We lost another full grown Marans hen this past weekend to a fox. The crappy thing is I was out running errands and DH was upstairs sleeping from his night shift and the chickens were in their nearly completed run. All it lacks is a door.....we have been using the fencing wire pulled tight and fixed to the post and a 4x4 pushed up against the bottom. He thinks the fox panicked the birds and they pushed through the bottom and got out, or they just got out cuz they love to free range.
Anyway, DH was awakened by a chicken commotion and our labrador Dixie coming unglued and wanting to rip the door down(she is very protective of the cats and chickens). he ran downstairs grabbed his rifle and ran outside in his underwear. (thank god we are in the country, I came home to this sight).....the fox got away and left a pile of feathers. DH tried to track it(now dressed....hey there are ticks out there!) in case she was alive, but no luck. Today, he was up in his climbing deer stand and sure enough she was back looking for another meal. Shot her through the ribcage. I now have a nasty fox body hanging on the tree outside my coop. We have now lost 3 chickens to foxes, and DH has shot 4 the very next day when they came back. He gets mad...and gets even. RIP Gertie....laid a beautiful dark brown egg almost every other day even though she was 3 years old.
