Australia - Six states..and that funny little island.

[betR2]

Hi Everyone. I'm on the Central Coast of NSW, North of Sydney. I am just in the throws of setting up for a new suburban flock. So, no chickens yet, a coop and some supplies ordered and lots of Google. I just joined the forum so thought I'd pop in and say hi , Australia. WOW! 3390 pages so far. I have some reading to do to catch up and get some local know-how!Looking forward to catching up along the way.

 

[LuckysMum]

betR2 I'm sure you find a lot of good friends here.

My grand daughters dog got one of their chickens. Only one seems to have sustained any real damage. Its lost a few feathers it doesn't look like there's any blood just bare skin where the feathers are missing. Though the chook seems happy enough its eating and drinking. I have sprayed cetrigen were the feathers are missing poor thing. The girls were pretty distraught last night, but I told them the chook would be fine. I hope everyone has a good week not too stressful before Christmas.

 

[satay]

Hi Everyone. I'm on the Central Coast of NSW, North of Sydney. I am just in the throws of setting up for a new suburban flock. So, no chickens yet, a coop and some supplies ordered and lots of Google. I just joined the forum so thought I'd pop in and say hi , Australia. WOW! 3390 pages so far. I have some reading to do to catch up and get some local know-how!Looking forward to catching up along the way.

 

[Sparky74]

Good Morning everyone!

I haven’t been on here for ages! Life gets busy.

Anyway, I’m having issues with a fox.

The latest casualty was my Barred Plymouth Rock. On Saturday I got home just before dark and went straight out to lock the girls away and the yard was full of black and white feathers. Everyone else was in the coop (they range during the day) but the BPR had gone a bit broody so was probably on the nest, outside the coop.

We’re now down to 4 hens (GLW X RIR) and two half grown chicks. I’d love to get some more purebreds but not to feed the fox!

Any advice? I live in town so shooting isn’t an option. Nor is building a fox proof enclosure.

 

[LuckysMum]

So sorry to hear sparky74. Can you bury fencing around the border or lay slabs along the outside of the coop so they can't dig under. We made our fence 8ft high and covered with wire and bird netting. But that was for cats and crows. Can you make the coop itself secure and just lock them in when you go out. Sorry if its now much help. I hope you sort it out. Have a good Christmas and a great New Year.

 

[Sparky74]

This is getting ridiculous! 8am and the wife has just rescued a chook from the fox!

 

[Fancychooklady]

This is getting ridiculous! 8am and the wife has just rescued a chook from the fox!

They are cunning and it has identified your coop as a place to get a free meal. Have you identified where it is getting in? I'd give the ranger a call and see if you can't get them to trap it.

 

[satay]

This is getting ridiculous! 8am and the wife has just rescued a chook from the fox!

So sorry Sparky. After having to deal with foxes myself this year and lots of losses i feel for you. Hope you are able to find a way to keep it out.

 

[LuckysMum]

Ooh Sparky that's not good. How is the poor rescued chook? I hope you can sort this as soon as possible.

 

[betR2]

Hi Sparky74, I know how you feel. The last flock I had were taken one by one, until we just had to give them away. We had high fences on the chook yard and wire buried to discourage digging. We think they just scaled the fence anyway, at night, and some were taken in broad daylight. We were on a small acreage at the time so no fences to keep them out. My son saw one taken, raced in the house and grabbed his baseball bat. He was going to save that hen!!! Of course, he didn't, but it was sad because we were all into our hand-raised flock. I've seen fences that lean out at the top, which apparently makes them hard to scale, but those foxes sure are cunning. Hope your rescued hen is ok.