[Stemar]

Hi everybody,

I have been reading all your posts for the last few weeks with great interest  I hope that you can help us in our new adventures in the world of chicken keeping!  We are awaiting delivery of our coop and run next month and are trying to learn as much as possible before we get our chickens.

My one main worry is rats and foxes. We have been advised to lay paving stones around the perimeter of the run which is covered to deter foxes digging in. Would you advise not leaving any food out once chickens are tucked up for the night, my husband says we can leave food suspended high off ground and this will be ok whereas I think it should be taken out of run - which of us is correct?

[Kate and her Ducks]

I use cats!

Keeping the food out of the run in a rat proof container at night is also important.

Foxes are hard to deter. You need to make sure that the run is secure. Have a look at the Protecting our chickens for foxes thread.

http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=25998.0

[joyfull]

I did hear that rats can smell food from around a mile away so probably best not to leave it hanging. The trouble where we live in Lincolnshire is that we are surrounded by fields and becks (the water type not the footballer - although that wouldn't be so bad  ), so rats are inevitable we just have to do the best we can - dogs help (ask grannie annie - I believe penny is quite good at getting them, although my olliepops would just drown them in slobber!!).

[Stemar]

Thank you Kate and Joyfull, just as I thought - better to take food out at night. We do have a cat  who would win honours in the mouse catching department, not so sure about rats though!

Thanks for the thread re electric fencing. We do plan on getting this as soon as possible. Maybe with June paypacket, it is turning out a bit more expensive than we initially anticipated Really excited though, reading this forum most evenings is getting quite addictive. 

[Kate and her Ducks]

I only popped on to look for the answer to a quick question over a year ago! Haven't managed to escape yet!

[raeburg]

I only popped on to look for the answer to a quick question over a year ago! Haven't managed to escape yet!

ditto