darn fox!!

[LeezyBeezy]

I lost my two favorite hens today to a fox. I was pretty sure that's what grabbed a hen last week, but had no proof. Today I heard a ruckus, and saw a fox running by the south side of the house, within 10 feet. I ran out, chased it bak the way it came, then went back the opposite direction and looped around to the north side of the house. I saw the fox on the north side of the house with my speckled sussex in his mouth, and my very very favorite EE on the snow, surrounded by feathers. I hoped against odds she was just stunned, but he had killed her. They had been foraging under some gigantic pine trees.

Petrified, I went in search of the others. I found them hiding in the barn, in the goats' stall. I'm thinking they were running from the fox when I first saw it. I was shocked it was doing it at about 1:30 in the afternoon. I carried my poor hen into the barn, crying the whole way. I am so exhausted and nauseated right now! How can chickens be so dear to our hearts? I feel so badly about not watching them better, but they have been free ranging without incident for a year. My hens that are left are in the coop and run for awhile.... they hate it. SIGH.

Hubby plans trying to get the fox when he returns from being out of town. Such a shame, because I really do believe in the natural cycle of things- I'm just so SAD my favorite hens got killed! So, now I'm thinking of getting some chicks.

I'm thinking I may let them free range in a week or so, late in the day, so they will get out and then put themselves to bed. Tick season will soon be in full swing here, and I really was hoping to get good bug control this year. Thanks for listening!

 

[chickengrl]

Wow, sorry to hear about your hens. Predators somehow get your favorite ones and not the darn rooster you have too many of. We have lost 2 birds to fox here as well. The first time was about 9:30 am and the the second was 4:30 pm. So they do seem to learn that the birds are out and about during the day. My husband used his deer tree stand the first time and shot 2 the next day. The second time the fox got his favorite EE rooster. He was SO mad! He got on top of the coop with is rifle and waited and the fox came back for the bird (we had interupted her when we came home) and he shot it. I hope you can get the fox. It will come back for another free meal. Good luck!

 

[CraigleMahhn]

This happened to me about an hour or 2 ago Killed my oldest hen and left her lying under the trampoline with a huge hole in her side. still missing on of my silkies

I think if we never had the huge tom in with them who put up that good of a fight i think he deserves a medal i honestly think we would have any left

I'm sorry for your birds hopefully they'll meet mine in chikkie heaven. If i see that Fox again it's getting staked

 

[LeezyBeezy]

Sorry for you guys too. Oh, I dreamed about it last night. UGH. Hubby will get it, for sure. He's a good shot.

 

[CraigleMahhn]

Send him round here afterwards :') I think my fox has pups so thinking about it i don't think i could kill it

 

[LeezyBeezy]

I know, I'm kind of thinking this one probably has babies too. I'm not sure how I feel about it, honestly. But I am really sad about the hens, and my other ones like going out. Plus, tick season is starting here...

 

[annie3001]

Quote:
so sorry about your loss.

we have ticks here too. its bad. thats one reason i love to freerange my girls, eating all the buggies.

 

[animalsRawesome]

Sorry about loosing your chickens!

I don't know how far your coop is from your house, but we used to keep a baby-monitor out in the coop so we could hear if the hens started making a bunch of noise.

 

[giefdog]

Soo Sorru bout the loss, I had a FOX 2 yrs agotake out one at a time of my girlsfor the 1-5 then one day at about 7:30 am the whole family of fox took out 5 of my remaining hens including my favorite turkin hen . We have 2 labs who never barked or anything till we let them out then they went wild, but we never caught them. New measures in place now

 

[Burning Beard]

I was going to start a fox thread and saw this one. Sorry for your lose as I feel your pain and anger. Sunday morning about 5 am we awoke to the rooster going mad for a few seconds then went silent. It was too dark to see anything and later in the moring when I went out the rooster didn't greet me at the back door as he usually does. I knew instantly that something was wrong. The chickens has free range from the coop to the 7' high run. My americauna rooster is the only one out of the flock that flies over even with a clipped wing. The run other than the top is secure and the flock roosts 4' off the ground inside at night. The rooster must have let himself out early and the fox I have seen roaming the neighborhood the past two weeks must have been waiting for him. The kids and I searched for Lil Red and all we found was a pile of scattered feathers. Many roosters came and went but he was the one we kept because he was just like a dog and well mannered around the kids. Needless to say the kids and I are not happy. Our property is not large enough for me to perch and shoot and a claw trap is not feasible with barn cats and my dog running around so we set a box trap. The first night we had a can of cat food in the trap and of course we got the cat. The next night I cracked a chicken egg in a can and got the cat again. Last night was another egg and nothing this morning.

Does anyone have suggestions of what trap or bait I can use with my current situation to get the fox?