One consideration which is always at the back, and often at the front of our minds has been the threat from foxes.
Yesterday we moved the coop off the concrete base next to the back door and onto the garden. This is to give the chickens a more exciting living environment when they're cooped up, which lets face it is most of the day (or until we invest in a chicken run). They can root around under foot digging up grubs and insects and generally doing other chickeny things - far more exciting than mooching around on a woodchip covered concrete floor. White chicken promptly dug a hole and had a full-on dirt bath so we clearly did the right thing but...
This move has posed a problem. Even the slyest fox would struggle to dig under a concrete path whilst even a flippin' chicken can dig under the soil to get out of a coop. Every night we hear the sound of foxes licking their lips.
Some of you may be thinking - is this really a threat? The answer is yes. A family of foxes live in the garden next-door-but-one (photos above) . At the weekend we were sitting in our dining room whilst the chickens were enjoying a few minutes r&r outside the coop in the garden when a fox trotted nonchalantly through the garden. I have moved faster but it was a long time ago. However, my lythe athleticism was enough and I was able to head him (her) off at the pass.
Blimey, this is serious stuff. There we were imagining some sort of domestic nirvana in the back garden down there, and now we find we are but moments from carnage and death at any moment. My family is traumatised, and seeing constant visions of what might have been, had you not been in the dining room. I'm not sure we can withstand this. Get a security guard, fox-proof the garden fence, douse them in chilli-pepper...DO SOMETHING! Obviously, that one went back to the lair and said 'you'll never guess what I've just seen next door but one...'
ReplyDeleteGlad to see your athleticism remains as effervescent as ever it was.