A fox has finally found our hens...

[ColoradoMike]

...and our defenses held up!

Okay, so I'm not positive it was a fox, but my neighbor did spot one in his front yard that night, so I'm pretty darn sure. The fox tried digging under the fence around our run and got down about 10 inches or so and stopped. Boy am I glad I buried my perimeter fence 22 inches! My neighbor (who was 'chicken sitting' for us over the past week) filled in the hole and the next night, the fox returned and dug in the same spot!

I have since filled in the hole and have placed large river cobbles around the perimeter of the run to discourage further predatory excavations. We didn't have any digging last night

Thanks to the advice I read on BYC, my chickens stayed safe!

 

[ChanceRider]

Congrats! Good to hear that your preparations paid off in the form of safe chickens!

 

[pats4lsu]

Mike, the fox will be back. It will keep checking, over and over again. Don't let your guard down and if you get a chance, eliminate.

 

[Boyd]

better get your traps out and set.

 

[Country4ever]

So glad you dodged the bullet!
I laid 1/2" hardware cloth (the 2' wide) around the entire perimeter of my run, flat on the ground, right up to the run fence (which is buried 10" down). I held it down with landscape staples. Grass grows through it, and doesn't even show after awhile. Nothing can even dig 1" down through that! Its a simple, but very effective deterrent to digging.

 

[Camelot Farms]

Quote:
What a great idea! I hadnt thought of that!

Putting that on the to-do list!