Fox in the hen house - how do foxes slip in, anyway?

[blinkk]

Last night (4am, actually) we woke up to horrible chicken screams. We ran to the chicken coop in our undies, brandishing nothing but a flashlight, an iron rod and a large fishing net to find a gray fox in our coop, jumping around as if he'd lived there all his life. He was up in the rafters, down on the ground, jumped over the 5 foot divider into the feed storage area. He took one good look at us and dove past my fiancee, out into the night into the blackberry brambles.

We lost one chicken and have two more injured. It looks like they'll heal which is great, but I'm so baffled at how the fox got in!! That coop is buttoned up TIGHT. It's sitting on concrete. All the screens are stapled to the wooden frame and nothing has gotten loose. I'm totally baffled at how this fox got in. I've looked for scratch marks (do they do that?) at the seam of a door and found none.

How small of a space can a fox slip into? This was a decent sized fox. He could've stood face to face with our 55 lb dog.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

It's amazing the small openings predators can get into. A raccoon can squeeze through a 2" gap. Worse yet, a weasel can get through a 1" diameter hole. I found that out last week. I lost 5 whole flocks of chickens after going 60 years not having lost any to weasels.

You said screens stapled to wood. For raccoons (and most other predators) you need hardware cloth firmly attached over all opening with metal straps and screwed down.

 

[blinkk]

It's amazing the small openings predators can get into. A raccoon can squeeze through a 2" gap. Worse yet, a weasel can get through a 1" diameter hole. I found that out last week. I lost 5 whole flocks of chickens after going 60 years not having lost any to weasels.

You said screens stapled to wood. For raccoons (and most other predators) you need hardware cloth firmly attached over all opening with metal straps and screwed down.

60 years?! Congrats. That's quite the accomplishment. Although at the same time, I'm sorry for your loss. That sounds devastating.

Screen might have been a bad choice of words. It's the hard stuff, like hogwire, but the squares are closer together. If I whacked it with a baseball bat, the bat would just bounce off the hard wire. Although adding metal straps at the edges is a wonderful idea. I'll get on that asap.

Do you know how small of a space a fox can fit into?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

OK so it does sound like hardware cloth. I don't but it could be a 6" gap. Most animals can get into anything their heads can fit in. Foxes can jump quite high and climb a fence as well.

That's 60 years without losses to weasels. I've lost plenty to dogs, raccoons, possums, and the occasional hawk.

 

[6of6chicks]

It's amazing the small openings predators can get into. A raccoon can squeeze through a 2" gap. Worse yet, a weasel can get through a 1" diameter hole. I found that out last week. I lost 5 whole flocks of chickens after going 60 years not having lost any to weasels.

You said screens stapled to wood. For raccoons (and most other predators) you need hardware cloth firmly attached over all opening with metal straps and screwed down.

A raccoon can get through a 2" gap? Seriously? WOW - I had no idea!

I am SO glad I went with hardware cloth on the coop (secured with poultry staples AND screws & washers). I started with 1/4 inch over every single opening, but then was so paranoid that it wouldn't be strong enough that I put a layer of 1/2 inch hardware cloth OVER the 1/4 inch, lol! I'm glad I did, though. The more I read about predators, the more shocked I am at how clever and tough they are!!

OP - so sorry for your poor chickens! When you figure out how the fox got in please update. I'd be just as baffled as you and I definitely want to learn from this as well!! And sorry, but I did giggle at the undies. I've run out there in the middle of the night in my undies too, shrieking like a banshee, and swinging a frying pan like a total nut, lol!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Check out the small gap this raccoon goes through at the 9:30 minute mark and the 11:00 minute mark on the following video.
And that's a huge raccoon. He's as big as the trap. Imagine the small space a young one can enter.

Raccoons are great climbers. One of the few animals that can descend a tree head first.

These are eye openers

 

[blinkk]

We sat and thought about it (and got help from the Internet) and found out gray foxes are incredible climbers. I've lived in NY for 20 years and recently moved to the west coast so I've never really seen or dealt with a gray fox. They have special claws that grip vertical surfaces well and sometimes climb trees, then hop around from branch to branch. I thought the concrete foundation would prevent ANY fox (or other digging animal) from getting inside, but I didn't know gray foxes climb.

So with this newfound information I went out the chicken coop and looked up. Sure enough, there's a little gap about six feet off the ground between the wire and the door frame juuuuust big enough for a fox to squeeze through, especially if he climbed the wire on the outer door. We're talking a 3 or 4 inch gap. Dumb little guy wouldn't have been able to get out if we hadn't opened the door! That's a one-way entry.

I feel stupid and it's awful that a chicken had to die for me to become this educated. The other two injured birds look like they'll recover, so that's a good story. Our one Austrolorp was in shock all morning, just sitting there wide eyed and still. She's drinking now, which is very good. The fox nipped her on the back of her head near her neck, but didn't break anything.



And yes, running around in our underwear with weapons was a fairly comical sight.

 

[6of6chicks]

Check out the small gap this raccoon goes through at the 9:30 minute mark and the 11:00 minute mark on the following video.
And that's a huge raccoon. He's as big as the trap. Imagine the small space a young one can enter.

Raccoons are great climbers. One of the few animals that can descend a tree head first.

These are eye openers

I watched that with my mouth hanging open. Seriously. I knew they were clever, but I had no idea. No wonder that first one looked so well-fed! I think I might add another layer of fencing to my run!!

Reminds me of a scene from Jurassic Park: "

Muldoon: They show extreme intelligence, even problem-solving intelligence. Especially the big one. We bred eight originally, but when she came in she took over the pride and killed all but two of the others. That one... when she looks at you, you can see she's working things out. That's why we have to feed them like this. She had them all attacking the fences when the feeders came.

Dr. Ellie Sattler: But the fences are electrified though, right?

Muldoon: That's right, but they never attack the same place twice. They were testing the fences for weaknesses, systematically. They remember.

 

[blinkk]

Check out the small gap this raccoon goes through at the 9:30 minute mark and the 11:00 minute mark on the following video.
And that's a huge raccoon. He's as big as the trap. Imagine the small space a young one can enter.

Raccoons are great climbers. One of the few animals that can descend a tree head first.

These are eye openers

oh my god this is amazing. In a bad way...
Raccoons are the worst when it comes to chickens. They're so intelligent and so strong. I have respect for them because they thrive well in almost any area, but when I'm a chicken owner, my respect for them stops there! Nature built them to be incredible and geesh...they are incredible.

 

[aart]

Check out the small gap this raccoon goes through at the 9:30 minute mark and the 11:00 minute mark on the following video.
And that's a huge raccoon. He's as big as the trap. Imagine the small space a young one can enter.

What always gets me about this video is that it lifted that door!! Tho when it first tried it flipped itself over.