whats the best fox bait to trap

i've had a fox kill 2 of my hens this past week. I don't have time to hunt him ( i hunted one last week and after chasing an injured fox 3-5 miles through freezing marshes, lets just say i'm done with that techniche). I just bought a trap and yes, i've heard its hard to trap them...those of you who have sucessfully done so, what bait worked best?

if it is the kind with a cage within a cage...use a live bird

you need a large cage trap at least 10"x12" and 36"long.cover the floor of the trap with the bedding from the bottom of your coop.hang a raw chicken part in the back of the cage.under the raw chicken on the floor put some leftover broken egg shells.the trap must fire and lock well.set the trap several times.use a pencil thru the wire to fire the trap trigger.this will give you the best chance.fox are hard to catch in a box trap.good luck, to old

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what kind of trap do you have? 10 X12 is kina small for a fox .

I was told to bury a pvc pipe big enough for a fox to go down into but not turn around in and at an angle he cant back up and to put sardines in the pipe. Whats funny is that to get the critter out I heard the guy grabbed it by the tail to get it out and swung around so it couldn't bite him while shooting a shotgun at it.

I wouldn't recommend this guys method. Not the brightest fellow.. but maybe the sardines would work in a trap?

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I have seen this work for coyotes but the pipe was fairly long and really large it does not matter if they can turn around or not if it is PVC they cannot get traction between the PVC and the claws it is kina like a cat on linoleum to the OP it is the wrong time of the year for bait, fox are getting ready to mate right now a Gland lURE WORKS BETTER NOW AND COIL SPRING TRAPS MAKE IT EASY TO CATCH FOX

Why chase an injured fox that far? Granted, I hate to see an animal suffer, but if it was threatening my flock, I'd shoot it and be done. If it got away wounded, I'd give it about twenty minutes worth of looking and call it a day (or night). I owe it to my flock to protect them. I don't owe it to a predator to insure it a delicate and appropriate ending.

Never done it with foxes, but some common sense applies here.

When trapping a chicken stealer, its best to use a serious trap and the bait he wants - chicken.

When I say serious I mean just that. Decide what your level of responsibility will be in all of this.
Do you want to "re-home" the fox or dispatch it?
Dispatch is the ultimate answer to your problem - "rehoming" it sends the problem to someone else.... and maybe back to you one day, in spades.

Normally, a serious trap will be the leg trap or snare. No, these are not "humane," but they are designed for those who want to eliminate the predator, not be nice to them.
To use them, find the path it uses to enter the area and look for where the trail narrows to a natural funnel point. Hang the bait over the trap, in this funnel point. This way, it has to look up and reach for it. This diverts attention away from the trap zone, making for a better chance it won't see the trap and will essentially, stumble into it while reaching for the bait.

If you are using a humane trap live a Hav-A-Hart, just follow the directions that come with it.
Place the trap in the funnel point you've selected, so the fox is most likely to enter the trap - if he will. The phrase, "Sly like a fox" exists for a good reason.

If you catch him, swing into action on your exit strategy. Take him wherever you plan to discharge him immediately, or call in your benevolent government agents to dispatch him if you cannot.
Whatever you do, wear thick gloves, handle the trap and it's new resident carefully and keep your fingers away from the mesh. Foxes stop being cute when they are trapped. It will be scared, hungry and maybe worse - odds are good he will bite the "beegeebus" out of you if given the chance.
If you are releasing him, well... stay above and out of the way as you do.

Don't be sorry for him or try to make him your friend, either. It's likely he, or his kin, will be back.

couple points:
- yes, i've heard that the leg traps work the best but i can't use them. Not because of cruelty reasons (believe me they were cruel to my birds so i dont care about that), it's because i happen to have cats and one very stupid dog (a pug- not my idea, and certainly not a real dog).
- I plan on dispatching the fox when i catch him... and his friends ( i've counted 6 different ones)
- My current trap was too small (36 by 10 by something)...this guy is big (dog sized)! I just bought another trap...its 50 by 19 by something (coyote size) so i'm hoping it works.
- And lastly, i chased the last one 3 miles because i didn't get a good shot. I only got his back legs and i wanted to end him both for kindness and for my peace of mind to know he was dead.

You might consider snares. Snares can be designed to kill or to simply hold. That way if a domestic animal is caught, you simply release it. If an undesirable is caught, you release it.....into its afterlife. There are a number of leg-hold traps on the market that have offset jaws to eliminate leg breakage. There are also traps available with paddded jaws. Either will alleviate the chance of beaking a leg.