cats and foxes

[jensonroberts]

I have two questions

1: Is there any home made remedies for keeping
Foxes away from my hens when I get them?

2: Would a cat be interested in a few hens?

 

[Free Spirit]

After losing nearly 2 dozen hens from a fox attack a few years ago I was reluctant to get new birds again. The attack happened in a span of 15 minutes. I went into the house for a moment (15 minutes) and when I came back out the flock was decimated. I know for a fact is was a fox as I saw the culprit running away from me through my pasture and into the neighboring field.

Therefore, this time around I purchased and electric net fence and also have a large house inside the fence to put them in at night to protect them from owls. The net fences can be moved around easily to new areas for grazing and scratching. It was a great solution since I also have coyotes and raccoons in the area also. So far it is working beautifully. I purchased mine from Kencove Farm Fence Supplies. But it is pricey and you may need additional equipment to provide the power to the fence which will add more cost. So...

If you don't go with an electric fence then a fenced area that has wire on top works well too. You will also want to bury the wire along the fence a foot or more into the ground so that dogs and foxes cannot dig their way into the coop.

As far as cats, You will want to make sure that they (cats) cannot get to the birds while they are young - can't stress this enough. Once the birds become full grown the cats don't seem to have any interest in them and rather go for easier (smaller) prey. I have always had cats with chickens but take extra precautions when the birds are young.

 

[Jesusfreak101]

Just my experiance but cats can and will go for full grown birds i have lost three leghorns to cats and almost lost two others but we got those two back and they took on deleware hen so i am not a big fan of cats we lost more to our dogs but stray cats didnt help either. We have two cats that protect the flock from other cats some animals are better with chickens then others. We dont have foxes around here (on our property) but i imagine the electric fence would be the knly thing to keep them out as they are super smart little critters.

 

[wamtazlady]

Like Free Spirit, I lost all but two pullets to a fox attack one morning last year. It happened really fast.

This year I also bought electric poultry netting. If you can't do the netting you need to build a coop and pen that is as predator proof as you can get it. Otherwise be prepared to face losing chickens to predators. I've read about using wolf or coyote urine or even your own urine to help keep foxes away. I've also read that none of that works.

We don't seem to have any problem with cats so far. They leave the grown pullets alone. There's a calico cat that comes over here to hunt daily, but she's never bothered the chickens. My one neighbor has to catch the chicks when they hatch or the cats will kill the chicks.