Baby Foxes

[chicken4prez]

Yesterday night we almost ran over some baby foxes. Wish we did.

Is there any way to protect our chickens from them? Last year I lost a hen to one.

I read that putting cloths with vinegar helps.

 

[Folly's place]

Fox kits are adorable, but they do grow up! Your best protection is a predator proof coop and run! Electrified poultry netting is a very big help too. Free ranging during the day is always a risk, but worth it for many flocks, depending on local conditions. Well trained guard dogs are the most expensive, labor intensive protection, again requiring very good fencing to keep them home. Mary

 

[Hybridchucks]

Well..... this is weird but if a male human lol pees near the hen house foxes will l say away!!!
SO WEIRD!!!

 

[amanda1]

You need to shoot them or kill them some other way. I know they are cute and innocent, but I don't think you have any other choice, based on my experience.

 

[bargain]

Please be on alert. Folly's place has very solid recommendations. One summer we lost over 30 hens to fox. Although our losses have been less since then, they still occur even in super safe areas. Fox dig under, and climb over. They will take on pet rabbits, cats and small puppies and miniature dogs. Even 8 foot fence is no deterrent. learned that fox will inhabit old dens! From the efforts of another farmer, over 12 fox were trapped. Only months after that more moved in the area. So many fox are not afraid of people as humans have left food. So destruction of any old dens can be helpful but not the answer. I would look for old dens and ask neighbors to do the same and eliminate them. In our area, some have found dens of fox living under their houses, so make sure house penning is secure. Sly like a fox has a reason as a saying. They are bold and will even come out in the daylight. One came within a few feet of my kitchen at 3:00 pm where I was looking out the window. It had one of my fav hens and even on the way to "cross" the road apparently to its den, It was walking around looking at other coops! They will also bring their cubs out for training and when they have you will know it as it's one of the worst scenes of destruction ever. Sorry to be so verbally graphic. But I somehow thought I could protect the flocks always and have learned that sometimes dogs must sleep or are in another area. They do not respond to the chemical fox deterrant. MOST fox are rabid so said my state dept of natural resources as they did not want the body of the fox run over in the road. Fox also carry other diseases, so do not handle them please. Whatever you do, please do not trap and relocate your fox out in the country where they will become a problem for others. That is not a solution There is no shortage of fox and there are some individually that might be willing to help in your efforts for a fee. You can find them in your local agricultural bulletin or other listings. I think I talked too much but wishing you and the flocks the best. I love all animals but predators are not welcome. Blessings.

 

[chicken4prez]

Fox kits are adorable, but they do grow up! Your best protection is a predator proof coop and run! Electrified poultry netting is a very big help too. Free ranging during the day is always a risk, but worth it for many flocks, depending on local conditions. Well trained guard dogs are the most expensive, labor intensive protection, again requiring very good fencing to keep them home. Mary

Electrified fencing is a very good idea but I have a little brother who's a toddler and I would hate for him to get electrified. Our chickens are fenced-in but our neighbours chickens are free-ranged. When they get back from work today I'll warn them about the foxes. Our fencing is fairly good I would say but I don't know if it would be fox proof. I can't remember if our chickens were free-ranged or not last year when the fox got in.

You need to shoot them or kill them some other way. I know they are cute and innocent, but I don't think you have any other choice, based on my experience.

Trust me, I would shoot them if I could. Ever since a fox got one of my chickens, I never liked them again.

Please be on alert. Folly's place has very solid recommendations. One summer we lost over 30 hens to fox. Although our losses have been less since then, they still occur even in super safe areas. Fox dig under, and climb over. They will take on pet rabbits, cats and small puppies and miniature dogs. Even 8 foot fence is no deterrent. learned that fox will inhabit old dens! From the efforts of another farmer, over 12 fox were trapped. Only months after that more moved in the area. So many fox are not afraid of people as humans have left food. So destruction of any old dens can be helpful but not the answer. I would look for old dens and ask neighbors to do the same and eliminate them. In our area, some have found dens of fox living under their houses, so make sure house penning is secure. Sly like a fox has a reason as a saying. They are bold and will even come out in the daylight. One came within a few feet of my kitchen at 3:00 pm where I was looking out the window. It had one of my fav hens and even on the way to "cross" the road apparently to its den, It was walking around looking at other coops! They will also bring their cubs out for training and when they have you will know it as it's one of the worst scenes of destruction ever. Sorry to be so verbally graphic. But I somehow thought I could protect the flocks always and have learned that sometimes dogs must sleep or are in another area. They do not respond to the chemical fox deterrant. MOST fox are rabid so said my state dept of natural resources as they did not want the body of the fox run over in the road. Fox also carry other diseases, so do not handle them please. Whatever you do, please do not trap and relocate your fox out in the country where they will become a problem for others. That is not a solution There is no shortage of fox and there are some individually that might be willing to help in your efforts for a fee. You can find them in your local agricultural bulletin or other listings. I think I talked too much but wishing you and the flocks the best. I love all animals but predators are not welcome. Blessings.

Thanks so much for your help. I'm very worried about my chickens and my neighbours chickens too.

 

[chicken4prez]

Has anyone heard of the special fox sound things? Apparently it makes a sound that we can't hear but foxes, dogs, and cats can. I'm getting desperate here.

 

[Wickedchicken6]

Foxes are sneaky. They can hit at 5am in the morning...we see our fox out hunting. Or 3pm when your at school. Or at 7pm while eating supper. We lost 8 (I think it was) in the 3/4 hour we were in for supper. We'd just been outside. They had been watching us. They had young. The adult sat watching across the road waiting for us to leave when we found the aftermath of the carbage...until the magpies flushed them out. We didn't hear a thing and we have a dog and had 4 guinea fowl at the time.

I don't know about a sound they can hear. Most deterrents...they'll get used to pretty fast. They're incredibly smart so they catch on to things pretty quick. They'll be watching your yard and your movements and hit when your not looking. Depending on the type of fox...they have a fairly intricate social type system that incorporates the subordinate females to help hunt and look after young. Pretty amazing.

My bro wanted me to purchase wolf urine for the coyotes. I haven't. Not certain that would work for foxes. If they're anything like a dog...they'll just pee on it. You need something 100% of the time. The only thing I know of that I have 100% of the time is traps. Traps can be expensive and they require the commitment to check them. I looked up traps on the TSC website, I'm not sure if you have one close...but they're $100. Wow! The same traps here...Peavey Mart and TSC are the same thing...are $53. And I just bought 3 sets of traps for $28/trap.

I've found traps are avoided by the adults. They work for the young foxes...which seem to be our biggest issue.

I deploy mirror balls, more for sky predators...but hopefully the random movement of flashes help. I was also going to put up a few black garbage bags on step-in-posts with a bar tied across the top so the bag looks like someone standing out and the bag flapping. I was going to move them around on the lawn. We free range but have electric poultry fencing to be put up so it's in place when we can't be here.

While working with our sheep, and before we had chickens...we saw one of the foxes jump through our two strand electric wire fence to catch a gopher. He knew enough he'd touch it if he went under, so he jumped through the between the bottom and second wire. Yes...they're intelligent. They have nothing better to do than sit and figure things out. Especially if it means a tasty chicken meal.

 

[chicken4prez]

We let our chickens out at about 8 in the morning so I don't think we have to worry about the foxes getting them too early. I'm homeschooled so that might help a bit that we can keep an eye outside all day.

 

[chicken4prez]

The garbage bag trick does sounds interesting... might try it out. I'm willing to try anything to save my chickens.

The rooster won't help with anything will it?