Are there anyways to deter foxes?

[Red Mangrove]

I have a large fox den on my land as well as 50 free range chickens that live outside 24/7 and sleep in trees. Healthy chicken breeds should be able to evade foxes with no problem. Red foxes really aren't sneaky enough to catch gamefowl, feral chickens and landraces

Dogs and fences also help but aren't necessary. I had American Gamefowl and Red Junglefowl living around foxes for a year before I had either dog or fence. They breed like rats in my woods and I'm grateful the foxes are here honestly

 

[Folly's place]

We lost ten nice laying hens one afternoon to one mangy sick fox! He killed them and came back for more, and for bodies. Seen by neighboring workers, who didn't let us know. We couldn't get a good shot at him, but a neighbor was able to shoot him the next week.
Don't count on no losses from foxes!
Mary

 

[ThatUserNameAlreadyTaken]

Thx my aim with a rifle is good can i use any rifle?

Actually, a .30=.30 is overkill. A standard .22 rimfire works well. I have found that a .17 HMR perfect for the task.

 

[ThatUserNameAlreadyTaken]

Electric fencing, and/ or dogs.
Shooting a critter with a pellet gun or BB gun is considered animal abuse many places, it causes injuries, pain, and infections, not good.
Many of us don't have good areas where it's safe to use projectile weapon, with neighbors, the road, and our own animals in the field of fire. When possible, a 22 is effective, although it makes more sense to have electric fencing (if legal) and a dog or two.
Foxes are smart and hard to live trap, and should only happen if you plan to then shoot.
Mary

Many make the claim that foxes are difficult to trap. However, I have an acquaintance that has harvest numerous foxes with leg traps.

 

[microchick]

This past summer I lost three roosters that were free ranging to a fox. No tall grass within 100 feet of the coop, Hot wire around the run. I found one of my boys a distance away where the tall grass began. Not a mark on him, just dead. There was also a detached wing from one of the others near by. DH saw the culprit running away. We hunted for it with rifles but never saw it and it never came back. That ended free ranging for my birds and my husband cut back all the tall grass in our pasture. Funny thing was this fox used a row of trees over 100 feet from our run in order to stalk our roosters and pounce on them. Plus, our birds, use to our two gentle border collie mixes being out in the yard with them were not 'afraid' of what we think they saw as being just another nice dog running around. So if you have a dog to guard your flock it only works if the dog is with them physically all the time they are out free ranging.

In Missouri any wildlife that harms or kills livestock is considered a threat and we are allowed to take it out no matter what the season. Granted, a female fox hunting in the spring is just trying to feed her kits, but mother fox or not, she isn't going to do it on my birds.

Forget using a live trap, as a conservation officer told me when I asked him about it, they say you can't out fox a fox for a reason. A dog(s) will work, but unless you are willing to lose birds potentially all birds (it has happened around us) keep your birds behind fence, hot wire that fence and you stand a chance of out foxing any fox.

You can also use foot traps to rid yourself of a problem fox but PLEASE never ever catch and release any nuisance animal so that it becomes somebody else's problem. Wild animals do not stay in one place. Fox roam to hunt and so do raccoons and other chicken predators. The humane thing to do is end the problem with a well placed piece of lead between the eyes so it doesn't kill somebody else's live stock or beloved pet.

Trust me. Where we live we have fox, birds of prey, raccoons, possums, stray cats, cougar, and even the occasional black bear. We absolutely do not need any more predators dropped off for us to have to deal with.

 

[DGandC]

Are there anyways to deter foxes. Has it worked for you? If so whats it called?

My husband took a different approach. We have a fox that visits our yard most nights, within sight of our 35 hens in their pen. However the fox also has to walk in front of my husband's swing and past the dog house/table feeding zone we have set up for 6 of our dozen barn cats. He took a liking to the fox and named her Annabelle. She hits the cat's feeding table right after the cats eat., which is just after dark. Mark talks to her and lets her clean up the leftovers.
She leaves the chickens alone, but we make sure their gates are shut after dark just in case.
Annabelle has almost become tame, at least in his presense, not in mine. Yep, he sits on the swing and watches her come and go. She is not much bigger than the cats and was skinny when she first came but is now filling out. She does not get a huge amount of cat food, but it seems to take the edge off her hunger and she stays away from our chickens and our cats. Oh, and we live next door to a bird hunting plantation. Rather have Annabelle visit us than the coyotes. Funny we don't hear the Coyotes as close since that Fox visits us. Hawks and Eagles are a bigger threat but it is illegal to shoot them. We don't have a dog, just a dog house.

 

[DGandC]

Are there anyways to deter foxes. Has it worked for you? If so whats it called?

My husband took a different approach. We have a fox that visits our yard most nights, within sight of our 35 hens in their pen. However the fox also has to walk in front of my husband's swing and past the dog house/table feeding zone we have set up for 6 of our dozen barn cats. He took a liking to the fox and named her Annabelle. She hits the cat's feeding table right after the cats eat., which is just after dark. Mark talks to her and lets her clean up the leftovers.
She leaves the chickens alone, but we make sure their gates are shut after dark just in case.
Annabelle has almost become tame, at least in his presense, not in mine. Yep, he sits on the swing and watches her come and go. She is not much bigger than the cats and was skinny when she first came but is now filling out. She does not get a huge amount of cat food, but it seems to take the edge off her hunger and she stays away from our chickens and our cats. Oh, and we live next door to a bird hunting plantation. Rather have Annabelle visit us than the coyotes. Funny we don't hear the Coyotes as close since that Fox visits us. Hawks and Eagles are a bigger threat but it is illegal to shoot them. We don't have a dog, just a dog house.

 

[chickenlover8969]

My husband took a different approach. We have a fox that visits our yard most nights, within sight of our 35 hens in their pen. However the fox also has to walk in front of my husband's swing and past the dog house/table feeding zone we have set up for 6 of our dozen barn cats. He took a liking to the fox and named her Annabelle. She hits the cat's feeding table right after the cats eat., which is just after dark. Mark talks to her and lets her clean up the leftovers.
She leaves the chickens alone, but we make sure their gates are shut after dark just in case.
Annabelle has almost become tame, at least in his presense, not in mine. Yep, he sits on the swing and watches her come and go. She is not much bigger than the cats and was skinny when she first came but is now filling out. She does not get a huge amount of cat food, but it seems to take the edge off her hunger and she stays away from our chickens and our cats. Oh, and we live next door to a bird hunting plantation. Rather have Annabelle visit us than the coyotes. Funny we don't hear the Coyotes as close since that Fox visits us. Hawks and Eagles are a bigger threat but it is illegal to shoot them. We don't have a dog, just a dog house.

wow sounds like tye fox is interesting to see

 

[chickenlover8969]

We lost ten nice laying hens one afternoon to one mangy sick fox! He killed them and came back for more, and for bodies. Seen by neighboring workers, who didn't let us know. We couldn't get a good shot at him, but a neighbor was able to shoot him the next week.
Don't count on no losses from foxes!
Mary

sorry that you lost hens

 

[Julia E]

Are there anyways to deter foxes. Has it worked for you? If so whats it called?

We have fox and coyote here in West Texas Our solution is is keeping one or two of the large guard dogs. Our preference is Great Pyrenees, or Pyr crossed with Anatolian. That and a really stoutly wired coop and yard. strong wire buried along the bottom. Free range during the day and shut the coop at night. This will give the dogs time to get to the intruder before it gets into the pen. We have neighbors and shooting is not always a safe choice. I have had chickens at least 10 years and we have yet to loose one to an intruder.