Does anyone keep chooks in the run most of thr time

[thescurvysockmonsterofdoom]

I am getting really worreid now as there was a proper commotion this morning, they were all squaking. Talking to people at playgroup and one lady near me has had chooks taken from her garden twice in broad daylight while they were around, another woman very close to me told me she saw a fox last week.
I can't sit out and give them my undivided attention so should I keep them in and let them out once or twice a week while I clean out the run etc.
Or would thid be mean, they do have plenty of sapce, 6 chooks in cube + extension so 3m run + house.
they have an old shoe rack to perch on and i will sort them out a dust bath, although last time they just knocked it over all the time.
What do you think?

we have chooks kept in most of the time now because of the fiox. what we do is let them out if/when we are in teh garden most of the day.
otherwise you run the risk. they are still better off than lots of chickens and tehy will be fine.

they seem perfectley happy when I am watching them through the window, the second i step out of the door they go mad.

what do you mean by 'go mad'? are they just excited to see you (eg if you go there to feed them, they learn it and get excited to see you)

We have 2 hens with an eglu and extended run. We have had foxes in the garden about 3 times in last week or so. They go crazy even if there is a fox in next door's garden with really loud squalking. I let them out if I am in the house otherwise they stay in the run. They seem fine.

They do get excited about being let out though!

Ours only come out in the afternoon, and only if the dog is out there too.

Maybe for 4-5 hours, 5 days a week. They do seem happy apart from the baldness/pecking problem I have with a few.

Ours stay in the run most of the time because we have a lot of city foxes. Urban foxes in a way are worse than rural ones as they are more brazen and come out during daylight hours. If ours were out unsupervised they would be supper!

They have plenty of space in the run - one run is 9'x3' with a 3'x3' house on the end, for 3 chickens. The other is 9'x3' with a 3'x3' house, and a 1'x3' nestbox on the other end. This is also for 3.

the run is 9ft by3' I think but it is the cube so the house is massive, there is a lovely big nesting box and they can get under the cube. I think they are fine, I have let them out today but only for an hour and under very close supervision.
lady hows the bald problem going, one of mine seems to have permanent lice which just wont go.

I have lost more chickens to foxes this year than ever before, possibly because we have more chickens but also because the weather has been poor we haven't been outside so much.

I have three flocks and three loose chooks who wander the garden (but never get eaten). The three flocks have very large runs but are all let out for a few hours each day aswell.

Lice have been very bad this year according to our local chicken legend David Bland (he writes lots of chook books).

The cold weather will kill them off though, we need a frost.