- Oct 9, 2014
- 18
- 0
- 22
So last night we had a fox incident. Found him chicken in mouth in the back yard . Went into the house fumbled for the safe keys, grabbed a gun and when I got back he was still there with the chicken on the ground. I missed him, which in the dark wasnt surprising as I was holding a 7lb rifle in one hand and a flashlight in the other. I did manage to scare him about ten feet in the air though.
I went to get the motionless chicken in order to deny him a meal, when I grabbed it the chicken ran off! So with my wife I tracked the poor freaked out chicken back to the coop. At the coop there was a pile of feathers from a different bird. I wondered did we have two foxes or did he kill one chicken, stash it and come back for another?
This morning I found the other chicken (also very freaked out ) hiding in the barn, I am spared loss only because we have a very inept predator.
I do shut them in at night but with teh long days and heat I was waiting till it cooled off to let them in. That and with the addition of the new chickens the old ones dont let them in the coop so I have to put them in which is easier once they roosted up for the night. Guess I wont be making that mistake again.
I spoke with a neighbor who has recently lost some ducks, and found that his neighbor on the other side of him leaves dog food out, and he has seen a gray fox up there. Which would explain how a fox could be nearly a year old and still not be able to kill a chicken (twice!). On the plus side ODFW was cool and I have a permit to trap little Foxy McDoofus. That and I am not worried about my cat anymore because she likes to be outside at night and if McDoofus cant get a chicken sitting at mouth level in the dark, the cat is fine.
I went to get the motionless chicken in order to deny him a meal, when I grabbed it the chicken ran off! So with my wife I tracked the poor freaked out chicken back to the coop. At the coop there was a pile of feathers from a different bird. I wondered did we have two foxes or did he kill one chicken, stash it and come back for another?
This morning I found the other chicken (also very freaked out ) hiding in the barn, I am spared loss only because we have a very inept predator.
I do shut them in at night but with teh long days and heat I was waiting till it cooled off to let them in. That and with the addition of the new chickens the old ones dont let them in the coop so I have to put them in which is easier once they roosted up for the night. Guess I wont be making that mistake again.
I spoke with a neighbor who has recently lost some ducks, and found that his neighbor on the other side of him leaves dog food out, and he has seen a gray fox up there. Which would explain how a fox could be nearly a year old and still not be able to kill a chicken (twice!). On the plus side ODFW was cool and I have a permit to trap little Foxy McDoofus. That and I am not worried about my cat anymore because she likes to be outside at night and if McDoofus cant get a chicken sitting at mouth level in the dark, the cat is fine.
