Anyone keep hens?

My auntie who lives out in the country side had 4 aswell as a few ducks.
They were doing quite well. Had full range of the garden in the day and would put themselves away at night. She just went out to close the coop door.

Then one time she went to see them and saw lots of feather. The fox had some how got into the coop(it had a small flapped roof) and the foxes had got into the coop.
Everyone dead.

Electric fence is what she wants around the coop now when she gets new ones.

I once saw talk on a cycling forum about chickens and sticking fingers in strange places to see if an egg is trapped :shock: :eek:
 
cheese_dave said:
Isn't that the animated GIF Joker av you gifted to me, Tony? I feel soiled...
Click to expand...

It is Dave, I thought you'd moved on with that game based prostitute but I can gift you some animated pants to compensate.
 
Well I've got myself a hen house. Bought it off eBay. Now this is going off topic, but that's par for the course, so I have a question about eBay feedback.

I haven't had the best experience with this particular sale. The delivery was quick, but two of the parts were damaged. The delivery date was Tuesday the 23rd March. After about 20 emails and a few phone calls I received another parcel that contained one correct part and another that was not correct. That was on Thursday. This evening I admitted defeat and contacted the seller to explain that I'd mend the coop myself but would appreciate a partial refund for my time and trouble (something he'd actually suggested a few days ago). I said I'd give a 'neutral' rating if things could be cleared up satisfactorily. The seller reckons I should give a positive rating as he thinks his communication has been good and he's done his best to sort things out. He is offering a £5 refund though my order came to well over £100. I think a negative rating is correct.

Any experienced eBayers who could tell me what I should do? :?

Edit: scratch this. Apparently the seller has sent me another part and is giving me a £5 refund. Not ideal but I'm accepting that he's done his best. Maybe I'm too nice but if it turns up on Tuesday and is correct I'll be OK about the whole thing. :roll:
 
Sounds like a negative to me.
Would you buy from that person again ?
Would you want friends or family to buy from them?

They will probably give you a negative as well though.
 
Just send it back. The seller is responsible for packaging the item adequately and £5 is nothing unless the damage was just a scratch.


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The shit tray on the Norfolk coop is a very good idea, they crap in their sleep. The Suffolk coop has a decent run with two nesting boxes which is ideal for 4 birds. You are pushing it with one nesting box and 4 birds :roll: . If you can make your own run, I'd come and live in the Boston. The arc even has carry handles so you can move it easily from one patch of grass to another. They all seem good to me.

Is your ebay purchase similar to any of these?
 
Sorry I haven't replied Tony. The coop is this one:

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The right replacement part turned up on the second attempt and so after a couple of weeks or so and a £5 refund I was nice and only gave a Neutral verdict. The price was good so I can't really complain too much I suppose.

Anyway, today we finally got the chickens. Four lovely hens that have already settled in very nicely. I'll post a picture of my home-made run under the apple trees in our garden. They've gone to bed now and I can't wait to see them again in the morning!! Not laying yet, but should be when they're a bit older, in about six weeks fingers crossed. :hungrig
 
Seems fine...if you haven't already it's worth getting a proper poultry feeder and water feeder. They are messy eaters. You'll see in the morning how much they shit, even in their sleep.
 
We've a water feeder, but the plan is to scatter their grub about their run. It's quite a large area. We'll give them a mixture of layers pellets and scraps from our kitchen with some mixed corn too. :hungrig

The poo will be collected and put on the compost. :p
 
That's not necessary Tom Good, you'll only encourage vermin by scattering food all over the place.

They really don't need encouragement to scratch around looking for food.

Keep it tidy and get feeder at least for pellets and raise it/hang it off the ground.

Make sure that run is SECURE and not just chicken wire rolled out in a makeshift way, a fox has probably caught their scent already.
 
With regards to Mr Fox, as I understand it there's no way to prevent a fox scenting the hens. The main thing to do is make sure they are shut securely in their house at night. A fox wouldn't attack in daylight hours. Or have I got that wrong? :?
 
I know someone who twice lost her chook's to a daylight attack so it's not uncommon, once the fox is aware of their location they keep returning.

It'll be light from 5.00 am to 10.00 pm soon enough.

You and your family are all peachy keen right now but you only have to forget to lock them up once for the fox to get lucky. It will indescriminately slaughter the lot and then your dear little boys will be in tears when they stumble across Henrietta & Co and their decapitated carcasses.

That's the truth about Mr Fox, they are vermin that happen to look a bit like dogs.

I can't stress enough the need for a very secure run.
 
A friend of mine swears by lion shite for keeping foxes off his property. Much easier & cheaper to keep than said lion as well. The fox(s) get a whiff & decide they do not want any part of that & scarper.

What breed of choox did you get PC?
 
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