this would keep the fox out and at the end of the day, security needs to be above aesthetics, especially as whatever we chose will be a big lump of money!

Any thoughts or other ideas.  There aren't people around with chickens so I don't know how much of a problem the fox will be, but my gut feeling is he's around and would turn up and swipe them as soon as chickens arrived!

[Backinwellies]

I don't know where you are but fox is not the only problem to think About ..... Buzzards take chickens around here as do mink .....   

[chrismahon]

Option 1 is best I think- allow 15m2 per hen and the ground will be sustainable. Electric poultry netting is a possibility but you need to run electric lines outside that and use the net as the earth circuit- that's our temporary setup at the moment.


Don't know what fruit you have but we've had problems with damsons and cherries- they swallow the fruit whole and get digestive impactions. Also apples and pears contain natural sugars which upset digestion. They also have natural yeasts which lead to fermentation on the ground- yes, chickens can get drunk!

[Marches Farmer]

I don't know where you are but fox is not the only problem to think About ..... Buzzards take chickens around here as do mink .....

... stoats, weasels (depending on size of bird) and badgers, which are worse than the whole lot put together and where the size of bird doesn't matter in the slightest.  Check our Smiths Sectional Buildings for some expensive but very well designed and robust houses and runs on wheels.

[Perris]

or choose a breed of chicken that can look after itself well. I have had 3 Swedish Flower Hens running completely free for almost a year now. There are foxes, weasels, badgers, goshawks etc in the area, but the hens are free to dodge them and have done so successfully thus far. Of course it could change tomorrow, but they have a lovely life in the meantime and are almost no work - since they took to roosting in a tree I don't even have to let them out in the morning and shut them up in the evening. 3 cream crested legbars bought in as 5 week olds in the autumn have fended for themselves just as well thus far, and are integrating themselves with the older birds too. If they are free to run/fly away, they have less chance of being caught by anything. No doubt there are plenty of other traditional breeds which have not had the necessary genes bred out of them in pursuit of profit.

[Steph Hen]

I recon free ranging about halves or quarters the lifespan. Mine and friends have lasted up to 5 years, but most about three, plenty only get to two. Obviously different everywhere, but where they can all be fine for a couple of years, once a fox knows they're available they can all be gone in a day :-(  That said, their not 100% safe in most runs and houses, we've all heard about stoats, foxes and badgers breaking in. I also love seeing my hens free range, they seem so happy!

I'd be inclined to run electric top and bottom of your fence and get them a house, I think up on legs is good; they can flutter up to it, gets them a bit away from damp, as well as badgers and such. Denys rats a place to nest whilst providing a dry place underneath for hens to shelter or feeder and means you can get a wheelbarrow under/alongside which saves your back when you're cleaning out the house, collecting eggs and checking birds.

As for breeds, I'd get something utility/light weight, like leghorns, welsummer, Rhode Island reds, etc rather than heavier breeds like Cochins or Orpington's because as perris above has said, some are more flighty and better at survival than others.

Maybe just get half a doz in the first instance and see how you get on? You'll probably still need to mow the grass in the field as although hens eat it, they don't keep a lawn. Geese on the other hand eat a lot more grass, but are noisy, poo is more messy and esp ganders aggressive and may hurt your hens as well as chase you. Just thought I'd mention. All the best with them!

[Marches Farmer]

Trouble with hens roosting in trees is that in the Summer they fly down at around 5.00 a.m. when the foxes are still about and humans generally aren't.  Foxes know the exact location of every chicken house in their territory and will patrol them all every night, or in the daytime if the weather's bad.  I've known folks lose 15 birds over two days to mink.  Neighbour lost a fully grown gander to a fox.  You can be lucky for quite a while but then .....

[pharnorth]

The actual predators on your patch is a very local thing so ask those nearest to you what their experience has been.  We have always kept ours free range ( except when bird flu regs dictate otherwise). And never trouble with fencing or electric to contain them. My theory is by having faced areas if the fox or whatever does get in the chickens have little chance of escape, fully free ranged most can get out of the way while he is busy. In theory they have 13 acres in practice they tend to stick to the nearest 3 or so. The fox has to walk past a lot of rabbits to the chicken and while we have probably lost a few over the years never had a wipe out.  We have a couple of times had a duck wipe out due to loose dogs though. Recommend a sturdy chicken house and a reliable automatic pop hole opener as they will go in and be shut in at dusk. Also have a fully covered run handy for when you do have to keep them in.

