[nuzuki]

I would like to let my chickens out in the garden. There are foxes in the area so im wondering how careful I have to be. Are foxes generally less interested this time of year or more desperate for food sources? I basically feel sorry for my chickens cooped up in a muddy run when theres fresh grass in the garden and paddock.

Also one of my young rhode island red cockerals died whilst I was on holiday last week (weds/thurs). My parents who were looking after the chickens whilst I was away said they found him outside laying strethced out on his tummy. Any ideas what this could of been? They have DE powder, mite powder, apple cider vinegar in their water and are fed at least 3 times a day with a mixture of layers pellets and wild bird seed.

Thanks

[joyfull]

first of all chickens are grazers and need their food to be available all the time that they are awake and not as 3 separate meals.
As for you cockerel dying - without an autopsy (and it is too late for one now) nobody can tell you why. However I see that you have not mentioned worming your birds - these should be wormed regularly with a good wormer such as flubenvet which is proven to work against all types of worms.
As for foxes (and other predators such as mink, weasels, stoats) they are around all the time - the season doesn't matter, once they know you have birds they will be just waiting for you to turn your back, forget to close the coop door so no they are not any safer this time of year.

[nuzuki]

Thanks for the reply Joyfull. My chickens do get a dose of verm x regulary, plus cider apple vinegar and tonnes of squash seeds which I read is a natural wormer. They always have feed in the feeders but I tend to put little piles around the run to make sure the chickens lower down in the pecking order are getting feed, especially since that cockerel died on me. He was one of the younger males I had. If I free range them in the future I shall let them out a few at a time, kind of on a rotation and make sure im in the garden. I hear the foxes most evenings and my dog seems to find the fox poo to roll in in our paddock so they must be around. The locals call our local fox Bert Reynolds

[nerdle]

There might be some clever way of making a temp fence on your lawn with fabric type netting (like football goal) and an electric fox proof device... (perhaps only in my imagination).....?

Or a run that can be moved around to fresh grass with an access tunnel?

[joyfull]

verm-x is not guaranteed to work on all types of worms - in fact there is no proof that it does work on getting rid of any infestation (it is merely a herbal preventative). I would suggest you use flubenvet. Also have 2 or 3 feeders rather than piles of food.
Your best bet would be to invest in electric fencing as you know there are foxes around.

[arugula]

There might be some clever way of making a temp fence on your lawn with fabric type netting (like football goal) and an electric fox proof device... (perhaps only in my imagination).....?

Not in your imagination - an example of poultry netting.

[nuzuki]

I did wonder that with the verm x as it does say its organic etc. I cant seem to find flubenvet anywhere, can anyone recommend me a place to look? Ive not seen it in wilkos and my feed supplier doesnt have it. We actually keep a stack of plastic food containers, like the ones you get takeaways in (bought new from the poundshop) and I put their other piles of food in those aswell as them having 2 x 3kg feeders. They never leave any for potential rats which is great.

We do have an electric fence kit we'd been meaning to set up all summer but we didnt see any foxes on our cctv and no damage or dents in the mesh. The local farmer seems to think out yappy jack russell keeps the fox away. I'd worry about our dog getting the chickens more so than a fox at the moment   For now i'll just continue to pick the grass and poke bundles through the mesh that they can chew

Thanks for the replies  :blink:

[grinling]

I put a cabbage in,they prefer spring to savoy.

[Sassy]

Flubenvet has been inshort supply but seems to be more available now. It can only be sold by licensed traders as it is a medicine. You could try online or any local animal health place - often found in agricultural supplies shops.

[nuzuki]

Thanks for the reply sassy. I shall ring a few suppliers over the next few days. Is there any success with cider apple vinegar when it comes to worming chickens? They have access to 2 x 3litre drinkers everyday. One has Cider Apple Vinegar in and the other is plain.

[Sassy]

It is not proven but may help as a preventative as it changes the environment that worms prefer to live in. To be sure you would need to use a wormer such as Flubenvet.

I don't use apple cider vinegar but I'm fairly sure that those who do do not make it available all the time but just for short periods. Also you should not use a galvanised container for it.

[ANHBUC]

Mine freerange during the day but are not as keen now we have snow.  It has given me a chance to look for predator prints on a morning though.  Only puddy tat prints at the moment and I am sure my girls can cope with that.   

[8doubles]

IMO winter is more dangerous fox wise than summer, the nights are longer there is less natural food about and a cold hungry fox is a brave fox and will take risks to get a hot feathery meal .

[splash101]

Whilst we always have foxes in the area, the only time we had one in the garden when the chickens were out was this time of year 2 years ago during the day.
We'd had some snow, we dont normally get any that lasts for more than a few hours but this time we'd had a fair bit and the ground had been frozen for a couple of weeks.
The chickens were screeching their heads offs. I shut them away in a tiny fox proof area but the fox still kept coming back. I would only let them out when i was out there with them.

We had seen the fox prints in the snow a couple of days before when it had come through the garden at night so we looked through the cctv footage and it had had a good sniff around the hen house 

[Number 7]

Just seen you are looking for Flubenvet.  I have just ordered a 10kg bag of Marriages layers pellets with Flubenvet added from www.farmandpetplace.co.uk and have just checked and its still in stock.

Hope this helps.

Thanks,

Dan