Selfsufficientish.com

not necessarily.

I got a wireless CCTV camera and a recorder for under £100 off ebay

great - how easy are they to install? neither myself or hubby are great with technical stuff. Our friends call us the 'Larkins' because we havent even got sky or digital telly !

What a bummer. We had something (non-human) killing our hens while they were bedded down at night. I'd get up to find a half eaten chicken in the mornings. We put a light out there and the killing stopped. Then we put an old baby monitor out there and turned off the light. The killer came back, the dog barked (no, our dog doesn't really bark, I thought he was being killed) and we heard it. It being a raccoon.

Anyway, the light on it's own kept the predator away and I suspect it'll help keep human traffic at bay as well.

Anymore holes since you first posted?

rainy if you can insert batteries and use a screw river, then you will be ok!

The camera is very small and wireless, it can be put on to the mains using the adaptor you should get with it or you us batteries. The proper record is a little more tricky but I think you can use any video recorder. Mine was a slow motion recorder, used, so I could record for over 24 hours on an 8 hour tape. You can also use the leads from the recorder so you can watch without recording on your TV, i.e check before you go out to shut the hens up. The ebayer I got my recorder from was extremely helpful, and talked me through my requirements and set up even though my technical knowledge was slightly lacking!

well good news - no more holes since I last posted!
Ive made good all the previous holes and am going to get a movement sensor light to go out there. the only thing about that is - if I go out to put the hens to bed ad the light comes on - they'll think its morning and get up - then I wont get them back to bed again !!
would a light sesnsor pick up the movement of a fox or are they too small. I'm convinced that the fox isits us every night !

You can usually adjust the sensitivity of these things, but they do have a limit to the range at which they can detect movement. Have a look at the specifications on the light you buy, to see what sort of range it has. If you have a large area to cover, a less easy option is to get two or three sensors that are separate from the light - you can then position the sensors strategically, separately from the light. Bit of a more complicated wiring job, though.

Also, you should wire the light in to a main switch or socket, so you can turn it off when you put the birds to bed.

I would appeal to you to position the light with a care - there are dozens of these things around here which light up far more than their intended area and can be extremely intrusive. Some of them seem solely intended to dazzle road users, and one particularly annoying one seems to have the sole purpose of lighting up my front room during the night.

Only 2 good things for a Fox.........Buckshot from a 12 bore or a .22 Hornet in the head.

What about a sign saying "Beware - Bird Flu!" ?

Can foxes read?

I was thinking more along the lines of the folk who may be visiting with a pair of wire cutters, although I have to admit that at the level of intelligence required to vandalise others property in this matter, they probably can't read either

wahaaaay! still no damage. Either theyve given up or word has got round via neighbours that Im having cameras installed.

I wonder if should set one up in the hen house too to see which lazy little madams are not giving me any eggs !

I was thinking of putting a webcam in the hen house to see what they get up to while I'm out! A sort of large scale nest box camera.

Rainy wrote:Do you think it would be illegal to connect a battery to the fence wire - there might be some noise then when they touch it

Our chicken run is connected to the mains electric fence energiser with a hot wire at ankle height and another just above six feet off the ground. The energiser delivers 9.6kv with a loud crack and, on a damp day, will make your hair stand on end.

To keep it legal, just make sure you have signs around the place saying "Danger - electric fence".

We had a fox try to run up the fence and hit the top wire - you could have heard the yelping for miles.

We've also had gentleman of the travelling fraternity sneak onto the place and take rather too much interest in our cockerels. They were persuaded to depart the premises at the point of a muck fork while being reminded that pigs can not only be dangerous but that they also eat meat...

sounds like something from the tv !

How far does your electric wire have to be from the chicken wire fence? Also, we have over head electricity cables practically direct oabove the chicken run - does this make any difference to having an electric fence?

Rainy wrote:sounds like something from the tv !

How far does your electric wire have to be from the chicken wire fence? Also, we have over head electricity cables practically direct oabove the chicken run - does this make any difference to having an electric fence?

We have a mains energiser and it can power a couple of miles of electric fence. The main thing with the distance is to enssure there is a good return to the earth stakes, which means either having them in a couple of locations or wiring the non-live wires as return wires connected to the earth stakes.

We also have overhead power lines and you have to ensure the electric fence crosses under them at a right angle or close to it. An electric fence should not be positioned to run under and parallel to the overhead wires - especially the big high voltage ones.