Nick Gorham wrote:
Ian Molton wrote:

Stewart Pinkerton wrote:

The unspeakable in pursuit of the uneatable? :-)

If you've ever kept chickens, you'll understand why foxes are classed
as vermin,

Are farmers really so unintelligent that they cant build a fox-proof
chicken coop?

So you advocate keeping the chickens inside for their entire life ?

Not how our 5 chickens spend their day....

How do you defend your chickens then? you cant possibly be there for
them 24/7/365

Im thinking of a chicken wire coop, outside, large, and with a
chickenwire FLOOR as well to stop the foxes digging under it.

this really isnt hard to do - our local park has an area in which small
furry animals and chickens are kept, with chickenwire underfloor as well
as walls, and they have NEVER had a chicken attacked by a fox.

On Fri, 05 Nov 2004 09:43:42 +0000, Ian Molton wrote:

Stewart Pinkerton wrote:

The unspeakable in pursuit of the uneatable? :-)

If you've ever kept chickens, you'll understand why foxes are classed
as vermin,

Are farmers really so unintelligent that they cant build a fox-proof
chicken coop?

No comment, but foxes are cunning, remember?
--

Stewart Pinkerton | Music is Art - Audio is Engineering

Stewart Pinkerton wrote:

Are farmers really so unintelligent that they cant build a fox-proof
chicken coop?

No comment, but foxes are cunning, remember?

Yeah, but they havent invented the wire-cutter yet...

Ian Molton wrote:
Stewart Pinkerton wrote:

Are farmers really so unintelligent that they cant build a fox-proof
chicken coop?


No comment, but foxes are cunning, remember?


Yeah, but they havent invented the wire-cutter yet...

We have a hob ferret that can bite through chicken wire...

--
Nick

Ian Molton wrote:
Nick Gorham wrote:

Ian Molton wrote:

Stewart Pinkerton wrote:

The unspeakable in pursuit of the uneatable? :-)

If you've ever kept chickens, you'll understand why foxes are classed
as vermin,


Are farmers really so unintelligent that they cant build a fox-proof
chicken coop?


So you advocate keeping the chickens inside for their entire life ?

Not how our 5 chickens spend their day....


How do you defend your chickens then? you cant possibly be there for
them 24/7/365

The fact that we have 13 assorted lurchers around the place tends to put
foxes off hanging around...


Im thinking of a chicken wire coop, outside, large, and with a
chickenwire FLOOR as well to stop the foxes digging under it.


Yes that would work, I am not suggesting it can't be done. But I doubt
the expense would appeal to the farmers.

Now if you want to comment on the conditions that chickens (and turkeys)
are kept commercially, and how something should be done by the
goverment, then I would be with you all the way.

--
Nick

In message , Stewart
Pinkerton writes
On Thu, 04 Nov 2004 22:30:04 +0000, Nick Gorham
wrote:

Fleetie wrote:
Hmm, and if so, also the rather more basic practise of people who
understand the country taking a few rabbits home for the pot
after a walk out with their dogs...


You shouldn't eat cute bunnies. :-/

I don't eat the cute ones, just the ones that can't run fast enough.
Darwin in action.

Indeed so. Just what is all this ******** about famine in Africa? It's
God's way of telling you to stop breeding!

Quite so. When we hear all the comments about how to prevent global
warming, we don't hear anything about the fact that the main cause is
global overpopulation.

But then we wouldn't in this socialist paradise called Britain would we?
Far too politically incorrect for Tony B to allow that.
--
Chris Morriss

Nick Gorham wrote:
So you advocate keeping the chickens inside for their entire life ?

Not how our 5 chickens spend their day....

How do you defend your chickens then? you cant possibly be there for
them 24/7/365

The fact that we have 13 assorted lurchers around the place tends to put
foxes off hanging around...

Fair enough. but I'd still say you had no right to take the foxes life
if it did manage to overcome your defenses. You *can* make better defenses.

The simple fact is that in medieval times foxes were at least as common
as now and chickens were at least as undefended as now, yet they werent
all wiped out. Trap a predator in with its prey in a confined space and
it will predictably slaughter everything.

If you have a reasonable space for your chickens now, I wouldnt expect
that a fox would take all five in one go unless desperate of it it got
confused somehow and felt trapped.

Im thinking of a chicken wire coop, outside, large, and with a
chickenwire FLOOR as well to stop the foxes digging under it.

Yes that would work, I am not suggesting it can't be done. But I doubt
the expense would appeal to the farmers.

I doubt it would, but chickenwire *is* cheap.

Now if you want to comment on the conditions that chickens (and turkeys)
are kept commercially, and how something should be done by the
goverment, then I would be with you all the way.

Battery farming? I buy free range and pay the price for it. Not sure how
much better it is, but at least Im voting with my wallet.

Nick Gorham wrote:
Ian Molton wrote:

Stewart Pinkerton wrote:

Are farmers really so unintelligent that they cant build a fox-proof
chicken coop?



No comment, but foxes are cunning, remember?



Yeah, but they havent invented the wire-cutter yet...


We have a hob ferret that can bite through chicken wire...

Relevance?

On Fri, 05 Nov 2004 18:02:11 +0000, Ian Molton wrote:

Stewart Pinkerton wrote:

Are farmers really so unintelligent that they cant build a fox-proof
chicken coop?

No comment, but foxes are cunning, remember?

Yeah, but they havent invented the wire-cutter yet...

Actually, they have. Teeth, claws and patient determination, always
the marks of the true hunter..........
--

Stewart Pinkerton | Music is Art - Audio is Engineering

On Fri, 05 Nov 2004 18:34:20 +0000, Nick Gorham
wrote:

Ian Molton wrote:

How do you defend your chickens then? you cant possibly be there for
them 24/7/365

The fact that we have 13 assorted lurchers around the place tends to put
foxes off hanging around...

Hmmmm. I guess you don't have too many hares, either........ :-)

Im thinking of a chicken wire coop, outside, large, and with a
chickenwire FLOOR as well to stop the foxes digging under it.

Yes that would work, I am not suggesting it can't be done. But I doubt
the expense would appeal to the farmers.

Now if you want to comment on the conditions that chickens (and turkeys)
are kept commercially, and how something should be done by the
goverment, then I would be with you all the way.

Different argument, and nothing to do with real farmers or small
holders. We used to have a 'chicken farm' behind our house, and my
wife literally threw up one day when they were using a JCB to clear
out the sheds when 30,000 chickens died in an epidemic directly caused
by the close proximity and lack of natural immunity.
--

Stewart Pinkerton | Music is Art - Audio is Engineering