Protecting my Girls

[Straight Shooter]

Not to far away a neighbour started keeping chooks...very pretty ones....he set up a nice hen house on wheels, and his young daughter took over...she used to let them run free on the lawn ....they set up an electric low voltage fence...the father spent a half hour explaining the advantage of FREE RANGE eggs.....you (ME) don't need a big run and pen them in....the lecy fence is all you need....oh aye i said.....about three weeks later all their chooks were gone.."i killed two he said with my air gun....when i caught them in the traps"......they no longer keep chooks.....If you are going to keep hens and have a nice run for them ....when you start to build the run , dig a trench where the posts are going, smack in the posts , run in the first straining wire about level in line with ground then another about a foot up , tie chicken wire to these two wires let the access wire go into the trench "to the outer " and fill in with some stone and dirt, put the rest of the strainer wires in , then stock fence, then chicken wire ...4 to 5 feet high.....where you have a gate ...the same applies under ground. ....you will never loose a hen....unless the fox has a helicopter....if so net the top over the run ....good protection for chicks from buzzards sparrow hawks.