Are there anyways to deter foxes?

[jxp]

Hmm good point I suppose

Unless the dog is a hound and it's a Disney movie.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Unless the dog is a hound and it's a Disney movie.

 

[Ponypoor]

Bit disappointed in the direction of this thread. I was hoping for serious discussions on predator control, I guess not a real problem for most...?

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

Hmm good point I suppose

https://www.science.org/content/article/your-dog-lying-other-dogs-about-its-size

It generally seems to be so that when a kind of animal has a strong sense of smell and is social, it has the ability to determine a lot from the smell of others of its own kind. Including size, health, and social position. I am not that familiar with the science as it related to canines, but I know it is so in whitetail deer. That’s one reason commercial deer pee lures don’t work well for hunters. For several reasons, they aren’t communicating the right kind of scent information.

I wouldn’t be surprised if a fox could smell the size or strength of a domestic dog that left its scent somewhere and react accordingly.

That’s why a stress that the smell of a large, strong, dog is what intimidates smaller predators. I know coyotes discern the difference because they prey upon small dogs and are fearful of large dogs. I also know that coyotes play the wind relative to large dogs that intimidate them. When I have seen coyotes make runs on my chickens with my own eyes, they always come in downwind of my dogs so that my dogs are oblivious to them. The coyote is also very jumpy and ready to bolt at the first sign of my dogs perceiving them. Same with black bear (or whatever the large animal is that can pull the too off of a coop). That animal only comes in on rainy nights with north winds, south of my house so my dogs can’t perceive it. Even the whitetail deer on my place pattern my dogs and try to avoid them. I can sit in a treestand and watch the deer track my dogs from the far side of 40 acres then move off if they perceive the dogs have left the house.

The trick isn’t that dogs make all predators stay away at all times, but that they instead make predators jittery and quick to leave.

At this point with my big bulldog and hound on patrol, I lose a chicken to a 4 legged predator no more frequently than once or twice a year, and then its always at least 200 yards away from the core farmyard area.

 

[jxp]

Bit disappointed in the direction of this thread. I was hoping for serious discussions on predator control, I guess not a real problem for most...?

Here's 2/4 of my serious predator control.

 

[ShrekDawg]

https://www.science.org/content/article/your-dog-lying-other-dogs-about-its-size

It generally seems to be so that when a kind of animal has a strong sense of smell and is social, it has the ability to determine a lot from the smell of others of its own kind. Including size, health, and social position. I am not that familiar with the science as it related to canines, but I know it is so in whitetail deer. That’s one reason commercial deer pee lures don’t work well for hunters. For several reasons, they aren’t communicating the right kind of scent information.

I wouldn’t be surprised if a fox could smell the size or strength of a domestic dog that left its scent somewhere and react accordingly.

That’s why a stress that the smell of a large, strong, dog is what intimidates smaller predators. I know coyotes discern the difference because they prey upon small dogs and are fearful of large dogs. I also know that coyotes play the wind relative to large dogs that intimidate them. When I have seen coyotes make runs on my chickens with my own eyes, they always come in downwind of my dogs so that my dogs are oblivious to them. The coyote is also very jumpy and ready to bolt at the first sign of my dogs perceiving them. Same with black bear (or whatever the large animal is that can pull the too off of a coop). That animal only comes in on rainy nights with north winds, south of my house so my dogs can’t perceive it. Even the whitetail deer on my place pattern my dogs and try to avoid them. I can sit in a treestand and watch the deer track my dogs from the far side of 40 acres then move off if they perceive the dogs have left the house.

The trick isn’t that dogs make all predators stay away at all times, but that they instead make predators jittery and quick to leave.

At this point with my big bulldog and hound on patrol, I lose a chicken to a 4 legged predator no more frequently than once or twice a year, and then its always at least 200 yards away from the core farmyard area.

Thanks!!! That’s interesting!!

 

[Al Gerhart]

Don't forget that mice will make a up a huge percentage of a wild predator's diet when it comes to things like foxes and birds of prey. Monitor your feed use, a quarter pound of feed per day per hen, ignore the roosters unless you have a lot, any more than that and you are feeding a rat or mouse population that foxes will be drawn to. Or wild birds which draw in the winged predators.

Feed security costs money, average person will spend $150 for suitable steel barrel with a lid and a treadle feeder, but it pays in so many ways. Saves money, eliminates one huge draw for predators of all sorts including snakes, and it cuts down the disease vectors.

 

[Folly's place]

I just amended my comments from yesterday about rabies, please look.
Mary

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I just amended my comments from yesterday about rabies, please look.
Mary

Thanks again Mary. Can you cite a source for this info? Would like to follow up on this.

 

[Folly's place]

I don't know how to bring the page up on this site, but it's on the CDC rabies site. Lists procedures for multiple species, worth checking out.
Mary