Alternatives to Bullets

[Catnip5]

I'm new to raising chickens having just started with a batch of chicks this May. I started with 15, now have 13 as a fox has been visiting my yard for the past few weeks... I lost two last week on seperate occasions. I thought perhaps supervised free-ranging might work but lost the second chicken standing about 30 feet from the flock! In search of answers on how to control this situation I came to BYC.

I've been extremely dismayed to read that the vast majority of people choose bullets as the solution to predator control. Kill it, kill it, kill it seems to be the prevailing answer which I find disusting myself. I will not resort to killing. I just doused my entire perimeter of my property with wolf urine this morning - hopefully that will help deter the fox. Also set a trap but only caught a baby skunk so far - poor dear was terrified - he skampered off to reunite with his mother no doubt.

Anyway, I had hoped to allow my chickens the joy of free-ranging in such a beautiful area with plenty of gardens, pond life, sunshine and fresh air but I'm now dealing with a nuisance fox. For those of you who have been faced with this problem, what solved it?
I hate to resort to electrical fencing given the deer, ducks and my own happy felines roaming the yard...and killing the nuisance creatures is not an option for me personally. Any success with relocation? - there is plenty of uninhabited (by humans) woods to be had within 30 miles of here and it is legal to do so. Urine? If so, which species?

Ultimately I'm looking for an alternative to bullets that might afford my chicks a happy free-ranging life by the sea.

 

[sourland]

If you free range, you will lose birds. It's a harsh but undeniable fact. A well built, covered pen protected by electric fencing generally solves the problem. Relocation is illegal in some areas and for a variety of reasons is not a good idea.

 

[slingshotandLAR]

I don't know how to say this gently....

Unless you lock your birds up or put up an electrical perimeter that fox will kill every last one. It clearly has no fear of you which makes it a very dangerous predator to your chickens.

You cannot stop it if its that bold, either you don't let the birds out or you kill the fox. There is no other solution that will keep your chickens alive. Wolf urine is a very unreliable deterrent, it is likely to draw in more predators then it deters. I'm a trapper, we use K-9 urine as lure to catch foxes and coyotes.

There's a product called night eyes or something like that, it's flashing red lights do seem to work repelling night time visitors. However if a animal will grab a chicken with you standing there nothing will stop it.

Please don't consider catching and relocation, it's illegal and dangerous. There are people everywhere with chickens also, which means if you move it it will likely start killing someone else's livestock or worse like small pets.

Like it or not, the only way it's gonna stop is with bullets

 

[Catnip5]

I'm prepared to lose a chicken now and again but not two in a week with a fox that clearly has decided to settle nearby.

Trapping > It is NOT illegal to trap and relocate as I've already checked with the game warden on that count and there are plenty of woods with no human inhabitants (and therefore no chickens) so relocation seems to me to be far more humane than outright slaughter. Yes, it will encroach on other animals territories but they are smart enough to survive and at least I'd be giving it a chance to do so instead of slaughtering it. Seriously we are a pretty weak species if all we can do to outfox a fox is to slaughter it - and the threads on drowing and shooting skunks, raccoons and all other manner of creatures is seriously disheartening. If that's what chicken keeping requires I guess I'll be done with it before I even start. A depressing enclosed run may be the only solution I guess - and I've yet to see any that inspire me.

Night eyes work great btw - if only they had something equally effective during the day. I bought sonic repellents and the fox walked right by it. Worthless.

 

[torilovessmiles]

I don't know how to say this gently....

Unless you lock your birds up or put up an electrical perimeter that fox will kill every last one. It clearly has no fear of you which makes it a very dangerous predator to your chickens.

You cannot stop it if its that bold, either you don't let the birds out or you kill the fox. There is no other solution that will keep your chickens alive. Wolf urine is a very unreliable deterrent, it is likely to draw in more predators then it deters. I'm a trapper, we use K-9 urine as lure to catch foxes and coyotes.

There's a product called night eyes or something like that, it's flashing red lights do seem to work repelling night time visitors. However if a animal will grab a chicken with you standing there nothing will stop it.

Please don't consider catching and relocation, it's illegal and dangerous. There are people everywhere with chickens also, which means if you move it it will likely start killing someone else's livestock or worse like small pets.

Like it or not, the only way it's gonna stop is with bullets

Unfortunately, this is reality. You have to choose between killing the fox and letting your chickens free range, or letting it live and keeping your chickens pinned up. Even with an electric fence, foxes are extremely intelligent and some have learned ways to get through them. Unless you can keep up a huge flock which can keep producing more chickens at the rate that they are lost, the fox will kill all of them. If you don't want to kill the fox, chickies have to stay in a pen.

I'm prepared to lose a chicken now and again but not two in a week with a fox that clearly has decided to settle nearby.

Trapping > It is NOT illegal to trap and relocate as I've already checked with the game warden on that count and there are plenty of woods with no human inhabitants (and therefore no chickens) so relocation seems to me to be far more humane than outright slaughter. Yes, it will encroach on other animals territories but they are smart enough to survive and at least I'd be giving it a chance to do so instead of slaughtering it. Seriously we are a pretty weak species if all we can do to outfox a fox is to slaughter it - and the threads on drowing and shooting skunks, raccoons and all other manner of creatures is seriously disheartening. If that's what chicken keeping requires I guess I'll be done with it before I even start. A depressing enclosed run may be the only solution I guess - and I've yet to see any that inspire me.

