what to do when im at work?

[Bangonthedoor]

So we are getting our first ever chickens this weekend. Exciting stuff!

Although, i have just one question..what do i do with them whilst i am at work? I only work part time so there is only 2days of the week where i will be gone all day.

Ive got a house and an attached run for them. Do you think it would be ok if they are just left in the run or will i have to shut them in their house? We dont live in a very rural area and the earliest time Mr Fox has come in our garden is 6pm by which time i will be home. But just wondered if next doors cat would be able to dig under the run?

Thanks in advance.

My sister has 6 chickens and they have the run of the coop 24/7. She's never had any problems with foxes, cats etc. So they should be fine.
She's been away for weekends and I go and feed them and check on them daily, so I think you should be fine going to work.

If the run is fox proof then I would just leave them in the run. We used to let ours have the run of the garden during the day until Mr Fox killed a load of my neighbours girls and now they're in a big walk in coop/run. You will have some very unhappy chickens if you lock them in their house all day

Thank you for your tips!

Yes i did feel awful at just the thought of them being locked in their house all day!

The run is supposedly fox proof and as ive said we've never had foxes in the day time. So i assume the neighbours cat wont be able to get to them either?

I might get some of that lion poo to scatter about!

so to fox proof the run you need to make sure that the bottom of the fencing is dug in underground and then put some heavy stones around the edge. min height 6ft and check round every day as we have had foxes tear the net from the fence posts before (wire netting). no need for lion poo - man wee/male dog wee works as well so does a radio tuned into talking. good luck and in the depths of winter you will find them going away around 4 - 4.30pm depending on where you live.

I didn't think we had foxes during the day either but my neighbours chooks were taken at 3pm so it's definitely worth fox proofing as much as you can. Male wee apparently works well.

Get some large paving slabs and put them around the coop and run so it discourages the foxes from digging under.

Trust me, your neighbours cats will be more scared of the chooks than they are of them!

Thanks again for the tips!

The paving slab idea sounds very good and ive got some spare which is good!

So i just get DP to pee in a container and then scatter it outside?! I find this very funny!

Im here most days (in and out and depending on plans) its just the 2 whole days each week im more worried about.

We had hens and cats last year. The cats were fascinated but scared of the hens.

Unfortunately the fox got 2 of the hens, one by lifting the lid on the nesting box which hadn't been closed correctly, so definitely worth making sure the bloody foxes can't get it.

My ds(17) weeded round the hen house every night, but the fox still came anyway

It seems like sometimes theres just no stopping these foxes. Weve put a few extra catches and locks on all the coop openings 'just in case' Mr Fox manages to unlock one of them...

Tonight is our first night with our lovely chicks, so i'll look at securing the run tomorrow.

I can hear them cheaping away outside, makes me want to bring them inside but of course i understand thats not really the point...

Our chickens steal the cats' food while cats look impotently on .... wouldn't worry about cats too much.