Best Fox Deterrent..Fox Den in back yard!!

[BDutch]

.22 works well.

Is this a joke?
Foxes are useful predators. They keep things in control and also eat rats, mice etc. If you kill one you don't know what happens or will take its place. Ever heard of natural balance?

 

[Henny0831]

Do the chickens free range in your back yard or are they in a run?
Foxes can climb straight up a fence or a tree.
My foxes normally stayed in the front of my 8 acres but one day the fox or family of foxes decimated most of my flock.
Premier Electric Fence would be a good solution around children, if you are merely doing a run or around a coop.

Do the chickens free range in your back yard or are they in a run?
Foxes can climb straight up a fence or a tree.
My foxes normally stayed in the front of my 8 acres but one day the fox or family of foxes decimated most of my flock.
Premier Electric Fence would be a good solution around children, if you are merely doing a run or around a coop.

First, having a predator proof coop and run. Then, electric fencing, and/ or a dog who's big enough (and fenced in!) to discourage close interactions with foxes.
Toddlers may be an issue, but anyone older can learn to respect fencing!
You might need to keep your birds in their safe coop and run most of the time, at least when you aren't out there yourself.
Mary

We have a pretty solid coop and run but may do a bit more to be extra safe! It’s not so much my older child but my two year old who I know will test the boundaries of the fence. I’m just not quite ready for thatAnd we used to have a German Shepard! Definitely saw less little creatures running around

 

[Henny0831]

Is this a joke?
Foxes are useful predators. They keep things in control and also eat rats, mice etc. If you kill one you don't know what happens or will take its place. Ever heard of natural balance?

No worries on this one. Not in my DNA to shoot an animal. And I come from a family of hunters!

 

[Henny0831]

A safe coop. And a run with a very high fence (hwc) bend to the outside. And hwc in / on the ground.
I have a drawing somewhere. I look it up and post it here in a few minutes,

https://www.natuurpunt.be/pagina/bescherm-je-kippen-tegen-de-vos

with google translate you can read the instructions.

We have foxes in the neighbourhood too from time to time. My run is about 6 feet tall and covered with strong netting. Never had trouble so far.

Thank you! We have a pretty solid coop and run but may do a bit more to be extra safe! We’ve seen foxes multiple times through out the years but never came across one living on our property. That was knew of anyway!

 

[Rammy]

Is this a joke?
Foxes are useful predators. They keep things in control and also eat rats, mice etc. If you kill one you don't know what happens or will take its place. Ever heard of natural balance?

Not a joke. They wiped out my neighbors flock in one day.

 

[Folly's place]

I will live trap and shoot if necessary, but having predator safe coops and runs makes this step very rarely necessary.
Having horses one of whom had EPM twice, I shoot any opossum who decides to live in or visit my barn and hay storage area. Also any critter who looks ill, like the neurological raccoon who found his way into the barn years ago. Fortunately he didn't have rabies or canine distemper, but I still did the poor guy a favor.
'Never' is a long time.
Mary

 

[New Prepper]

I have heard that human wizze will repel predators. Is this true? As for a high fence, our neighbor had to move so the put their dog in the pound. (I was so mad at them I could have screamed.) The dog climbed a 12 ft chine link fence with a barbed wire top and was asleep on the porch the next morning. I am from FL saw an alligator clime a 6 ft chine link fence. It was a drought and they came home to find the gator in their pool. Electric and teach the kids sounds the best to me.

 

[Zigmont]

Does anyone know if predators will use a groundhog den to get to the chickens during the day? I have a family of groundhogs living under the coop and I caught one today but she’s clearly a nursing mother and I didn’t have the heart so I let her go. We have possum raccoons and fox here. The chickens are locked in their coop at night but they are out in an area that’s fenced with netting over it during the day the groundhogs have a hole from outside the coop up into that outdoor area.

 

[hayley3]

If you feel the coop is secure floor-wise then I can't see that the hole is going to cause any concern but depending on where it is could it cause any damage to your coop?
I put my chickens in a dirt-floor stall that had a vacant groundhog tunnel beneath it and that was a bad mistake.

 

[Zigmont]

If you feel the coop is secure floor-wise then I can't see that the hole is going to cause any concern but depending on where it is could it cause any damage to your coop?
I put my chickens in a dirt-floor stall that had a vacant groundhog tunnel beneath it and that was a bad mistake.

Not really because the coop is off the ground and it’s a pole barn type with the four posts in the ground. I was more worried something would climb in and get into the coop but I don’t think anything would go in a hole where groundhogs are living they’re pretty aggressive