Relaxed Farming - our farm in your classroom

Please protect us from predators: it is a very sad fact that foxes, badgers, weasels, stoats, domestic dogs, rats and more love CHICKENS (and our eggs) and if they see an opportunity to sneak up and make one of us their supper, they will!!

There are LOTS of ways to protect us: some are more successful than others and some are not so great for us. Our owners tried lots of different ways until they found the perfect solution: a pair of alpacas. Foxes are scared of alpacas so as long as the alpacas live with us, we are no longer providing Mr/Mrs Fox/es with their supper!! Brilliant! (see the alpacas section for more on this...).

If you cannot have alpacas with your chickens then here are a few other ways to try to protect us (along with what we think about them):

• Keep us in a totally enclosed house and run - this usually means we have far less room to roam around in plus the fox may still be able to dig in and get us BUT on the whole this ideas does keep us safe
• Put electric fencing around our run - it usually works but the fence needs to be left clear of any grass etc otherwise it does not work as well. Plus some foxes may still be able to leap over it (especially if there is higher ground)!!
• Make sure the fencing is at least 2 metres high and dig it into the ground at the bottom - this can work but some foxes are very good climbers
• Trap the fox, shoot the fox... our owners are not that keen on doing this but many smallholders/farmers are and many foxes are trapped and/or shot every year in order to protect poultry, lambs and other young farm animals