Top tips on keeping chickens
How to outfox Mr Fox, the best chicken houses and who to contact for advice and help


How to outfox reynard
According to gypsy folklore, you should ask the men of the house to urinate around a chicken's pen as the scent terrifies sly Mr Fox
Another old wives' tale follows a similar logic, and recommends balls of human hair, stuffed into stockings and tied on to the fence of the chicken run. Why? Because we are an odorous species, and our hair is particularly rich in the oily secretions which give us our scent
Matthew Rice, chicken enthusiast and Country Life contributor, recommends hanging a radio—turned on—in a plastic bag from the coop, as foxes hate to hear the human voice ('preferably Radio 2, as they particularly dislike the sound of Terry Wogan,' he says)
Shoot the fox. 'But it takes a heart of steel and a lightning trigger finger,' warns another Country Life contributor, Carla Carlisle
Ros King recommends a mains-wired electric fence to keep the wily fox at bay
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is an advocate of the ladder system. The hen house is raised on an old telegraph pole, or similar stout support, to a height of about two metres. Access to the hen house is via a ladder, made by knocking simple steps into a long, stout pole. The design of the ladder is deliberately crude and rickety: a chicken will be able to use it, but a fox will not.
Sign up for the Country Life Newsletter
Exquisite houses, the beauty of Nature, and how to get the most from your life, straight to your inbox.
Chicken houses - what to buy and where to get them
Whatever the style of design, hen houses and chicken coops need to provide a secure place for your poultry to stay fit and healthy. We select some of our favourites
Omlet (www.omlet.co.uk) make funky, modern hen houses. This eglu cube can be used as a stand-alone house or placed inside its own integrated run. The standard run is two metres long, but it can be extended in one- metre sections.
Dorset-based Flyte So Fancy (www.flytesofancy.co.uk) supply a range of flat-packed chicken runs and hen houses, including The Cottage Henhouse (above), as well as protective pens
Forsham Cottage Arks (www.forshamcottagearks.com) build a wide range of utilitarian hen houses and chicken coops
GD Cock-a-Hoop offers charming, hand-made hen houses (www.gdtimberdesigns.co.uk/cockahoop)
CHICKEN CONTACTS
Battery Hen Welfare Trust
www.thehenshouse.co.uk
Body campaigning to raise awareness about battery chicken farming; also a good source of ex-battery hens
The Poultry Club of Great Britain
www.poultryclub.org
Dedicated to preserving rare breeds, the club is
a useful source of help and advice for poultry keepers,
as well as providing details
of individual breed societies
Hen Keepers Association www.henkeepersassociation.co.uk
A resource for anyone in need of information on the health, welfare and management of chickens
Country Life is unlike any other magazine: the only glossy weekly on the newsstand and the only magazine that has been guest-edited by HRH The King not once, but twice. It is a celebration of modern rural life and all its diverse joys and pleasures — that was first published in Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee year. Our eclectic mixture of witty and informative content — from the most up-to-date property news and commentary and a coveted glimpse inside some of the UK's best houses and gardens, to gardening, the arts and interior design, written by experts in their field — still cannot be found in print or online, anywhere else.
-
If heaven is on earth, it might be in this home with a converted chapel that is now a swimming pool
5 Wood Barton Town House is part of an exclusive 80-acre development in Devon that also comes with fishing rights on the River Avon and four bedrooms.
By James Fisher Published
-
An Italian-inspired recipe for lemon-butter pasta shells with spring greens, ricotta and pangrattato
Spring greens are just about to come into their own, so our Kitchen Garden columnist reveals exactly what to do with them.
By Melanie Johnson Published