[lucylou]

hi! please tell me if the mesh skirts really are effective at keeping the fox out? if we have runs in an exposed area where a fox is known to inhabit will it truly keep him out - or should we put mesh underneath (Sold by forshams as scracth barriers) - this surely prevents the hens from having a good dig? will constant visits from a fox be too stressful for the hens even if the fox cant get in?

[joyfull]

you can either have a skirt or dig the weldmesh down into the ground by at least 8 inches (twelve just to be on the safe side after your visit last night  ). The fox once it realises that it cant get to the girls may just move on eventually but (I'm sure you dont need me to tell you this) don't ever let your guard down. Use a thick guage mesh (the lower the swg the thicker the mesh).
My dogs used to scare the hens witless but now they know that the dogs won't hurt them the hens are ok and more or less ignore them so hopefully your hens will feel the same with the fox.

[Elcie]

I had one on my Eglu and they do sell it as fox proof.  My new run at the allotment has paving slabs all the way round the outside to act as a skirt instead of wire.

[carolbriar]

The skirt on our run is about 16" out and the fence is about 6' high, all weldmesh - we also have an electric wire round the outside.  We live in the country and have seen foxes around us in the past albeit not very often.  We hear them calling when it is that time of year.  Thankfully, haven't seen any since getting the chooks.  We also have 3 dogs and my oh does his bit round the run.

[lucylou]

thankou for your comments. unfortunately we have had to come to the decision to get moveable arks for our girls which is such a shame as they were really enjoying the free range in the field.  We either rehome them or go for the arks, we have 2 forsham coops and we are planning to buy the attachable runs to go on them   

[joyfull]

Forsham arks are supposed to be really good quality and should last you years 
If you move them very regularly the girls will still get lots of grass and at least will be safe so considering everything it is a wise move lucylou

[lucylou]

thanks for that joyfull

[ehs284]

Going back to your first post - re chooks not being able to dig: The skirt is outside the fence so the fox/stoat/etc digs down to find a continuation of fence going under the fox. They don't know to move back a foot and dig again. This seems to work well against burrowing creatures including rabbits and is recommended by Ministry. A mesh underneath everything would be very expensive and, unless knitted to the vertical, would be useless if the fox could dig under the fence and arrive over the mesh.

[TeaPots]

I'm wiv enh on that one. they can dig down quite a way to get under a barrier, but dont hav the sense to dig back a foot avoiding the skirt. A determined fox will always get in, chewing through wire , wood, wotever, but if its too hard, they should just move on. I just flew outside, cos weird noise. SOMETHING has tried to dig under the coop. Have got hardcore in readyness for slabs, but hardcore has been dug up in 3 separate places. It appears to have given up FOR NOW

[Sassy]

Forsham arks are supposed to be really good quality and should last you years 
If you move them very regularly the girls will still get lots of grass and at least will be safe so considering everything it is a wise move lucylou

I have a Forsham ark and was recommended by the agent to still put a weld mesh layer underneath it to prevent anything digging in. It cost me £10 to put a piece of weld mesh under the ark with a foot all round the outside of the ark.

Someone also mentioned that chickens don't dig - whilst they don't burrow they do dig to dust bathe and nearly always around the edge of their ark (in my case).

[lucylou]

how much does it restrict your girls scratching sassy?

[Aidy]

When I built my run on t plot, I used a 24inch weld wire mesh skirt, beneath this was 18 inches deep hardcore. I would like to think the only way Mr fox will break in is if he is tooled up for the job. Here is a piccy during construction...

And this was the nearly completed run, the run mesh overlapped the skirt mesh at the bottom.....

[joyfull]

wish that I'd thought of getting a cage to keep my kids in when they were younger   

[Aidy]

The girls are easy, I just pick them up and chuck them in, the wife on other hand!!! 

[joyfull]

 
seriously though, thank you for posting those photos I'm sure they will be of great help to others when building their runs