I need a run that will keep out foxes but doesn't cost a small fortune, and other miscellaneous chicken questions

[PinkTulips]

we definitely have foxes, i feed them and they play in the garden all summer.

i quite like the foxes but not enough to provide takeaway chicken for their enjoyment

so what do i have to do do build a fairly fox resistant chicken run? my diy skills are medicore, i'm handy enough at putting up shelves and assembling furniture but not ever done full scale carpentry so needs to be fairly simplistic

also have the added problem of a very wet garden with lots of standing water when it rains, do i have to put lots of things in the run for them to roost on then, logs and stuff?

and what chickens are good layers and eaters but would be happy with not a huge amount of space, say 10'x10'?

is it best to buy them as chicks and wait a while for them to grow up or should i splash out on full grown hens?

and how much are my neighbours going to hate me if i do this? we live in the country but in a little group of newbuilds iyswim, we have people to either side and behind us... are chickens going to make us absolutely despised by everyone around us?

cluck cluck

anyone?

Hi, I am new to the chicken keeping lark & am also looking for a good size run which is fox proof. We currently have 3 chickens in an eglu, with the standard size run. IMO it's too small to keep them in all day, so I let them out as much as I can providing we are in the garden too. I've been looking at getting an eglu extension, but this only provides another 3 foot & I think will make it more difficult to move around. The other option is an electric fence, which you can move around the garden, I'm sure theses are around £180+ but at 25m,. provides good space.

I am thinking we may make a moveable run & the key point with the eglu run is the wire 'skirt' which goes around it. It prevents the foxes from digging around, so anything you make, really should include this.

My first thought was to get exbatts & any space for them would be a bonus (I bought my from an animal sanctuary & they seem to have been used to lots of free ranging)

Neighbours won't hate you unless you buy a cockeral. Chickens make a lovely gentle clucking noise which is very relaxing

I'd be cautious about anything that claims to be fox proof tbh. Electric fencing around a run would be the best way.

lol, i can see my dog fox testing it out to that extent alright, he plays ball with the kids in summer so isn't one bit nervous of us

wouldn't be getting a cockeral... still have vivid memories of my neighbours rooster attacking me when i was 8, wouldn't want to mentally scar my own kids similarily

the run on the eglu does look alot smaller than what i had imagined we'd need, it that because it's designed for night use with free range chickens? ours would really need round the clock protection, even being in the garden wouldn't be much good, the vixen last year made an attempt at one of my kittens with me in the garden.

shit, just read the website, it's only available in the uk.... i'm in ireland

diy it is then

thank you ICBIF, riven and kidowner

Stop feeding the foxes if you want chickens - they will scare them so much they won't lay, and they will find a way of getting to them. A fox took three of my lovely hens on Friday afternoon in broad daylight, I came out because of squawking and found one dead on the lawn. Had taken the other two over a 6 ft high fence, and caught it coming back up the drive with one in its mouth to fetch the one left behind. It was one of the most horrible experiences and I was glad my son wasn't there to see what the fox had done to them (headless) Only nature I know but just awful, especially as it took 2 rescued battery hens. The arks made by Forsham are solid and fox proof, but you need to move them around if the hens are allowed to have the grass that they like, so you might not have much lawn left!

We bought a cheapie shed for our chooks - a 6' x 4' one. We have 13 hens and a cockerel but live in the middle of nowhere -our neighbours are quite a long way away.

We also built a run which was quite simple to do, we put fence posts in the ground every 6 feet or so around the perimeter of where we wanted the run.

We made an oblong box with cross braces, 2 bolts and hinges, then stapled smallish guage chicken wire onto it to make an entrance door.

We fixed the door to a fence post and put in another post on the other side of the door to act as a door jamb to put the bolts into.

Then we dug a trench (about a foot deep) between each post and then stapled 7 ft chicken wire from post to post around the whole thing and down into the trench.

Finally we nailed gravel boards to the bottom of the posts, and made sure the boards were a few inches into the soil, and then back-filled the trenches.

We've not lost a chicken yet (over a year) and it was really simple to do. The hardest was the door, but with some straight sawing and even some angle brackets it wasn't too hard.