A fox, a redneck, and Buck the rooster

[chickengrl]

So, we have had quite a time with our chickens lately, but yesterday was particularily eventful. I came home from work and noticed that 3 of our hens were up on my nice car. Not really great for the car but kinda funny at the same time. My husband came out, shooed them off and rinsed the car off. I decided to throw on muck boots and go to the other side of the house and check on the coop and the rest of the chickens. No chickens anywhere, small pile of black and grey feathers in front of the coop, and the remainder of the hens are on the highest roost and being very silent. I notice more feathers and realize that we are missing our 2 roosters . Oh crap! I scurried back to get DH and let him know we may have a problem. He walks around and into the woods and next thing I know he is running back to the house at full speed. A FOX! and she is behind the coop in the woods! He runs inside the house and gets his 243 rifle and then back into the woods. He finds our beautiful EE rooster, Buck and he is dead.

No fox, it was gone. This rooster was one of DH's favorites and he is boiling mad. So DH gets a ladder and gets on top of the chicken coop (nice sturdy shed) and he sits and waits with his rifle. I am thinking, there is no way that fox is coming back. It is long gone. But, DH is upset and I know better than to try to talk him out of it, so I went in the house and settled down at the computer. Over an hour went by and I know he will come in when it gets dark and not a minute earlier. Then I heard a shot and knew that fox came back. i went out back hoping he didn't get thrown off the coop, and I was relieved to see he was coming down on his own. He then yelled at me for the 12 gauge shotgun and I ran inside and rushed it over for him. He had to finish the fox off. One blast and it was dead. A big red fox! and she was coming back for her dinner! We were able to bury Buck. Not a happy moment. I am pretty sure he died trying to protect his girls. We won't forget him. A very cool bird that touched us both. Anyway, the Sumatra rooster must have flown up into something because he did show up after some of the excitement was over. Glad to find him, seems to be very nice specimen of his breed.

Yes, we know we need better security too. Need a covered run ASAP!! DH has been so busy with his new job he has been exhausted. I know he will get it finished as soon as he gets some free time. Thanks for listening.

 

[vmdanielsen]

sorry to hear about your loss....

 

[chkn]

Poor Buck, RIP big boy.

 

[GeneJordan]

sorry about your loss, but glad you got the fox

 

[Gold Griffin Chicken Mom]

Good for your DH. This time of year the fox parents are feeding babies. Keep on the look out for the male to show up AND for the young ones to try stuff in a couple of months.

We had a major attack in June. The fox came back the next night and my hubby shot it. He thought he might have seen two, but wasn't positive. In August we were watching for falling stars and saw a little fox, about half grown. In two nights hubby shot two young foxes and I saw a third one lurking in the neighbor's corn.

You might consider locking them up at night as often as you can until Summer is over. It's a pain getting up 5 AM everyday to let them out, but much less painful than finding a bunch of dead chickens.

May your rooster go down in history as one of the best ever!

 

[Rockin' Reds]

Sorry to hear about Buck.

Glad your DH got the fox...they always come back.

 

[drumstick diva]

I'm so sorry - poor Buck. Glad your husband didn't fall off the coop roof. Glad he got the perp.

 

[sourland]

I have a friend who spent an entire day sitting on top of his coop in a lawn chair trying to shoot a fox. He ended up shootinga pair that had been raiding his flock.

 

[chickengrl]

Thanks all, My DH has been very sad about his rooster. More than I thought he would be. I am too, but for him it really hit hard. We have been fighting a respiratory thing for at least a month and have lost some really good ones. So, a predator attack was not what we needed. Still sorting that out and waiting for necropsy report. DH shot 2 fox a couple months ago and got them by sitting in his deer stand early the next morning and sure enough they came back. This chicken stuff has been kinda hard. Seems like we have had to learn stuff the hard way.

Cold Griffin: We do lock them up before dark every night. I shudder to think what other critters might have gotten them at night. All predator attacks have been during the day so far. DH built a stout coop for them and would be surprised if something can get in there. What we do not have yet is a run for them. We have got to get that built quick! Hate for them to be stuck inside. That's no life for a chicken. I didn't let them out today. We were both at work and I was picturing the male showing up next. Bah! No free ranging with nobody home and outside! I didn't know that fox had the babies in the winter. Learn new stuff all the time.

Sourland: I thought I had the only crazy one who would sit on the coop with his rifle!!

 

[obaan1]

Thanks for sharing your story. We feel your pain. Hope this spring brings you much joy.