A fox NOT attacking my hens?

[chickens really]

Must be well fed...It could be young and eating pet food...Do not trust it for a second though...Try live trapping it..Bait it with salmon canned cat food ...

 

[smoore7489]

Must be well fed...It could be young and eating pet food...Do not trust it for a second though...Try live trapping it..Bait it with salmon canned cat food ...

Oh I wont trust it for a second. Anytime I see it I let my Great Pyrenees scare it off.
We've tried live trapping it but it never set it off. I'll try the canned cat food tho and see if that gets him!

 

[RonP]

Perhaps it has a readily available food source elsewhere?

I once caught and inadvertently tamed a baby fox (while I secured my run) who would often return to play with my dog. See my avatar.

He would ignore my flock as well.

 

[Labradors]

Perhaps it's someone's pet?

Linda

 

[apryl29]

When it comes to the world of animals there are all sorts of oddities. Years ago I had a neighbor with ducks. A red fox would come in daily and lay down with the ducks. The ducks were fine with the fox and at least for that summer it did not harm any of the ducks. This is not normal fox behavior and I told him that I would not put any trust in the fox always not harming the ducks.

When I was a kid I had a cat that would crawl into the hamster cage and we found him w/ the hamster sleeping on him. He'd also take them out of the cage to play with them, not eat. But the other cats took the opportunity to eat them. I'd be more worried about your birds not being alarmed about the fox being around. This one might mean them no harm, but the next one may and if they aren't alert to it's presence it could be bad for them.

 

[JedJackson]

Interesting. I didn't know foxes could be so casual around humans. I know we have them around here but I've never even seen one and I am out and about the yard all the time. Maybe it will start a revolution and create a new race of peaceful, chicken friendly foxes that only eat rats and other vermin.

 

[IZZYBELLA]

Bizarre! The fox around here are SO bold and not at all afraid of humans. One literally would nap daily in our yard while her kits played. Very interested to see what becomes of your fox!

 

[The Duck Ladie]

That is very strange.

Perhaps it's someone's pet?

Linda

That was I was wondering. Perhaps someone kept it as a pet then decided they didn't want it and let it go. Never trust a fox.

 

[texsuze]

We've had gray foxes around here for years. We're on a bit of acreage. They routinely come to eat the BOSS (sunflower seeds) that gets billed out of the hanging feeders--a constant source of food, since they are omnivores. We've seen the foxes catch grasshoppers (funny!), white wing doves, and squirrels. Last year, two vixen brought their kits with them into our yard to eat the fallen seed. Eleven foxes total, running around like Romper Room. For better or worse, they are very habituated to our routine, even husband's motorcycles (thank heavens no Harleys) and since there are no kids and no dogs, things are very quiet and peaceful for us all. They'll watch me hang out clothes from 40' away, sleep on rocks near the house, and sometimes just sit and observe.

My chickens free range at my barn, about 75 yards away, but the barnyard and adjacent pasture are enclosed with 5' no-climb horse fence with electric tape at top and bottom. I've installed field fence "aprons" along the bottom of most of the fencing, continuing to add on and make repairs as necessary. Chooks get secured into completely enclosed hardware cloth runs each night. Foxes routinely walk past the barnyard fence (on the outside, of course) and chooks go into alert mode. When that happens I usually run at the foxes and throw some rocks at them.

Not saying this is for everyone, but there are so many situations unique to location, setup, activity level, etc. Decide on your tolerance level for predation potential, but only after you've done due diligence with securing your girls.

 

[aart]

Yep, well fed.
Still odd tho.