Page 32 - ALG Issue 2 2019
P. 32

                                                                    NAS
Member
Offers
Your savings, benefits and discounts
Compost, feed and plants
Outdoor living
Tools, equipment and protection
Lifestyle
SCAN ME!
Use the QR code reader on your mobile or tablet to view the member offers available to you now!
The NAS are pleased to be able to provide our members with an extensive range of discounts and offers. Special deals have been negotiated on your behalf so that YOU can save money on growing your own fruit and veg on your allotment or garden.
Be sure to print out and distribute to your fellow members or include on your Society website, and spread the word!
www.nsalg.org.uk
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Keeping your hens safe from urban foxes
A study in 2017 revealed that, although fox numbers overall are declining in England, the urban fox population has risen over the last 20 years and now stands at 1 fox for every 300 urban residents. The ready availability of suitable habitats and food means that urban foxes can maintain a steady population - unlike their rural counterparts, and foxes do have a part to play in the eco- system. A site with resident foxes is likely to have less problems with rats and mice. Sadly, their food source also includes urban hens, and plotholders keeping hens on plots need to make
sure that their hens are safe from these deadly yet beautiful predators.
Foxes can both climb and dig, so the wire around the hen enclosure should be buried at least 10 to 12 inches in
the ground and then turned
outwards by about 8 and ideally covered with bricks or slabs. The top of the 6ft fence could be covered with spiky strips,
or wire mesh could cover the whole enclosure. Foxes can chew through chicken wire so the mesh on a wire fence needs to be good quality with a thick gauge. Make sure that the hen house is also fox-proof, just in case the predator manages to get through your outer defences. They can squeeze through very small
gaps and open twist catches by scratching at a door - use bolts instead.
Some plotholders have tried feeding the foxes so that hunger does not compel them to attack their flock, and free-range
egg farmers in the UK now use alpacas to chase them off, although that step may be a bit hard to justify at the quarterly plot inspection!
     Foxes are active both day and night, so plotholders could also take steps to deter foxes from visiting by:
• Notusingblood,fishandboneor
bone meal – the smell attracts
foxes
• Sprayingarepellentaroundthe
plot – male urine can work, or
a commercial product
• Coveringthecompostheapand
gathering any windfall crops
• Trying‘tasteaversion’–ifyou
know you have visiting foxes, put out some chicken pieces covered in tabasco, chilli or mustard powder
  32 Allotment and Leisure Gardener
































































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