How to stop Fox attacks

[Alichickens]

I live in a suburban area with no true woods or forest within miles on my area. But there are indeed foxes and coyotes in my area and I'm not surprised as they are both adaptable and opportunistic animals that don't mind human settlements. Out of all the predators I have so far dealt with for my chickens, none have been as difficult as a fox. I have dealt with possums, but luckily possums aren't a issue because they are active in nigh time and dusk where the chickens are locked up in a coop. I have dealt with flying hawks and falcons but the nice thing I feel like is that chickens are pretty good at defending themselves from aerial predators as long as they have cover from bushes and objects. There have also been racoons but they haven't been trouble for my chickens as they haven't so much been active during the daytime like the possums. But Foxes? I have been having a stubborn fox that roams around my neighbor and every few days comes in to try to attack the chickens for a opportunistic snack. The problem with that bastard is, unlike the possum and racoon, this fox attacks at all times of day. I have seen it try to attack during evening hours, morning hours, and evening in the middle of the afternoon where there is clear daylight. This is worrying because I have to be outside of the house to run errands and for work reasons so I can't always stay in the house watching the chickens 24/7. Also, the stubborn foxes jump so goddam high. I have a 4.5 foot tall fence and the fox jumps over it like it's nothing. I one time thought it would be a good idea to keep the chickens in a closed fenced off compound near my house kitchen and the fence was over 6 foot tall but the fox was still easily able to hop and then climb over the the fence with relative ease. When I caught the fox jumping the fence to attack my chickens and chased it away, the fox would play tricks like running away or hiding only to come back 10 minutes later to attack from a different location! There was a few times where the fox would run and jump across the fence when I chased it away and would just casually just lay down patiently at stare at me like it was smirking and acting like it had nothing to lose. And for some reason this fox is not really afraid of me, I walked up to the fox several times where it would be just a few feet across from a neighbor's yard fence the fox would not be afraid. This fox had just killed one of my chickens a few days ago and I would like some help and tips on how to stop this stubborn fox! How do you guys deal with foxes that keep persistently trying to harass your chickens for months? It's like they'll never stop until they kill every single chicken ...

 

[Aunt Angus]

A dog would definitely work, but so does electric poultry netting. It isn't cheap, but it's been fantastic. Easy to set up, easy to maintain, easy to move. It deters pretty much any land-based predator. I live in the woods, and we have foxes, coyote, bears, bobcat, possum - even the occasional wolf. The only 4-legged thing it wouldn't affect at all is a mountain lion (we have those, too). We even use it for our goat fencing.

 

[Matejka]

Shoot it.

 

[Small al]

Shoot it.

Shoot, shovel, shut up

 

[McChooky]

Oh lord, I thought one was bad enough! We’re down 5 chickens because of a blasted fox.

To be safe let your chickens out at different times and do the same when you lock them up. Foxes will watch you and learn your habits .They're cunning! Its not unusual for one to grab one soon as you go inside.Sorry for your loss!

 

[-Flash-]

For a long time every month 2 chickens would be taken. (This was when I was really little, like.. so now, I have nightmares about foxes coming and eating my chickens.)
Until we got a dog. And we let the dog roam around the outside of the chicken pen, peeing on it, and we haven't had a fox attack for.... gee, it must be..... 6 or 7 years now. We did have trouble with the dog eating the chickens, but we fixed the pen up so no chickens could escape and that fixed it. The dog also got attacked by our feral demon chicken, Buddy, we she was broody, and he hasn't eating a chicken since then.
If you can't get I dog, I hope someone else has some ideas.

 

[microchick]

We had this problem several years ago. A vixen set up a den under neighbor's vacation cabin and fed her kits off of the area chicken and guinea flocks. We found feathers all over our place along with fox prints around the coop but didn't lose any birds due to our Fort Knox metal sided coop and chain link kennel panel run with hot wire.

Neighbor lost their entire flock.

I called the local DNR. We live in rural Missouri. He told me that the only way to get rid of a fox is to shoot it. Here if a predator kills livestock and yes, chickens are considered livestock, we had the right to protect our herds and flocks by shooting the predator. This fox was proven to be a nuisance so his only suggestion was to shoot it and the kits.

He said that fox aren't called foxes for nothing. You won't catch them in a live trap but he said foot hold traps could catch them. I asked if DNR would be interested in live trapping her and relocating her to a conservation area and he said nope, no luck trapping fox in live traps and said, you all have the right to take her out. I hated to hear it. I had spotted her once and she was a beautiful animal.

I never got a clear shot at her but spread the word to the local flock owners and the problem ceased so somebody probably got her.

Sorry to hear that you are going through this. Wild life is great when it stays in the wild. But when it encroaches on farms and begins killing livestock, it is no longer something to be admired but eliminated. If you try to move it whether it be a fox or a raccoon, it just becomes somebody else's problem.

Good luck getting rid of it.

 

[Hensintexas]

I agree with getting a dog or an electric fence to get rid of the fox .The only thing worse than a persistent fox is a family of them hunting your chickens together.They can have dens miles apart and are hard to get rid of.

Oh lord, I thought one was bad enough! We’re down 5 chickens because of a blasted fox.

 

[Hensintexas]

Shoot, shovel, shut up

Ok, the more I read this one, the better it sounds. Mr or Ms Blasted Fox is getting on my nerves, attacking either at twilight or broad daylight.

 

[Hensintexas]

All right. We have now lost a total of 14 to the foxes. More than one fox. The net is going up today. We have reinforced all the way around the pen with hardware cloth buried at least 18” down. Hen house is as secure as we can make it.
The foxes have been taking the free rangers, so nobody gets to run around any more after today. So far, they have eluded the trap, but I’m watching them as much as they are watching us - and relocating the trap every day where we see them run. Our nearest neighbor is in on the hunt, too, because their eggs come from us.
Will update again soon! Thank you for all suggestions.