[nutterly_uts]

I have had 3 Swedish Flower Hens running completely free for almost a year now.

These are lovely. Where did you get them from?

[twizzel]

I have herras panel fencing, woodchip enclosure and a house with automatic pophole opener. Best way I’ve found so far of keeping hens... touch wood not had any fox problems in nearly 3 years, they are let out at dawn all year round even in summer. Completely free range is a nice idea but in my eyes not practical in terms of fox problems.

[Perris]

I have had 3 Swedish Flower Hens running completely free for almost a year now.

These are lovely. Where did you get them from?

I got them from Eggs2Hens, http://www.chickens.allotment-garden.org/poultry-suppliers/poultry-breeder-9883.php

[alang]

Welcome back 

[Kathy Mc]

I agree an automatic door on a hen house, ours was the best £100 ever spent. We have 40 odd hens in a 2 acre orchard fenced with 5ft chicken wire. Very occasionally a young or new hen flies over, more often they find a loose bit and sneak underneath but as we adjoin a river bank it is no big problem. Our coop is on wheels so I move it about to stop one area getting partucularly messy and has a mesh floor so most of the poo drops through and fertilises the ground. Never had fox trouble (touch wood) BUT rats are a pain. i have given up housing chicks or growers in that coop because the rats get through the mesh, although they do not bother wirh the full grown chickens and there is never any food in there. The chickens look lovely in the orchard, they run miles in the course of a day and although they do not eat grass they do trample it and scratch about. Last summer I only cut the grass in the orchard about 4 times whereas before the hens it needed most weeks. Try to free range during the day if you can (provided you don't mind a few holes in the ground where they decide to make dust baths !) but I would not be happy leaving mine unsecured at night.

[Justin]

we have a fenced enclousure with 8' high walls, inside it's covered in woodchip with a Green Frog house that has an automatic door, a covered area for the Grandpa's feeder and dustbath. One of the doors to the enclosure is usually left open and the hens wander up to our orchard to free range during the day. They'll wander back when they fancy and put themselves to bed.

Touch wood, we've not lost any to foxes in 3 years, though there's plenty of them down in our woodland according to the trail camera.

I'm not sure if it's that we have dogs around the place, or that there's enough food in the woods with pheasants and pigeons etc, but they don't seem to worry the chickens.

If we're going away we can shut the door to the run and keep them in there but most of the time, if we're only away a few days, we just let them get on with it. The feeder and water bucket keep them supplied for a week or so and there's plenty of forage in the orchard for them.

[Ermingtrude]

We lost 2 to foxes, and then moved the girls to an enclosure surrounded by electric fence netting. I spent a long time cutting a boundary trail on the 4 sides, and laying it with pegged down anti-weed garden plastic sheeting. The fencing sits on that, and has a zap that makes you curse. We then discovered that the hens were totally safe from foxes, and the hen food was also totally safe from rats and mice, but not from wild birds taking advantage of the feeders. Also, we found that birds of prey would try - and succeed in one case - to take a hen. We put in a large roofed section that covered quarter of the run, so they could be out of sight and reach, unless the B of P tries to follow them inside. We also got a cockerel - he is a fantastic guard for aerial predators, and more than paid back his presence when taking the flak from a goshawk - that I then had to remove from the coop. Luckily the hens ( and cockerel) all went up the ladder into the Egloo, and the commotion had me outside (waving a slipper and shouting ! - thinking it was a fox ! ) so I saw the issue, and could go into the run, close the door to the Egloo, and get the RSPCA to pick up the goshawk, who looked like he had done a few rounds with a rooster. Which he had.  One hen, and the battered boy, needed vet treatment for wounds, but were fine, and soon grew feathers back, but was a timely reminder that predators are not just the fox type. I know they are still active in the area, as they are seen in the fields, and neighbours have lost lambs and hens to them. I ordered a printed sticker of  a bird of prey in flight, as sen from above ( wings out etc ) and stuck that on the roof of the coop - any bird coming in from above will think there is already a B of P predator in the area. This works fine, as the hens can't see it, but anything flying over can.