A graduate of the school of deception, cunning and villainery the fox is a legendary adversary. The information contained within this chapter will help to bring you closer to the fiend and hopefully leave you better prepared should he attack.
Lisa Thomas' Eglu Classic and Run keeps her chickens safe and foxes at bay
The Red Fox (Vulpes Vulpes)
When we said we were designing a revolutionary new chicken house, people kept asking us "what about the fox?" Well we were always confident that it would be fox resistant and to prove it we hired some of the meanest most vicious vermin out there to see if they could get in.
And they don't come any nastier than Verge "the vixen" Vaughn. A veteran of more than 150 chicken house raids, Verge changed sides when a chicken unwittingly saved her life. Unusually for a fox she is now a vegetarian but she still knows all there is to know about breaking and entering. Would she breach the eglu's defences? Here is what she said.
"I tried everything to get in, digging, cutting, biting but there was no way I could get through the solid steel wire mesh or the double insulated eglu. To keep your chickens safe and the fox hungry, I recommend the eglu - that is one tough nut."
If your chickens safety is your top priority there is only one choice.
Steve, 6 December 2019
Any advice about rats? I seem t have developed a rat problem at my allotment where I keep the chickens. They keep burrowing under the grill. Is there any kind of barrier I can put on the floor of the run to stop this happening that won't bother the chickens? I know they like to scratch the earth?