I've been thinking of building a temporary version of this, to stop
my hens from getting at seedlings - they give me such a hurt look
when I yell at them for going behind my current unsightly and gappy
chicken-wire.
I thought of little picket fences with bamboo laid across the top to
make an open cage. But come to think of it, I might just make bamboo
versions myself; it might look nicer.
I haven't followed this whole thread, so perhaps this has been suggested:
temporarly electric fencing. I use two very low electrified wires to keep
my free-ranging flock out of my newly planted berry patch. It was intended
to keep out rabbits, and i don't know if it has been effective, as i
haven't seen any rabbis, but it works great with my birds, as i am no
longer finding my neatly laid-out mulch scratched away from my plants and
strewn out in my paths. This is a temporary fence, very quick to set,
and easy to remove, so i can later let my birds back in to help control
pests, once the plants are a little more established. It is also very
inexpensive.
My garden is surrounded by chicken wire, which many members of my flock -
although not the ducks - can just fly over.
I also keep a wide strip around the patch mowed, which i've heard also
deters rabbits, as they apparently don't like to cross open areas.
There is also a third wire, about 2 - 3 feet high, to which i've attached
peanut butter wrapped in foil. This is supposed to be a deer deterent.
Actually, an attractant, first. I supposed i will only know for sure if
this isn't working, but so far, no damage.
As for my fruit trees, i net them individually. But then, i only have 20. I
will be buliding a structure to support netting individual rows of berry
plants. In the past, this has worked well for me to protect my harvest. I
have seen entire plantings enclosed in a cage, but this was too expensive
of an option for me.
good luck.
sabra@frognet.net
Sabra's Fruit and Nut Farm
Amesville Ohio 45711
(740) 448-4006
> I haven't followed this whole thread, so perhaps this has been suggested:
> temporarly electric fencing.
Electric fences are kind of dear in Ireland - and one problem is that
I'd be fencing three separate beds - an L-shaped one down the side
and along the hen-run, the long bed on the other side, and the square
herb bed outside the kitchen. So they'd probably have to have
separate power - and the power units are something like =A470 each.
Actually, you might consider not letting the hens into the garden until everything is up and thriving! Hens are great in a garden after that point and lousy before! My daughter had hens and let them go in the garden all year round until I convinced her of the folly of this practise in early spring. These were the small, original, Danish country hens, which can fly, so it was really hard to keep them out.
Carol
Boy, am I ever lucky. Danish deer (there are two kinds) are well-fed, there are no rabbits and hares are well-fed, birds eat mostly worms, I guess - in other words it me against the wasps, and we get along fine.
In fact my worst problem is the netting that my sour cherry tree and the blackberry that was the mother of all the others are growing through. This was my daughter's idea and I pleaded and pleaded with her the first fall to help me get it off - to no avail. So I battle to find cherries and blackberries, pushing away the net all the time!
Carol
Yeah, but I like to let them out to part of the garden, as they
stroll from their ark to their run - they like to have dust baths, so
I prefer to wall off the seedlings from them, but leave them some
space to dust-bathe in. They look so luxurious when they do it - how
could I deny them such pleasure.
Ah yes, dust bathing! It is really hard to live without hens - they are so stupid, but so lovely!
Carol
JT Thompson wrote:
Yeah, they're not cheap here either - $200-300 for a base unit, but in
most cases you should be able to connect several "fences" to a single
power unit by using an insulated cable to connect them. This need not be
anything fancy - a length of "any old wire" threaded through an old
piece of plastic hose can be used.
Tony
--
Tony & Moira Ryan
Wainuiomata - at the Southern tip of North Island, NZ,
Lat 41??15'S, Long 174??58'E (Antipodes of Spain/Southern France)
