Night Watchman

I’m an electronic engineer in the aerospace sector and fancied something to take my mind away from work so I started keeping chickens, generally about 12 hens, 12 years ago.

I bought electric netting fence from ‘Electric Fencing Direct’ and it’s still working well to this day – we’ve had fox attacks (I can still remember the noise they made when caught up in the fence netting!) but so far no chickens have been taken or killed. The fenced area is some 25m x 25m and at the bottom of the fence I’ve put 150mm wide damp proof tape to reduce weed and grass growth. Hen houses I bought from Flyte so Fancy (recommend).

I use every possible opportunity to enhance the effectiveness of fox deterrent – very important I think. For instance, I have a trilogy of power to operate the electric fence. It runs on solar during the day, mains power over night, and should both those fail a 12V 7A/hour rechargeable battery takes over. I have warning lamps to show the battery state. I also have a solar powered PIR detector spotlight which comes on after dark when it detects body heat such as that from a fox. In addition the hen houses are fitted with Chicken Guard auto door openers/closers which are superb- especially for my neighbour who tends the hens when I’m away, he only has to check water, food and eggs once per day as opposed to opening up and closing at night. I have modified the ‘Chicken Guard door mechanisms to be solar powered, but that’s another story for a separate article! When I saw Electric Fencing Direct had a competition to win a predator deterrent I just wanted one so I entered the competition and, to my delight, I won! Here are some photo’s of the set-up.