Night eyes work great btw - if only they had something equally effective during the day. I bought sonic repellents and the fox walked right by it. Worthless.

Foxes can have pretty wide territories, so it may find it's way back to your chickens if relocated, depending on how far you can take it away.
Also, we know how to "outfox a fox." That's why we keep the birds pinned up. Chickens are prey animals, so if we do not protect them with an enclosure, they will be eaten just as they would be in a feral flock.
You can make an extremely large enclosure for your chickens, covered with netting to keep predators from coming in through the top, and it would be practically like free ranging.

 

[Chaos18]

I'm prepared to lose a chicken now and again but not two in a week with a fox that clearly has decided to settle nearby.

Trapping > It is NOT illegal to trap and relocate as I've already checked with the game warden on that count and there are plenty of woods with no human inhabitants (and therefore no chickens) so relocation seems to me to be far more humane than outright slaughter. Yes, it will encroach on other animals territories but they are smart enough to survive and at least I'd be giving it a chance to do so instead of slaughtering it. Seriously we are a pretty weak species if all we can do to outfox a fox is to slaughter it - and the threads on drowing and shooting skunks, raccoons and all other manner of creatures is seriously disheartening. If that's what chicken keeping requires I guess I'll be done with it before I even start. A depressing enclosed run may be the only solution I guess - and I've yet to see any that inspire me.

Night eyes work great btw - if only they had something equally effective during the day. I bought sonic repellents and the fox walked right by it. Worthless.

I recently read an article about why Trapping and Relocating doesn't work. These are not my words but I do agree with them, plus depending on what state you are in relocating an animal that could possibly carry rabies is illegal. If I was you I would check your states laws on the subject and not simply take the word of your game warden (they have been known to be wrong before). Unfortunately this really only leaves you with one option (since destruction of the offending animal is not an option), and that would be building a fully enclosed and predator proof run.

The top Reasons why Trapping Wildlife doesn’t work.
1) You have no guarantee that you will trap the offending animal. You may catch something but how will you know it is the animal you are after? The fact is, you don’t.
2) Trapping wildlife creates orphans. There is always the potential you have trapped a mother that has a nest of babies somewhere.
3) It is incredibly stressful for a wild animal to be trapped and often they injure themselves trying to get out. Teeth and claws are often broken in the animal’s frantic effort to escape.
4) Animals dumped in another location have no idea where the food and water sources are. This often leads to starvation and death. Studies done on raccoons that were relocated support this finding. The animal will typically die within 2 weeks of being relocated.
5) Most likely you will be dumping this animal in the territory of another animal and this will lead to territory disputes, and often these fights lead to serious injuries and death.
6) If you capture a sick animal and transfer it to a healthy population, this spreads disease.
7) If you remove an animal out of its territory (by either trapping or killing) you have opened up a territory and another animal will soon show up to take its place.
8) It doesn’t solve the problem. As long as the attractant remains (food, shelter or water) other animals will show up. Removing the source of what is attracting them is the solution.

 

[enola]

Two summers ago 2 pairs of foxes wiped out every flock in my neighborhood but mine. I was the only flock owner that locked up my chickens. I still have my hens.

Both pair were hunting in full daylight. My neighbor was conducting a riding class when she saw the fox get one of her hens.

You have four options: continue to free range and hope the fox stays away

Lock your hens up
Invest in some type of fencing
Or eliminate the fox using the method of you choice

 

[Catnip5]

Ok, for the sake of argument - let's just say I eliminated the offending fox - another will surely take it's place anyway so is there no one who free-ranges chickens or do they just kill everything that ventures onto their property that is deemed a threat to their chickens? Either they do or they lock-up ... there seems to be no happy medium. Even if I could kill the fox, which I couldn't, another would surely take it's place in time it seems to me. I was pretty excited about my chickens...now not so much since keeping them happy and free-ranging seems to be an impossibility unless I decide to slaughter everything looking to make a meal of them. Makes sense I guess. Would love to see some examples of beautifully landscaped runs... The coop forum was pretty barren but perhaps it requires more searching. Thanks for the feedback all, much appreciated!

 

[FridayYet]

Welcome to BYC!

I live in coyote country, hearing them most nights, seeing them around town, etc. Free-ranging would be a death sentence for my chickens. They do get some time out, only when the yard is patrolled by my dogs and I am right there the whole time, but most of the time they are in the run. Unfortunately it is not beautifully landscaped yet, but it will be someday!

The chickens could care less that it is a work in progress. They get lots of garden scraps and weeds to dig through, so they are happy.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Just get an electric poultry fence for spring, summer and fall foraging. The predators will soon be trained to the shock and loose interest in your birds if the fence is up. You'll only loose a few birds to hawks if too small and out in the fenced yard.

I got the 164' electric poultry fence and a hot gate with .5 joule charger, already had the marine battery. It's a bit of money down ($375) but for a portable 40' x40' perimeter it's worth it. They have a secured and covered winter run.

I do have a riffle and have no qualms about taking out overly persistent predators or for some reason a population boom in my area. But the fencing should train them fast and they should look elsewhere for feed- not move in right next to you.