A fox took off with my smallest muscovy. 😭

[Crazy Maizie]

She wasn't even a year yet and runt in size compared to the other muscovy girls I have.
I missed it by 15 min. If I had put them away just 15 min sooner they all would still be living their best life. My ring camera caught the whole incident.
All of my birds are penned up today. How long before the fox comes back?

 

[sourland]

It very likely has a den and kits to feed in the area. It will be monitoring your flock daily hoping for another meal.

 

[Crazy Maizie]

It very likely has a den and kits to feed in the area. It will be monitoring your flock daily hoping for another meal.

That is what I'm thinking. We live in an open area. The woods is a good 1/2 mile back with no tall grass between our house and the field which is newly planted. So no real place to hide. My guess is somewhere I'm the woods.
My birds will definitely be locked up for awhile. I saw it got shocked by the electric wire when it got too close to the pen and so I doubt it will try to get to them there, but I guess you never know.
I've not had a loss to a predator in the 5 yrs I've had birds. This really is a punch in the gut.

 

[cmom]

So sorry for you loss. My land is mostly open pasture. I don't free range anymore due to losses in the past. Now my birds have nice large covered pens with concrete under the gates and electric wires around the coops and pens. If your electric wires aren't too strong they will go through them. I had that happen so I bought a more powerful fence charger. I have heard critters come in contact with the wires since but now I think the adults teach their young that a bird isn't worth getting zapped for. I want the predators to know the electric wires are there and if they do touch them they will hurt. Your wires should be around at least 7000 volts. The fox will be back lurking for another opportunity and you will probably never see it. I love my cameras. Good luck...

 

[Crazy Maizie]

It came back before 5 am. All of my birds were secured so it left and didn't put any effort into trying to get to them ... yet.

 

[cmom]

It will keep coming back lurking for an opportunity.

 

[Ilovechickens07]

Don't blame yourself too much, this happens to most of us at some point

 

[CluckerFamily]

I am so sorry.
The fox will keep coming back to check.

 

[DuckDuckSook]

I am so sorry. Losing a bird is tough. We lost a chicken in the fall to a fox. I was going to start letting my birds free range more since it's spring and we didn't lose any this time last year but as I was out doing my farm chores this morning, a fox was just passing through our backyard. An hour later, a neighbor emailed me photos of a fox with 6 kits in their backyard!!!!! So, needless to say, I will not be letting my birds out any time soon with that many hungry mouths for the fox to feed. Total bummer, but better to be safe than sorry.

 

[cmom]

I agree with the other posts. I lost have lost birds to fox in the past. I lost my most special bird Gladys. She was a 3 year old cross beak but was a love. I let her out of her pen and then was distracted and a fox sneaked in and grabbed her. If only I had put her back in her pen while I was distracted. It broke my heart and I was very angry with myself. I still miss her.