The message
from "FarmI" ask@itshall be given contains these words:

"Janet Galpin" wrote in message
I'd love to keep chickens and
have inherited a rather splendid chicken-house, but just worry about the
problems of not being able to stay away over night etc.
I'm wondering about getting some moveable electric fencing so that I can
vary the area the chickens use, but keep hesitating because of these
doubts. I'd be interested to know from anyone who keeps chickens whether
it's OK to leave them occasionally to put themselves to bed if the
fencing is good enough to keep foxes etc out.

If you already have a chook house, then the ideal thing would be to put a
fence with a gate in it all around the chook house so the chooks have a
permanent yard which they always have acess to but which protects them if
you need to go away or if you don't want to let them roam round the garden
all the time. Chooks will always put temselves to bed at dusk and they can
easily be left if they have access to both food and water.

Chooks in the garden can do major damage at seedling planting time but a
permanent chook yard is a boon for gardeners as all garden waste can be
thrown in to be scratched over and manured before adding to the compost
heap. They will also do this to rough mulching materials too that you
might
want to throw under trees. They love tree prunings. If you do decide to
build a fence, then lay the chicken wire flat out on the ground at the base
of the fence for about 2 ft towards the side that foxes would ingress as
foxes usually like to dig under but aren't smart to figure out not to dig
right at the base of the fence. foxes can also climb wire so a fully
enclosed yard is a good idea.


Thanks to everyone for the very helpful advice and reassurance that it's
OK to leave chickens at least overnight.

Janet G