tips for chicken coop and run

ICCM

I have just finished building my first chicken coop and run, the run size is about 100 square feet and I intend having 3 chickens which will be locked in the coop at night time, we live in the country so foxes will be an issue,

does anyone have any tips, for instance I heard that foxes do not like the sound of human voices so I was thinking of putting a small radio in the coop, is this a good idea or will it upset the chickens?

PatQfarmer

ICCM wrote: »

I have just finished building my first chicken coop and run, the run size is about 100 square feet and I intend having 3 chickens which will be locked in the coop at night time, we live in the country so foxes will be an issue,

does anyone have any tips, for instance I heard that foxes do not like the sound of human voices so I was thinking of putting a small radio in the coop, is this a good idea or will it upset the chickens?

We have electric fence on top of chicken wire and at "fox nose height" off the ground beside the chicken wire. Blast the fecker if he touches it:D
OH also got human hair from barber (I kid you not!) stuffed it into socks and created a scarecrow out of kids clothes, which hangs on the entrance gate. Scared the bejasus out of me on a dark night at first:D Smell of human hair scares them off...to date!

ICCM

thanks a lot for the scarecrow tip I will definitely try that one, we have small children so probably wont install an electric fence

PatQfarmer

ICCM wrote: »

thanks a lot for the scarecrow tip I will definitely try that one, we have small children so probably wont install an electric fence

We had small children too. Living on a farm, they learnt to only touch the fence once:D
It is probably the surest way of keeping foxes out. They hate current.
Best of luck with the chucks:)

DBIreland

We have a similar setup and one problem we never foresaw was magpies.

Magpies will get brave and go into the nestbox and take eggs. We now do not let the hens out until 11am or thereabouts as ours have laid by then. Magpies will also go into the house and eat the hens pellets which is not as big a deal.

ICCM

Thanks for the reply, I am putting netting over the top of the run and coop so hopefully that should stop any airbourne pests, I am getting the chickens at the weekend and will update on how I am getting on

PatQfarmer

DBIreland wrote: »

We have a similar setup and one problem we never foresaw was magpies.

Magpies will get brave and go into the nestbox and take eggs. We now do not let the hens out until 11am or thereabouts as ours have laid by then. Magpies will also go into the house and eat the hens pellets which is not as big a deal.

Larsen trap is your only man. Ours is beside hens and pigs. Catch plenty of magpies and crows.

ICCM

Well the 3 chickens survived their first weekend and seem to have settled in, I have made a few improvements to the run since they arrived so hopefully they will be ok

kellso81

any pics you could put up?

ICCM

It is still a work in progress at the moment:

bbam

Hi..
Have you dug the wire into the ground at the bottom or how will you stop the fox digging under the wire?
WE have ours a few months now and they are great..

ICCM

Yes the wire goes down about 8 inches and is embedded into a loose rock foundation to make digging a bit more difficult, the gate has building blocks under the dirt as this is the main weak point and I intend putting patio slabs around the perimeter as much to stop the ground getting churned up as a deterrent for digging.

The coop has chicken wire in its base covered by plywood and I have just finished tacking wire around the outside of the coop so if mr fox does make it through the perimeter fence he will then have to get through a wire clad coop as well, the main mistake I made was making the fence too low it could do with another couple of feet so I may adjust this at some time in the future

Had our first egg today which is promising

bbam

Chickens are great to keep. The kids just love collecting the eggs.
I set our coup up so the nest box is outside the run. The kids can just lift the lid and get the eggs, we had visitors from Dublin at the weekend and you'd think their kids had won gold at the Olympics when they found the eggs. Between the chickens and the pigs they had a great time.