A fox on my property!!

[jwchicklady]

Never before have I seen a fox on my property of 3 acres until today! We have lived here for 12 years and this is my first attempt at chicken raising, I can't believe how many predators these chickens are drawing out of the woods. I usually let them free range for awhile in the afternoon, but not now! Is it common for a fox to be seen at 5:00pm in the evening? What are their active hours?

 

[Boyd]

i usually see them just at sunup and just after supper so 5pm doesn't sound all that late... although my wife hasn't finished cooking.... grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr


kidding on the wife crack, i'll get the old bif twang to da back of the head

 

[wombat]

I'm no "fox expert", but I generally see them active in the early morning and late afternoon, closer to dusk. They're fairly nocturnal.

I usually see them if I'm out walking or driving. They seem to avoid coming close to our place, probably out of fear of the BFD. Our neighbors have had issue with them, though.

They are diggers ... bury fencing or they will dig under it.

 

[McGoo]

me too! Just before sun-up and sunset.

Beware - I lost my gals a couple weeks ago! Horrible xperience.

I let my chickens free range, but don't let them out until after 7:30 and round them up and into their pen by 6:30 - 7.

 

[ubumartin]

I just lost my 3 buff orpington's at 10 in the morning to a fox. All within a 1/2 hour. I had just checked them and didn't hear anything. I went out a 1/2 hour later and only feathers. No signs of them anywhere. I saw the fox in my neighbors yard. I read on this site that they will take all they can get and burry them to eat later. I was heartbroken. I never thought they would be in danger that early in the day. I was worried about night in the coop but I thought they were safe in my yard in the daytime. I am going to pick up 3 more that are 2.5 months old. I am going to give it another try. I am making a portable chicken tractor for them when I am home so they can move around the yard. I am nervous but determined to keep my new flock safe.

 

[Pine Acres Peeps]

I have a fox that runs up to the fence behind the chicken pens, almost every morning. I just raise the window and yell at it, for many years it's been around and never tried to actually dig under the pens. If a chicken get's loose and I can't catch it, it doesn't last long.

We have opossums and occassionally a bobcat comes around. My husband leaves it food on the property line, I think of it as a little bribe to leave the living things alone

so far it has worked. I haven't seen a raccoon yet though, and I have been here 20 years.

 

[19hhbelgian]

Fox's seem to have their own hours... We see them at all different hours. Dawn - early morning - evening - after dark... The one we had at our old house would come at night and try to get our roosters. We actually caught him the act one night, and unleashed our big dog on him. Ted wouldn't be able to catch him, but he did chase him good and hard. The roosters were good after that. I caught him one other time trying to get to my ducks, and I just about jumped in the creek trying to scare hm away. That was also the last time I saw him over there. If he did come around after that, he never got anybody - never lost a duck to any predators.

 

[cparian]

Yeah, It must be that time of year. I just lost my favorite Rooster to a fox last night. It was also at 5PM

 

[posey]

We would see them in the morning varying times and again just after dusk at our previous house.

I didn't know that they were diggers, thanks for that post. We will plan for that.

I am sorry for your loss. It's so hard to loose animals that you have cared for and grown attached to.

Does anyone know it a ground predator has climbed a tree and jumped onto the coop roof? Or onto the top of the run and been able to get in?

Just wondering. We have lots of tree cover over our coop (trying to shield from hawks etc. We also have a line of Crepe Myrtle behind the coop, maybe only about 3 feet back. All this is making me think:/

 

[chickenannie]

I never thought there were foxes around here until my chickens were attacked and then I started looking around and seeing signs of them -- a muddy fox print on my back porch, and seeing it run ahead of my headlights late one night! When it snowed a few nights this winter, I "tracked" the fox, and it's prints went all over my property, in fact, it trotted down my lane from the neighbor's pasture, it snooped around all my buildings (I don't have a dog), and it ran around some boulders where rabbits hide, and it went to the creek (probably for a drink). So now I know I am in fox territory, even if I didn't realize it. They are sly, like the stories say.