That darn Fox

[Arinissa]

Hello all,

i have been freeranging my flock across my freeholding . We are in North Wales and as long as i got them in early (5pmish) which they don’t like during the summer , mostly we have been ok despite having debs and sets nearby. Yesterday however 3 went during the day 1030am!So all back inside. Ordered electric fence but no way i can make whole area including big pond /lake electric as way too big... i know we are in cub season. When should it be safe to let them freerange during the day again?

 

[centrarchid]

Short answer requiring less thinking is when fox number decreases or when they loose interest in chickens. Your number of chickens is not defined. I have run a dozen or so laying hens inside a perimeter formed by a single length (164') of electrified poultry netting where the netting is periodically moved over fresh ground to keep forage quality high. Your flock size and area managed are not given.

 

[Arinissa]

I have 30 chickens , about an acre .

 

[centrarchid]

You could fence off an acre using three or four strands of hot-wire / tape assuming neighbors have no issues. Still look into trapping if legal in your area. The 3-strand hot-wire outer perimeter setup I have for very close to 1 acre cost less than one of the 164' perimeter poultry netting setups similar to Premier1 sometimes run inside the outer perimeter or in my apple orchard about 150 meters away. I can setup an effective hot-wire system, but @Howard E knows the process well enough to explain it.