Chicken Wire Netting

This is no ordinary Chicken Wire Netting instead, it's a 0.8mm thick, electro-welded, galvanised mesh chicken wire netting designed for poultry cages and runs where foxes are a particular menace - unlike some chicken wire, this mesh cannot be pulled out of shape which can sometimes lead to a fox gaining access to the coop.

. Keeping chickens at home is a a very popular pastime and a throwback to the self sustaining days of 'The Good Life' when growing your own vegetables and producing your own food was very much the norm and trips to the shops or supermarket were reserved for essentials - but protecting your brood from hungry foxes is a perennial problem at this time of year.

Late autumn and early winter leads to a scarcity of small rodents which make up 50% of a rural fox's diet (roughly 30% for their town cousins) so chicken breeders and keepers really need to be on the ball at this time of year. We've already had a few reports of genuine fox activity around chicken runs in Suffolk, so here's a couple of tips on how to keep your chickens safe this winter...

Firstly, invest in a some quality Chicken Wire Netting for your run. We're not talking the usual thin gauge, flexible and pliable traditional mesh commonly known as chicken or rabbit wire here - foxes can pull this material out of shape and even bite right through it - but the real strong stuff.

This Chicken Wire Netting is an electro-welded 0.8mm thick mesh practically guaranteed to keep out hungry foxes as it doesn't lose its shape and they certainly can't bite through it! The 12mm mesh also puts the brakes on rat forays as they find it very difficult to squeeze through, but it's the foxes we're most concerned about and this netting really does represent a formidable barrier.

Secondly, don't forget that desperate times call for desperate measures and a fox with a taste for chicken will attempt to dig its way into the run. Just as you would protect a vegetable patch or allotment with rabbit wire, you'll need to combat sub-terranean raids by digging in the electro-welded chicken wire netting to a depth of at least 6" (12" to be totally confident). Once again, rats won't appreciate this barrier and your chickens can enjoy their food undisturbed.