What lovely helpers. I have a new chicken house for my gals, and gentleman, and now have to build them a large run. Until we figure out how to keep a local fox away, they are no longer free ranging and I hate it. I loved watching them scratch about and they were always a boon in the garden. Oh well. Do you have any trouble with predators and your free rangers?
It sucks so much to have to keep them penned in, I'm so sorry about that fox lurking around trying to make a meal out of your feathered family. We thankfully don't have any predators around here because we live right on the highway on our front yard and the ocean on our back, as well as a very loud and brightly lit factory across the street from us. Trust me...it's the only good thing about living on a highway across from a factory, no predators! They're too scared hahaha!!
City foxes don't care. City foxes dgaf.
(I say this because we've had foxes in the neighborhood and I live near the cross streets of two of the busiest streets in the state. The foxes were seen cuddling in the bed of a truck parked at the hospital where I worked at the time. A human tried to shoo them and they looked at him like, "Yeah, no, asshole, this is our bed now.")
Omg...that's lit! AHAHAHAA!!