Red Fox - Chicken Predators - How To Protect Your Chickens From Foxes

Hi, last night something got in with my Mandarin ducks and when we went out in the morning they were sitting perfectly looking alive until they didn't move. One had its leg chewed off and the other one back end injuries like they were pulling it out. I'm not sure what could get through the fencing or climb up high enough to get through. I love my mandarins I don't want to lose any more. Songbird had a good article that I cannot find after I signed in

Foxes are not native here, and some idiot thought it a good idea to bring them across so they could have a fox hunt. Idiots. I digress. I have had several chooks attacked by the same fox over several years, the last 2 times this year and the same chook who now cannot lay eggs. I have a trap but cannot get him. He attacks through the day , the dogs chase him but he waits a month before trying again. Bastard.

This article has some good info on the red fox, but I have to say that all of my predation from foxes came in the middle of the day. They are not afraid of people and the ones near my house came into my yard in the broad daylight and picked off my guineas while I was outside. While keeping your flock in at night is a great idea, it won’t completely protect them from fox.

i have only had one attack at night and I agree with the last post about it down playing foxes during the day. I have lost many chickens to foxes at day time instead of night time, useful article though for beginners
But please do do surrounding research into the matter before you base all your pens around this. They will and do chew through wire
Happy chicken keeping

Unfortuantely I experienced this first hand with a fox attack, 6 chickens gone in one night. We think it was more than one and they crawled through a hole around the new pipe in the pump house, climbed a pole over the top into the henhouse and carried them out. This was in late summer. They are indeed clever!
We have two large dogs but that wasn't
enough that time.
What seemed to help in addition to what was mentioned in the article: we also installed motion detector lights in the front and back of the henhouse and keep any high brush trimmed back to minimize hiding spots. No more attacks but no sense of false security here with these smart critters .

Good info on any aspects of the red fox. Nice read.

Be sure to follow the links for more informtion

for further discussion.

I gave this article 4 stars instead of 5 because it seems to downplay red fox activity during the day. I have not dealt with a red fox attack, but I have seen them in my area during the day, and read of many daylight attacks on flocks.